Post by unkleE on Nov 26, 2008 4:21:26 GMT
I have another question for the historians here please.
One of the common sceptical arguments against the historical veracity of the gospels is that they contain obvious legend (e.g. the resurrection). One of the counters is that legend takes longer to grow than just the two generations between the events and the gospels, and the growth of legendary material in the history of Alexander the Great is often cited.
An example is this quote from philosopher William Lane Craig:
"This point has been well-explained by A. N. Sherwin-White in his book Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament.{2} Professor Sherwin-White is not a theologian; he is a professional historian of times prior to and contemporaneous with Jesus. According to Sherwin-White, the sources for Roman and Greek history are usually biased and removed one or two generations or even centuries from the events they record. Yet, he says, historians reconstruct with confidence the course of Roman and Greek history. For example, the two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than 400 years after Alexander’s death, and yet classical historians still consider them to be trustworthy. The fabulous legends about Alexander the Great did not develop until during the centuries after these two writers. According to Sherwin-White, the writings of Herodotus enable us to determine the rate at which legend accumulates, and the tests show that even two generations is too short a time span to allow legendary tendencies to wipe out the hard core of historical facts."
I find several things problematic about this quote.
1. I don't understand the reference to Herodotus, who I understand lived before Alexander.
2. Craig seems to be suggesting that there was little legendary material until after the historians Arrian and Plutarch about 400 years later, whereas Wikipedia indicates that there were legends about Alexander in his lifetime.
Now perhaps Craig has just misunderstood Sherwin-White, but I have heard the same ideas elsewhere. I have tried to search for the Sherwin-White quote but haven't found anything yet. Does anyone have any light to shed on this please?
One of the common sceptical arguments against the historical veracity of the gospels is that they contain obvious legend (e.g. the resurrection). One of the counters is that legend takes longer to grow than just the two generations between the events and the gospels, and the growth of legendary material in the history of Alexander the Great is often cited.
An example is this quote from philosopher William Lane Craig:
"This point has been well-explained by A. N. Sherwin-White in his book Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament.{2} Professor Sherwin-White is not a theologian; he is a professional historian of times prior to and contemporaneous with Jesus. According to Sherwin-White, the sources for Roman and Greek history are usually biased and removed one or two generations or even centuries from the events they record. Yet, he says, historians reconstruct with confidence the course of Roman and Greek history. For example, the two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than 400 years after Alexander’s death, and yet classical historians still consider them to be trustworthy. The fabulous legends about Alexander the Great did not develop until during the centuries after these two writers. According to Sherwin-White, the writings of Herodotus enable us to determine the rate at which legend accumulates, and the tests show that even two generations is too short a time span to allow legendary tendencies to wipe out the hard core of historical facts."
I find several things problematic about this quote.
1. I don't understand the reference to Herodotus, who I understand lived before Alexander.
2. Craig seems to be suggesting that there was little legendary material until after the historians Arrian and Plutarch about 400 years later, whereas Wikipedia indicates that there were legends about Alexander in his lifetime.
Now perhaps Craig has just misunderstood Sherwin-White, but I have heard the same ideas elsewhere. I have tried to search for the Sherwin-White quote but haven't found anything yet. Does anyone have any light to shed on this please?
