Posted: Apr 18, 2017 10:06 am
dejuror wrote:For example, writings attributed to Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, Clement, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen and even Eusebius of Caesarea were corrupted in whole or in part by the Roman Church or their agents.
1. But not those writings of Philo of Alexandria, or Lucian of Samosata ???
2. "corrupted" implies possession of an original copy against which the extant (presumably mutilated) version can be compared. Do we possess today, among the various texts excavated from desert sands, an original copy of any document quilled 1800 years earlier?
Did the former Greek military commander and historian Arrian of Nicomedia (92-175 CE) confirm, repudiate, or even mention the military exploits, Roman empire infrastructure, or political machinations of the first century CE as detailed by Josephus, Tacitus and Suetonius? How did Arrian's texts survive unscathed ? How do we confirm their pristine composition?