Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 01/02/2006 4:30:26 PM PST by InvisibleChurch
AN ITALIAN judge has ordered a priest to appear in court this month to prove that Jesus Christ existed.
The case against Father Enrico Righi has been brought in the town of Viterbo, north of Rome, by Luigi Cascioli, a retired agronomist who once studied for the priesthood but later became a militant atheist.
Signor Cascioli, author of a book called The Fable of Christ, began legal proceedings against Father Righi three years ago after the priest denounced Signor Cascioli in the parish newsletter for questioning Christ’s historical existence.
Yesterday Gaetano Mautone, a judge in Viterbo, set a preliminary hearing for the end of this month and ordered Father Righi to appear. The judge had earlier refused to take up the case, but was overruled last month by the Court of Appeal, which agreed that Signor Cascioli had a reasonable case for his accusation that Father Righi was “abusing popular credulity”.
Signor Cascioli’s contention — echoed in numerous atheist books and internet sites — is that there was no reliable evidence that Jesus lived and died in 1st-century Palestine apart from the Gospel accounts, which Christians took on faith. There is therefore no basis for Christianity, he claims.
Signor Cascioli’s one-man campaign came to a head at a court hearing last April when he lodged his accusations of “abuse of popular credulity” and “impersonation”, both offences under the Italian penal code. He argued that all claims for the existence of Jesus from sources other than the Bible stem from authors who lived “after the time of the hypothetical Jesus” and were therefore not reliable witnesses.
Signor Cascioli maintains that early Christian writers confused Jesus with John of Gamala, an anti-Roman Jewish insurgent in 1st-century Palestine. Church authorities were therefore guilty of “substitution of persons”.
The Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius mention a “Christus” or “Chrestus”, but were writing “well after the life of the purported Jesus” and were relying on hearsay.
Father Righi said there was overwhelming testimony to Christ’s existence in religious and secular texts. Millions had in any case believed in Christ as both man and Son of God for 2,000 years.
“If Cascioli does not see the sun in the sky at midday, he cannot sue me because I see it and he does not,” Father Righi said.
Signor Cascioli said that the Gospels themselves were full of inconsistencies and did not agree on the names of the 12 apostles. He said that he would withdraw his legal action if Father Righi came up with irrefutable proof of Christ’s existence by the end of the month.
The Vatican has so far declined to comment.
THE EVIDENCE
The Gospels say that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, preached and performed miracles in Galilee and died on the Cross in Jerusalem
In his Antiquities of the Jews at the end of the 1st century, Josephus, the Jewish historian, refers to Jesus as “a wise man, a doer of wonderful works” who “drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles”
Muslims believe Jesus was a great prophet. Many Jewish theologians regard Jesus as an itinerant rabbi who popularised many of the beliefs of liberal Jews. Neither Muslims nor Jews believe he was the Messiah and Son of God
Tacitus, the Roman historian who lived from 55 to 120, mentions “Christus” in his Annals. In about 120 Suetonius, author of The Lives of the Caesars, says: “Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, Emperor Claudius expelled them from Rome.”
Prove "global warming" exists.
Hmmm! I guess I was wrong! Thanks for the link!
Well, there's plenty of internal evidence in the Gospels to that effect . . . e.g. John 19:35.
But C.S. Lewis has pointed out an interesting proof that does not depend upon the good faith (or cunning) of the authors of the Gospels. He points out that they are written in a colloquial, somewhat rough, reportorial style, and that they contain a lot of minutiae of the sort that you acquire by observation (e.g. Jesus "doodling" in the sand in John 8:6).
If somebody had set out to start a new religion by making it up out of whole cloth, they would have followed the more high-flown and rhetorical models of the classical authors, to give the account more credence (from their society's point of view.) In other words, if the Gospels are fiction and not factual reporting, they anticipated the style of the naturalistic 20th century novel by about 2000 years.
Orthodox Halachic law does require male witnesses, but that has largely grown up since Jesus's time (and the destruction of the Temple).
:-D )))
the koran was written 3 generations (700ad) after the life of Mohhamed ended (app 630ad) ... bet the judge doesn't argue any problems of integrity about that
I didn't say the Gospels were fiction. I asked about a source that they were written by eyewitnesses. I'm a l;azy researcher, but I recall my readings that they were written at the end of the first century and in the second. I welcome evidence to the contrary.
PS: I have read several authors of fiction who wrote in the style as you described, as if they were there or eyewitness.
"12 men did not go out to convert people to a lie.."
With the exception of John, the other Apostles all died violent, in many cases, excruciating deaths. In most cases they probably could have avoided execution by stating that Christ did not, in fact rise from the dead. Their witness to the death is one of the greatest evidences in support of Christ's resurrection.
LOL!! Sadly, Italy has had a long flirtation with communism and had a well-established communist party back in the 50s and 60s, when we were fighting communism tooth and nail via the Cold War. My personal observation is that no political party can take firm root in Italy's culture; however, many poisonous ideologies have done so since WWII, such as fascism, socialism, feminism and atheism.
thanx
Luke was St. Paul's secretary. Not an eyewitness, but took down the testimony of many eyewitnesses in his capacity as scribe to a very active Apostle. But, as I said earlier, much eyewitness testimony is taken down by another rather than written by the eyewitness himself (e.g. Tacitus and Pliny the Younger).
Here is a site that goes into excruciating detail regarding the historicity and authorship of the Gospels. From my observation, the author has a good working knowledge of the classical texts as well as the Church Fathers.
That's one of those questions you really have to be careful about asking.....all the lightning and earthquakes that could be yours, just for asking.....
Rene Descartes
Lets get out the writtings of Pilate and see if he really was real.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.