Thread link is a short video... excerpts from a brilliant conversation at the below link:

Part of the conversation that interested me, btw, is that of Cultural Christians... those who live by Jesus' parables of morals and ethics without identifying as believers.

Those sayings only seem like common sense to them.

"I mean, I think basically that most of
us in this country are cultural
Christians just instinctively.

Uh, and I
think there is no one who's more
culturally Christian than the atheist...

who says, "I don't need some, you know,
bronze age sky [music] fairy telling me
how to behave because I just know how to
behave. I'm a good person.

I don't need
the Bible to tell me to care for the
weak and the poor and the refugee...
manifesting the fact that they are the
result of centuries worth of biblical
weathering.

So in a sense, [applause]
in a sense to be a cultural Christian is
still to believe stuff.

It's still to believe stuff that to say
a Roman, a pre-Christian Roman would
have seemed mad and not at all
self-evident."

- Tom Holland (about 5 mins in)

(you'll need to restart the link in #1... my Editor sucks)

#4

If they did, they didn't do a very good job, as Josephus is more often used as not proof than proof, as there are some caveats in his work due to poor or intentionally dishonest scribes.

I've never heard it before, but this conspiracy canard apparently originates in one place and time, a 2005 book.

- The Bible was written centuries later by people who realized it was a great way to control others.

Decades later... Paul within one or two, the rest within 2 to 4.

What did you think of secular historian Tom Holland's take on cultural Christianity?

#8, 9

And how would you know any of that? I mean, you haven't even watched the short vid at the thread link, much less studied the subject.

One reason I like to study the findings of people like Tom Holland is that he has no dog in the fight; he's a scholar of ancient history known for his work on Muhammad, whose story WAS written 2 centuries later, and his work on Augustus Caesar.

Also NT Wright, who was a well-regarded Prof of ancient history before he was Oxford's NT scholar.

#10

"Smith concludes that Allegro's mushroom hypothesis was informed by many trends in twentieth-century mycological study, alongside a desire to discredit Christianity from its inception."

"Why Hitler Hated Christianity | Tom Holland

The idea that "there is no Jew or Greek" - that all people are created with inherent dignity - conflicted and destroyed Hitler's ideal of strength and classical civilization."

The Name of the Rose, the book, and the movie with Sean Connery... were excellent.

"Love is the strongest force in the universe

James Talarico takes questions at a town hall in Laredo, Texas"

- nobody cares about?

There are several Christians here, including at last check the site owner.

What is it with you whining about what other people post here, just because you disagree with it?

This thread post is from a top secular scholar of ancient history, who says the the historic person with the greatest influence on our history and culture is JC.

Feel free to post why you disagree with that... although that would require actually knowing what Tom Holland's evidence is.

- "a dog in this fight".

Referred to a renowned secular historian not letting his own bias affect his conclusions on the evidence he sees.

- the power of Love.

Why I included #15.