Pliny … reports to Trajan that … they sing a hymn to Christ as for a god (quasi deo), that is according to the ritual used not for the heroes, but for the gods. This seems to ignore the idea of a heroic death.
(Le Dieu Jésus, p. 36)
If the heroic death is the Pagan equivalent of the Jewish martyrdom (and in this sense the Maccabeans were ''heroes''), then the Christians observed by Pliny could conceive the death of Jesus as the celestial death of an angel, not of a man on the earth.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
Sure, it's also possible the people described in the following passage believed the same thing. .
“Indeed, people came even from the cities in Asia, sent by the Christians at their common expense, to succour and defend and encourage the hero. They show incredible speed whenever any such public action is taken; for in no time they lavish their all. So it was then in the case of Peregrinus; much money came to him from them by reason of his imprisonment, and he procured not a little revenue from it. The poor wretches have convinced themselves, first and foremost, that they are going to be immortal and live for all time, in consequence of which they despise death and even willingly give themselves into custody; most of them. Furthermore, their first lawgiver12 persuaded them that they are all brothers of one another after they have transgressed once, for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws. Therefore they despise all things indiscriminately and consider them common property, receiving such doctrines traditionally without any definite evidence. So if any charlatan and trickster, able to profit by occasions, comes among them, he quickly acquires sudden wealth by imposing upon simple folk. http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/lucian/peregrinus.htm
arnoldo wrote: ↑Tue Dec 25, 2018 5:54 pm
Sure, it's also possible the people described in the following passage believed the same thing. .
“Indeed, people came even from the cities in Asia, sent by the Christians at their common expense, to succour and defend and encourage the hero.
well: no. Pliny is evidence that the Christians met by him in Asia adored Jesus as a god, while the Christians met by Peregrinus adored Jesus as a hero. Note the difference.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
