MrMacSon wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:09 pm
Though you may be forgiven for being thrown off by the
Black Hole of the Darke Ages sweet-Pete advertly threw in there:
Leucius Charinus wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 12:53 am
it is reasonable to suspect that the 2nd/3rd century sources such as Justin (and Tertullian and Irenaeus and the FF) were fabricated by the later 4th century church industry or by the church industry of the Middle Ages
I mean, how on God's industrious Earth could industrious Pete propose
any interval in the industrious church industry from the industrious 4th century church industry to the industrious Middle Ages ??
What I meant to write was that the FF "were fabricated
somewhere between the 4th century and the Middle Ages. The upper bounds are given by
the dates of the earliest physically extant manuscripts which I have cited for Justin and Irenaeus. This is standard deductive logic of classical source criticism. Biblical source criticism is an entirely different animal. Biblical source criticism deals in hypothetical manuscripts
Proposing such a pause in the industrious church industry is beyond Heretical. As you continental guys n gals are always saying, " sacré bleu "
There was zero pause in the forgery and fraud perpetrated by the church industry. The Ante Nicene, Nicene and Post Nicene "Fathers" were added to, revised and redacted over a long period of time.
In terms of the Post Nicene Fathers, the major Latin sources of the later 4th century (Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose) were officially deemed to be Doctors of the Latin Church in the year 1298 CE.
OTOH the major Greek sources of the later 4th century (Athanasius, Gregory N, Basil and Chrysostom) were official deemed to be Doctors of the Greek Church in the year 1568 CE. In the year 2022 Irenaeus was made a "Doctor of Unity" since the 21st century Vatican could not work out whether he should belong to the Latin Fathers or the Greek Fathers. He was supposed to be a Greek FF but all his manuscripts are those of a Latin FF. The title "Doctor of Unity" was an inspired alternative. Three cheers for Pope Francis !!!
The Latin forgery mill (as at 1298 CE) was centuries ahead of the Greek forgery mill (as at 1568 CE), But eventually the church industry was able to "harmonise" these very important "sources" and present a unified pseudo-history which could be poured over ad nauseum by biblical scholars.
https://infidels.org/library/historical ... istianity/