At 09:21 PM 3/15/96 EST, you wrote:
>Question has arisn on a Compuserve forum -- is more known
>about Socrates than Jesus -- or vice versa. Has anyone a book reference?
Well, there are publications by Josh McDowell and F.F. Bruce on the
historicity of Christ. (_Evidence that Demands a Verdict_ and _New
Testament Documents: Are they reliable_, respectively.) I read these in
college which means they are about 20 years old. There are probably others...
McDowell's book does discuss exactly this problem and claims the
oldest copy of the writings of Plato date to about 900 AD. Most of what we
know about Socrates comes through the writings of Plato.
I suspect the real trick here is to define the playing field. What
do we count in this "contest"? How far after the death of the individual do
we go here? Certainly today more writings are about Jesus than Socrates.
In the middle ages there were lots of writings about both -- Christians in
the middle ages "christianized" Socrates -- that should hardly be held
against Jesus!
But if we try to restrict, say, to the century after the death of
the individual then it is an interesting problem. The next question is
still "What do we count?" Do we count just fragments from that time period
or do we allow later copies of things written from that time period? The
Beatty papyrus of John has been dated (by some) to about 125 AD and it was
believed that a fragment in the Dead Sea scrolls was of Mark, about 50-60
AD! I don't believe *anyone* claims there is a fragment on the writings of
Plato which date to within a century of Socrates' death.
But my suspicion is that the early Christian manuscripts have drawn
a lot more attention (and therefore a lot more attack) than any early
manuscripts on Plato's writings and so some will want to dismiss early
Christian documents, claiming later dates, while accepting without criticism
some early Greek ones. (Otherwise I think Jesus will win hands down.)
Thanks,
Ken
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Ken W. Smith, Professor of Mathematics
Interim Director, Office of Institutional Research "65 percent of
Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 all statistics
Work phone: 517-774-7222, fax: 517-774-4250 are made up"
Home phone & FAX: 517-772-5042 -- Anonymous