I remember learning the 3 Ls in religion class in high school. Religious schools really like to dress up apologetics as critical thinking. It’s not. Apologetics is propaganda, which is something I write about often.
Critical thinking starts out with the question “What if I’m wrong? How can I find out?” Apologetics starts with a preconceived conclusion, then works backward to verify.
And in this example, they conveniently leave out “legend.”
In the ancient world, it was very common for people to be deified post mortem. From ancient Sumer to the Roman emperors.
Throughout most of human history, there has been a constant power struggle, leaving open the question of who has more power, the priest or the king?
So, in antiquity, the happy medium was deifying the king.
In the ancient city of Ephesus stands a temple. The best preserved building among the ruins is the Temple of Hadrian, although it wasn’t built to honor Hadrian. Hadrian had it built to honor his predecessor, Emperor Trajan.
Starting with Emperor Augustus, it was standard practice to deify emperors after their death as a means of making their rule unquestionable, and as a means of ensuring yourself (as the new emperor) can join the gods after your own death.
So when we come to the 3 Ls, it would have been a rather practical apologetic attempt to deify Jesus after his death as a means of not just putting him above other contemporary rabbis, but also a means of raising Jesus’ status equal to that, or even surpassing that of the emperor of Rome.
In reality, Jesus was probably a real rabbi with an inclination towards apocalyptic thinking. If you take the Palm Sunday story seriously, he was arrested for starting a riot in the temple, which the Romans would have equated with inciting a rebellion. They always crucified people who did that.
And Pontius Pilate had a reputation for being a brutal dictator who executed people without trial.
After Jesus’ death, the stories of his life went through rounds of embellishment as apologists argued with each other over the nature of Jesus as an individual, his teachings, and his life’s works.
This is how real historical people get spun into legends.
It’s very similar to the tales of King Arthur.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.