Argument from silence
walter nusbaum nusbaum@iglobal.net
Sat, 7 Feb 1998 11:58:07 -0600 (00886895887, 19980207175801281.AAA145@nusbaum.iglobal.net)
Walt(2/7)
At 09:50 PM 2/6/98 -0800, PATSPEARS wrote:
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>
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>>BRIDEAN
>>I have been thinking about the argument from silence in reference to
>>the problem of why the Romans/Jews did not just simply produce Jesus's
>>dead body.
>>
>>The problem with this is that it seems that sometimes the errantists
>>also argues from silence. An example of this is the Josephus
>>reference. The errantist claims that no one references the Josephus
>>quote until the fourth century. So Polycarp doesn't mention it,
>>Origin doesn't mention it, and so forth. This also seems to me to
>>be an argument from silence. Perhaps these guys simply didn't notice
>>what Josephus said.
>>
>PATRICK
>
>Here's an important point. Silence is only significant if it CLEARLY extends
>to areas which are pertinent to one's discussion. When these earlier
>writers, knew Josephus, quoted Josephus, etc., in the effort to vindicate
>the historicity of Jesus, THEN it is highly significant that they do not
>cite the passage in question. Of course, in Origin's case, he explicitly
>said that Jospehus did NOT consider Jesus the Christ so that is much more
>than simply silence. I'll try to write more on this later, because its a big
>issue with historical Jesus.
>
>Sincerely,
>Patrick
>>
WALT
Patrick,
As you noted, the writers were in fact searching for references, which they
did not find. OTO, where does it state that either the Romans or the Jews
"searched" for the body and did not find it? How could they produce a body
that they didn't even know was missing?
Further, Mathew is the only writer that voices the concern that Jesus may
"rise again"(Mt 27;62-66). As I read it, the chief priests and Pharisees are
in dialogue with Pilate and Pilate said to them,"Ye have a watch: go your
way, make it as sure as ye can". So they went, made the sepulchre sure,
sealing the stone, and setting a watch. There were no Roman soldiers
involved in this operation, only Jews, and they are never mentioned again.
Best wishes,
Walt