Religion and Ethics Forum

Religion and Ethics Discussion => Christian Topic => Topic started by: jeremyp on January 19, 2023, 10:22:37 AM

Title: Did ancient Christians burn all the books?
Post by: jeremyp on January 19, 2023, 10:22:37 AM
Anybody versed in Betteridge's law will automatically assume the answer is no.

Here is a more evidence based article

https://historyforatheists.com/2020/03/the-great-myths-8-the-loss-of-ancient-learning/

The tl;dr is that the notion that Christians in antiquity expunged all the texts they didn't like is not based on evidence.
Title: Re: Did ancient Christians burn all the books?
Post by: Nearly Sane on January 19, 2023, 10:39:14 AM
Anybody versed in Betteridge's law will automatically assume the answer is no.

Here is a more evidence based article

https://historyforatheists.com/2020/03/the-great-myths-8-the-loss-of-ancient-learning/

The tl;dr is that the notion that Christians in antiquity expunged all the texts they didn't like is not based on evidence.
Can We Be Sure Of This?  ;)
Title: Re: Did ancient Christians burn all the books?
Post by: Dicky Underpants on January 19, 2023, 02:50:03 PM
Can We Be Sure Of This?  ;)
Maybe they 'didn't strive officiously to keep alive'.
After all, we only know of Celsus' work from the quotes in Origen's 'Contra Celsum' - and I think a few other ancient pagan works are known only as a result of such selective quotation. Use once, and throw away.
Title: Re: Did ancient Christians burn all the books?
Post by: Nearly Sane on January 19, 2023, 03:00:45 PM
Maybe they 'didn't strive officiously to keep alive'.
After all, we only know of Celsus' work from the quotes in Origen's 'Contra Celsum' - and I think a few other ancient pagan works are known only as a result of such selective quotation. Use once, and throw away.
I pretty much agree with the article. I was making joky reference to Betteridge's Law

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines