Thread 19 - TalkLair: "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 18)

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

In the TalkLair, the fairy lights are festooned on the mantlepiece, the tree is twinkling with baubles, the mince pies are in the oven, the MN legendary chicken is ready to feed the hordes. The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics. We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

There's no official Roman record of him, though and they were fastidious record keepers. They kept details of all rebels they could identify and certainly those executed.

Josephus wasn't even born at the alleged time of Jesus.

(Sorry, let's not have a barney!)

Fairy snuff. I suppose what I mean is that there's enough evidence that we know there was some sort of charismatic messianic troublemaker wandering around Galilee at that time, and there are good records of the early Christians (ROAR!!! YUM!!!!) so I think you can deduce fairly safely that there was a figure on whom the myth of Jesus is based.

It's probably a good thing I never wanted to be a historian. Or a lawyer.

I do like Edith Hall's theory that Life of Brian is based on Lucian of Samosata's Passing of Peregrinus.

A new book by T C Schmidt makes a good case that Josephus knew some of the members of the Sanhedrin involved in the prosecution and crucifixion of Jesus very well, and that he learned a lot about him (and the basis for their objection to him) from them.

Schmidt is a serious scholar and a lot of academics think he has a convincing argument that the documentary base is original to Josephus, not a later construction.

https://josephusandjesus.com/

The timeline should have included both the construction date and the destruction date of the second Temple in Jerusalem, both of which are cross-dated to records of literate cultures outside the bible, unlike Solomon's Temple. Or Moses.

I think there’s reasonable evidence for the historicity of Jesus and several other messianic prophets in that period - it’s the claim to divinity or divine authority that is the real dispute.

I was idly looking for something to listen to on BBC Sounds and discovered that they're repeating Nevil Shute's On The Beach. It's very well done and seems very timely!

My Mum was a big Nevil Shute fan, I used to get them from the library for her as kid, I remember, and read most of them, including On The Beach. But the one that made me the big impression on me was Round The Bend, so much different from his other books.

I read most of them in my youth - I particularly remember enjoying On The Beach and A Town Like Alice, and another one called (I think) The Houses Inbetween.

An Old Captivity is the one I remember best. Summer holidays at my grandparents' house meant lots of Neville Shute, and those weird b&w TV series like White Horses.

Some glorious spring weather this weekend, some beautiful displays of daffodils around our area! Shame it's gone cold and gloomy again.

We had snow yesterday - mostly melted away. Please thank whatever gods please you for the Gulf Stream.

After a bit of mist in the early morning it has been a beautiful day here, very much Spring Has Sprung! So we went out in search of bedroom curtains to replace some dreary ones that are nearly 13 years old. I pounced on the most lovely ones which were the wrong size and apparently unobtainable from the supplier. So now I am sulking at being thwarted!

I thought of you yesterday, Brit, when I read that Maine is the most Godless State in the US, with fewer practising Christians per capita than any other.

Well it’s nice to know I’m in good company.

JK Rowling replied to my comment on her X post and now I've had to turn off notifications because there were too many. She was asking whether or not anyone older than a teenager should be allowed to wear a hoodie and I said 'yes' and gave my reasons, which started a deluge.

Ooh, you're a celebrity!

<joins Hoodie Protection League>

Ha, that's what my cousin said!

My only problem with hoodies is when they have a crap hood.

DH is 83 and he wears them often.

My ornamental cherry tree is in full bloom today so I thought I’d better get some photos before this Arctic gale blows them away.

Gorgeous! Ours come out much later in April. Temperature here is still very cold - freezing overnight.

It's only the ornamental cherry that blooms so early, our morello cherry will be at least several weeks later (assuming the bastard wood pigeons don't peck all the buds off).

I think they’re all ornamental cherries here - too cold for the fruiting ones.

Lovely blossom!

I was about to go out a little while ago until the strong breeze suddenly turned into a gale and it started raining, so I changed my mind.