A Professor of Religion, the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, has given his online students a hearty guffaw with the following:
It would be an interesting thought experiment to see whether there is any epistolary reference by Pliny the younger to his uncle that a determined “Pliny the elder mythicist” could not interpret as referring to events that transpired in the celestial rather than terrestrial realm. (August 29 2014)
Apparently to assist his online class with this exercise Professor McGrath linked to the following reference in Pliny’s letter collection:
5. VIII. — To Titinius Capito
Again, there is a precedent in my own family which impels me towards writing history. My uncle, who was also my father by adoption, was a historian
I guess such a brief reference, and one that spoke of adoption rather than a “natural” paternity, might really be compared with some references by Paul to Jesus.
For the benefit of those who would like to undertake the same exercise at a more advanced level, however, here are the remaining references Pliny the Younger made to his uncle in his surviving letters.
(I’m sure the Professor was pedagogically sound in not complicating the exercise for his typical online audience with such mass of detail.) Continue reading “The Challenge for Pliny the Elder Mythicists”