The Two Sides of Jesus?

The Story of the Infant Jesus and the Dragons

Dear Classical Wisdom Reader, 

Back when I was studying in the UK I remember once running into a good friend at the uni clinic. The epitome of an English rose, her face showed the sheer terror of encountering someone in a medical backdrop. I hadn’t even asked her why she was there, before fully flushed and fluttered she made her way to the exit. 

While (very generally of course) the Brits are hesitant to discuss anything regarding health, Americans are not. Indeed, I have heard from many a family member and friend the details of their colonoscopy, strange ear wax build ups or the full progress of bothersome rashes. 

The topics of religion and politics, however, are usually considered forboden. 

Meanwhile in France, they are often the conversational subjects du jour... after all, they are what we all have in common. 

This is not to judge any or all of the above - indeed, I’m guilty of broaching all the matters at hand, whether topical, taboo, or both! 

How can we learn about something if we aren’t allowed to discuss it? 

So with that spirit, I’d like to introduce a somewhat controversial Ebook for our Classical Wisdom Members this week... One that delves into the historical documents on the life and times of Jesus. The thing to remember is that there are many... and many that didn’t make the ‘cut’. 

But what were the accepted versus the rejected Gospels of Christ? What can we learn by studying the other side? And when did Jesus hang out with dragons? 

baby Jesus and a dragon

Members, please enjoy the full Ebook, “The Two Sides of Jesus” below. It is a Christmas book like none other... 

And to get us started, Ben Potter asks in today’s article and the introduction to the Ebook: What is the nexus of the Classics and religious studies? 

Enjoy!

All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom 

P.S. If you haven’t subscribed to Classical Wisdom yet, do so today and enjoy the full article as well as the Ebook, “The Two Sides of Jesus”. 

Finally, if you have any classics loving friends or family who aren’t into “stuff”, give the gift of a Classical Wisdom Subscription and spread the joy of discovering the ancient world: 

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The Nexus of the Classics and Religion 

By Ben Potter

There’s a strange, counter-intuitive and often unspoken blind spot in the intellectual makeup of many students of classical civilization. 

Whilst we’re all comfortable talking about the audacity of Athens, the rise of Rome, the hexameters of Homer, the ponderings of Plato and the verse of Virgil, we are, in general, reluctant to go too far or too fast down the road of religion. 

Well… of course this isn’t quite true – no classicist worth their salt would dare ignore the topic of religion in the ancient world; when I say ‘religion’, I really mean ‘Christianity’. 

And indeed, that’s not to say that Christianity as a social movement is ignored by classical enthusiasts – far from it. If you want to write an article about Nero, Diocletian or, in particular, Constantine then it would be impossible to do so without discussing Christianity; indeed, with Constantine, it would pretty much need to be the front and centre topic as, without him, it’s quite probable Christianity would never have been any more than a note in history’s great, capricious appendix. 

No, what I mean when I say there is another method of thought when classicists deal with Christianity is that many scholars are reluctant to get into the weeds of where the literature and the archaeology… in other words, the history… rub up against faith. 

For example, a classicist will have no compunction in asserting that Julius Caesar, despite most contemporary accounts to the contrary, was of course not really related to the love goddess, Venus. Nor would many give a second thought to the idea that the Greeks were in danger of losing the Trojan War because a plague had literally been sent down upon their camp via the anger of Apollo. 

But to state that the Gospels are self-contradictory, or that the evidence for the existence of Christ, even as a man, was somewhat on the light side (when compared to, say, the allusive and enigmatic Socrates) doesn’t sit well with many students of the ancient world. And the reasons for this are quite obvious. 

First and foremost, many classical scholars, like many lawyers, accountants, doctors,