Dear Classical Wisdom Reader,
It’s a bit of a gap.
We may not think of Jesus as being from the Classical world the way we think of, say, Socrates or Virgil. Yet the lifespan of Jesus falls very much within the reign of the Roman Empire.
Now as Christmas grows ever closer, I’m sure we’ll see the familiar iconography surrounding the birth of Jesus all around us in the world.
But what about the boyhood of Jesus? The Gospels largely skip over Jesus’ early years. His childhood remains a mystery.
Except… not entirely.
The non-canonical Gospels go into more detail surrounding Jesus’ younger years, but were ultimately rejected by the early Church. That’s in part because of their more outlandish character… including an encounter between the child Jesus and dragons!
Members can read them in our exclusive e-book The Two Sides of Jesus, which looks at both accepted and rejected Gospels. It also features a special introduction from Ben Potter to give greater context for these surprising texts.
Check it out below, alongside the rest of the week’s resources…
Classical Wisdom Kids
That’s it for this week!
All the best,
Sean Kelly
Managing Editor
Classical Wisdom
I find the Prof. James Tabor's videos on Youtube very good insight on John the Baptist ( Jesus's same age cousin,Jesus, his brother James the Just, and other brothers and sisters who ran a family run church in Jerusalem and elsewhere for a long time.
I love how Classical Wisdom is applying a classical perspective to Christianity. Jesus of Nazareth should be studied just like any normal historical figure, no need to "deify" him (literally). Early Christianity, including the Church Fathers, was heavily influenced by Greco-Roman culture. Tertullian may have asked "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?" But clearly, the answer is: "A lot!"