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"The fact that Thallus mentions the darkness tells us that something did happen, and that there is extrabiblical citation for the event."In Luke 23:44-46 there is the record of darkness falling upon the land during Christ's crucifixion. "And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun being obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.' And having said this, He breathed His last." Is there any non-biblical evidence of the day of darkness mentioned at Christ's death? The answer is yes, there is.
"Circa AD 52, Thallus wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time. This work itself has been lost and only fragments of it exist in the citations of others. One such scholar who knew and spoke of it was Julius Africanus, who wrote about AD 221. In speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion and the darkness that covered the land during this event, Africanus found a reference in the writings of Thallus that dealt with this cosmic report. Africanus asserts: 'On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.'"1
One might wonder why other historians of the time did not also mention the darkness. First of all, the darkness was localized, so it would not be a widespread phenomena that other historians would naturally record. Second, other historians like Pliny, Tacitus, and Josephus generally were focusing on events that could be verified and were not based in the miraculous. The fact that Thallus mentions the darkness tells us that something did happen, and that there is extrabiblical citation for the event.
Is There Non-Biblical Evidence of a Day of Darkness at Christ s Death Luke 23 44-46 Historians
I like your info Sassy , it gives info that people can research if they like , thank you !!
"The fact that Thallus mentions the darkness tells us that something did happen, and that there is extrabiblical citation for the event."In Luke 23:44-46 there is the record of darkness falling upon the land during Christ's crucifixion. "And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun being obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.' And having said this, He breathed His last." Is there any non-biblical evidence of the day of darkness mentioned at Christ's death? The answer is yes, there is.
"Circa AD 52, Thallus wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time. This work itself has been lost and only fragments of it exist in the citations of others. One such scholar who knew and spoke of it was Julius Africanus, who wrote about AD 221. In speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion and the darkness that covered the land during this event, Africanus found a reference in the writings of Thallus that dealt with this cosmic report. Africanus asserts: 'On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.'"1
One might wonder why other historians of the time did not also mention the darkness. First of all, the darkness was localized, so it would not be a widespread phenomena that other historians would naturally record. Second, other historians like Pliny, Tacitus, and Josephus generally were focusing on events that could be verified and were not based in the miraculous. The fact that Thallus mentions the darkness tells us that something did happen, and that there is extrabiblical citation for the event.
Is There Non-Biblical Evidence of a Day of Darkness at Christ s Death Luke 23 44-46 Historians
Umm... sorry but Thallus did NOT mention any event. Some guy named Africanus 200 years later mentioned it. So a guy, 1800 years ago, wrote about a passage, which he read about in a book that is lost to history, that maybe might have been talking about Jesus... PROOF!!!
So Jesus died for everyone, but the darkness associated with the event was only seen in Jerusalem and was barely noted at the time?
I'm a doubter, but even for believers, does that make sense?
It looks more like a penis balancing 2 rocks on top of it.
Record from America at the time:
"And it came to pass that when the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the storm, and the tempest, and the quakings of the earth did cease—for behold, they did last for about the space of three hours; and it was said by some that the time was greater; nevertheless, all these great and terrible things were done in about the space of three hours—and then behold, there was darkness upon the face of the land.
20 And it came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face of the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof who had not fallen could feel thevapor of darkness;
21 And there could be no light, because of the darkness, neither candles, neither torches; neither could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood, so that there could not be any light at all;
22 And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land.
23 And it came to pass that it did last for the space of three days that there was no light seen; and there was great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually; yea, great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them. (3 Nephi 8:19-23)
So Jesus died for everyone, but the darkness associated with the event was only seen in Jerusalem and was barely noted at the time?
I'm a doubter, but even for believers, does that make sense?
In Luke 23:44-46 there is the record of darkness falling upon the land during Christ's crucifixion. "And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun being obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.' And having said this, He breathed His last." Is there any non-biblical evidence of the day of darkness mentioned at Christ's death? The answer is yes, there is.
"Circa AD 52, Thallus wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time. This work itself has been lost and only fragments of it exist in the citations of others. One such scholar who knew and spoke of it was Julius Africanus, who wrote about AD 221. In speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion and the darkness that covered the land during this event, Africanus found a reference in the writings of Thallus that dealt with this cosmic report. Africanus asserts: 'On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.'"1
One might wonder why other historians of the time did not also mention the darkness. First of all, the darkness was localized, so it would not be a widespread phenomena that other historians would naturally record. Second, other historians like Pliny, Tacitus, and Josephus generally were focusing on events that could be verified and were not based in the miraculous. The fact that Thallus mentions the darkness tells us that something did happen, and that there is extrabiblical citation for the event.
Is There Non-Biblical Evidence of a Day of Darkness at Christ s Death Luke 23 44-46 Historians
"The Gospel of Luke account appears to describe the event as an eclipse, and some non-Christian writers dismissed it in these terms. However, the biblical details do not accord with an eclipse: a solar eclipse could not have occurred on or near the Passover, when Jesus was crucified, and would have been too brief to account for three hours of darkness. The maximum possible duration of a total solar eclipse is seven minutes and 31.1 seconds.[35] A total eclipse on 24 November 29 CE was visible slightly north of Jerusalem at 11:05 AM.[36] The period of totality in Nazareth and Galilee was one minute and forty-nine seconds, and the level of darkness would have been unnoticeable for people outdoors."
Crucifixion darkness - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
As with most religious things, you either take it on faith or ya don't.
Yes, if you look at it properly. The account of the darkness is found in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew,and Luke). Matthew and Luke almost certainly copied it from Mark (Matthew in fact quotes the Mark account nearly verbatim). Mark was written 30 years or so after the death of Jesus and probably based largely upon oral tradition. When things like that occur in the Bible there are five possible explanations
a) The event happened and was divinely inspired by God
b) The event happened as a natural phenomenon by some coincidence
c) The event did not happen and the author is using metaphoric symbolism
d) The event did not happen but was added in oral tradition to enhance the story
e) A similar event took place that was exaggerated over time
In reference to the darkness I would make the following points:
- astronomers could very easily use computer models to determine whether there was an eclipse in Judea around the time when Jesus died. I have never looked, myself. As a Christian it's not something I feel is terribly important. Besides, eclipses don't last three hours so if one did occur it would fit the explanation of e better than b.
-It's hard to imagine a three hour period of darkness being symbolic of anything. I could see "Jesus died and the world slipped into darkness" meaning the 'light of the world has been taken away', or 'hope has been lost' or something poetic and symbolic like that. But one that only last for three hours is tough for my to find symbolism in. Three is a very important number in the Bible and is used a lot of ways, but it doesn't mesh well with its traditional symbolic use in this account.
- With doubt cast on a natural phenomenon, little to no historical accounting of the event, and difficult symbolic meaning, the most likely scenario is that the event was added through oral tradition and recorded by the author of Mark when he wrote his gospel. The authors of Matthew and Luke copied the account and (at least in the case of Matthew) added to it to make it even more spectacular and more representative of the apocalyptic nature of early Christian doctrine.
"The Gospel of Luke account appears to describe the event as an eclipse, and some non-Christian writers dismissed it in these terms. However, the biblical details do not accord with an eclipse: a solar eclipse could not have occurred on or near the Passover, when Jesus was crucified, and would have been too brief to account for three hours of darkness. The maximum possible duration of a total solar eclipse is seven minutes and 31.1 seconds.[35] A total eclipse on 24 November 29 CE was visible slightly north of Jerusalem at 11:05 AM.[36] The period of totality in Nazareth and Galilee was one minute and forty-nine seconds, and the level of darkness would have been unnoticeable for people outdoors."
Crucifixion darkness - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
As with most religious things, you either take it on faith or ya don't.
Well I generally don't take Wiki as a very reliable source, but because my interest is now piqued I looked at the NASA database (which can be found here Catalog of Solar Eclipses 0001 to 0100) and the only one I found that comes close to matching the time frame and the area is this one (NASA - Total Solar Eclipse of 29 November 24) but the epicenter is nowhere near Jerusalem. The shadow does move in the general vicinity, but boy it would be slight if even noticeable.
I think the best case scenario to argue for a historical event would be to suggest that stories of an eclipse that hit the Arabian Peninsula and the crucifixion account were linked together through oral tradition, exaggerated, and eventually recorded by the author of Mark as occurring simultaneously at Jerusalem when, in fact, they didn't. The Mark account was later copied by the authors of Matthew and Luke, and in the case of Matthew exaggerated again or perhaps linked to a separate tectonic event that also took place somewhere else at a completely different time and was again spliced into the story. That would actually fit very well with how stories developed through oral tradition in ancient times. That's the best case that I think can be made.
Or you can believe it was a divinely inspired event.
