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From: lab@qubix.UUCP (Q-Bick)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Destruction of literature by Christians
Message-ID: <1437@qubix.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Oct-84 14:18:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: qubix.1437
Posted: Wed Oct 17 14:18:26 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Oct-84 19:26:14 EDT
References: <1026@bbncca.ARPA>
Organization: Quadratix ... Quartix
Lines: 24

> Ron Rizzo
> In "Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek (and no proof)", Yirmiyahu BenDavid alludes
> to possible & large-scale destruction of scriptures in the early centuries
> C.E.  To underscore the possibility of violent intolerance in the early
> Christian church, at least one classics scholar (Don Liles of San Francisco
> State) believes much of ancient Greek & Roman literature was lost not through
> the ravages of barbarians, final collapse of empire, decline in culture,
> etc., but by deliberate & systematic destruction by Christian zealots, often
> acting "officially".  In support, he cites such mysterious facts as the com-
> plete loss of the entire corpus of very prolific, highly-regarded, and wide-
> ly read authors such as the poet Sappho (only quotations of individual
> verses from her poems in other people's writings survive).

Let us not overlook the Roman emperor's (Diocletian?) attempt to
destroy all Christian writings. God has a sense of humor - about 50
years later, Constantine ordered the making of 50 copies of the New
Testament.  (Sorta like Voltaire proclaiming that Christianity would be
dead in 100 years - 100 years later the Geneva Bible Society was using
*his* house and *his* printing press to produce Bibles!)
-- 
		The Ice Floe of Larry Bickford
		{amd,decwrl,sun,idi,ittvax}!qubix!lab

You can't settle the issue until you've settled how to settle the issue.