Click here (MSNBC) for a provocative and controversial archaeological find from 2008...
What are your thoughts about its purported authenticity? About its religious and magical ramifications?
9 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I'm not sure what to make of this. It doesn't surprise me that Jesus would have been referred to as a magician in his time. He did raise people from the dead after all.
As far as how this cup was used, a soothsaying bowl seems as good an explanation as any. People and magi were probably interested in harnessing the power of Christ.
Im not sure this says a whole lot about Christianity itself but it does show, as the article suggests, that different religions we're meshed together. Greek Gods with Egyptian with Pagan and Christianity mixed all together.
Referring to Jesus as a magician could sound feasible to some people. Especially during this time period. He did do a lot of magically things that is hard to explain. He rose from the dead, he turned water into wine. And many other holy things. In the earlier time, most things that were hard to explain they just blamed it on magic or witchcraft. I am highly surprised they did not once think that all women are witches for bleeding for a week and not dying. I believe this cup is a good find, and if they translation is correct then there should be more studies on it! - Tia Kraus
It could quite possibly be a reference to Jesus. However, It could just be a bowl with some persons name of it. Im sure there were plenty of people around that time with a name similar to christs, christo, christou. I beleive that this bowl is talking about Jesus Christ the magician, not for any particualr reason.
I want to know how they translated it. Its posible that this could be authentic, but i have some trouble believing that. If it does refrence christ then it would have come from an outsider because no true christian would have called him a mage.
Super interesting, I have no idea whether it's actually authentic of course.
Jesus as a magician makes total sense. At the time, he probably would have been perceived similarly as those capable of working any of type of miracle or those with supernatural power. Whatever the purported source of that power (God/demons/magic/tricks, whatever), the effects were probably comparable.
This was a really interesting article to read. Christ's magic cup could be interpreted different ways. Its possible it could have been pagan, a simple name written on the side of the cup to help with a ritual of some sort or it could just be a cup with some guys name on it that happens to be called Christ the Magician. Anything is possible, hopefully they dig up more at that site.
Wow, this was a very interesting article to read. I bet this was a very controversial find. I know it might offend Christians to hear Jesus being compaired to a magician but it totally makes sense to me.
Insightful comments, folks. Questions abound with an artifact such as this... not least of which regarding its authenticity. And, if genuine, then by whom? Under what circumstances? For what reasons? Did the inscriber believe he/she was being accurate? sarcastic? respectful? denigrating?
It is hard to justify its authenticity becuse there are not any spefic things that can pin point it to one particular religion. On the other side maybe different religious people want to claim it as theirs because of the significants. If it is claiming that the bowl is stating that Jesus was a magic user, we can't really say that what is recorded in history for the acts that Jesus "did" we not cosidered "magic". What we call magic and what magic was considered in the past I think are two very different things.
9 comments:
I'm not sure what to make of this. It doesn't surprise me that Jesus would have been referred to as a magician in his time. He did raise people from the dead after all.
As far as how this cup was used, a soothsaying bowl seems as good an explanation as any. People and magi were probably interested in harnessing the power of Christ.
Im not sure this says a whole lot about Christianity itself but it does show, as the article suggests, that different religions we're meshed together. Greek Gods with Egyptian with Pagan and Christianity mixed all together.
Deirdre Adams
Referring to Jesus as a magician could sound feasible to some people. Especially during this time period. He did do a lot of magically things that is hard to explain. He rose from the dead, he turned water into wine. And many other holy things.
In the earlier time, most things that were hard to explain they just blamed it on magic or witchcraft. I am highly surprised they did not once think that all women are witches for bleeding for a week and not dying.
I believe this cup is a good find, and if they translation is correct then there should be more studies on it!
- Tia Kraus
It could quite possibly be a reference to Jesus. However, It could just be a bowl with some persons name of it. Im sure there were plenty of people around that time with a name similar to christs, christo, christou. I beleive that this bowl is talking about Jesus Christ the magician, not for any particualr reason.
I want to know how they translated it. Its posible that this could be authentic, but i have some trouble believing that. If it does refrence christ then it would have come from an outsider because no true christian would have called him a mage.
-Casey Somerville
Super interesting, I have no idea whether it's actually authentic of course.
Jesus as a magician makes total sense. At the time, he probably would have been perceived similarly as those capable of working any of type of miracle or those with supernatural power. Whatever the purported source of that power (God/demons/magic/tricks, whatever), the effects were probably comparable.
Margaret Ransdell-Green
This was a really interesting article to read. Christ's magic cup could be interpreted different ways. Its possible it could have been pagan, a simple name written on the side of the cup to help with a ritual of some sort or it could just be a cup with some guys name on it that happens to be called Christ the Magician. Anything is possible, hopefully they dig up more at that site.
-Taylor E.
Wow, this was a very interesting article to read. I bet this was a very controversial find. I know it might offend Christians to hear Jesus being compaired to a magician but it totally makes sense to me.
-Rachel Levy
Insightful comments, folks. Questions abound with an artifact such as this... not least of which regarding its authenticity. And, if genuine, then by whom? Under what circumstances? For what reasons? Did the inscriber believe he/she was being accurate? sarcastic? respectful? denigrating?
pdk
It is hard to justify its authenticity becuse there are not any spefic things that can pin point it to one particular religion. On the other side maybe different religious people want to claim it as theirs because of the significants. If it is claiming that the bowl is stating that Jesus was a magic user, we can't really say that what is recorded in history for the acts that Jesus "did" we not cosidered "magic". What we call magic and what magic was considered in the past I think are two very different things.
Emily Peterson-Wood
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