Little did I know it, but while I was in Rome, speaking with much unction about the apostle Paul, the Pope was busily confirming that the Vatican definitely has Paul’s bones. Here’s how the logic goes:
- The bones can be proven to be from the first or second century
- Therefore they are definitely the Apostle Paul’s bones
ROME, Italy (CNN) — Scientific tests prove bones housed in the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome are those of the apostle St. Paul himself, according to Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Benedict XVI looks at the tomb of St. Paul at the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome in 2007.
“Tiny fragments of bone” in the sarcophagus were subjected to carbon dating, showing they “belong to someone who lived in the first or second century,” the pope said in a homily carried on Italian television.
“This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition that these are the mortal remains of the Apostle St. Paul,” Benedict said in Sunday’s announcement.
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Yeah, that sounds logical.
What about me?! Unanimous and undisputed tradition? I didn’t know there was one. i dispute it!!!
This is the sort of logic applied to “Q”. We don’t have a manuscript but we have the text, therefore this supports the consensus of scholarship that “Q” is a single written Greek document, created by the “Q” “community” bla bla bla…
I think it makes a lot of sense. There’s about as much evidence that the bone fragments belong to Paul as there is that Paul wrote any of the New Testament letters. It’s all “Tradition” and I accept it, not because it’s a tradition but because I believe there is sufficient evidence.
Can you be certain that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans?
Does he also believe the carbon dating of stuff that’s millions of years old?
Or maybe if they found bones older than any other bones, they would have to be the bones of Adam and Eve.
Jeff
Hmm looks like we have a new tradition of dissent! I certainly don’t think all church tradition is rubbish… and I think some of the traditional locations – such as the home of Peter in Capernaum and the general area of the Holy Sepulchre – probably accurately represent the genuine sites. But as for the bones of Paul himself… I’m not convinced
I’m like Luther in that classic black-and-white when his superior was going on and on about relics and how many years they’ll take off and so on.
Luther walked out…