Theos-Talk Archives (June 2007 Message tt00126)

New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman in his book titled THE NEW 
TESTAMENT (2004 ed.) writes as follows on Apollonius of Tyana:

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...Apollonius lived at about the time of Jesus.  Even though 
they never met, the reports about their lives were in many ways 
similar.  At a later date, Jesus' followers argued that Jesus was the 
miracle-working Son of God, and that Apollonius was an imposter, a 
magician, and a fraud.  Perhaps not surprisingly, Apollonius's 
followers made just the opposite claim, asserting that he was the 
miracle-working Son of God, and that Jesus was a fraud.  

What is remarkable is that these were not the only two persons in the
Greco-Roman world who were thought to have been supernaturally
endowed as teachers and miracle workers.  In fact, we know from the
tantalizing but fragmentary records that have survived that numerous
other persons were also said to have performed miracles, to have
calmed the storm and multiplied the loaves, to have told the future
and healed the sick, to have cast out demons and raised the dead,
to have been supernaturally born and taken up into heaven at the end
of their life.  Even though Jesus may be the only miracle-working
Son of God that we know about in our [modern] world, he was
one of many talked about in the first century [Greco-Roman world]....
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Quoted from pp. 20-22.

For more info on Dr. Ehrman's book, see:

http://blavatskyarchives.com/Ehrmanbibliography.htm#Introduction

Daniel
Blavatsky Study Center
http://blavatskystudycenter
http://blavatskyarchives.com
http://hpb.cc