Oddbean

@49b604ac That's right. The four canonical gospels are a case in point: written a generation or even two generations after Jesus, though many believers take them to be eyewitness reports of what he did and said. And so many accounts — the creation narratives in the book of Genesis as a case in point — are interpreted as if someone saw and recorded actual historical events, when what's being written is mythology.

@f884fa2b the gospels in particular are the most problematic literature. Clearly they were written after at least the main events of the Judean wars, and yet place their historic Jesus in the quiet period before, so yes, maybe closer to two generations removed. Yet, the principle antagonists are other Jews and Jewish institutions; Harod, the temple, etc, all of which Rome wiped clean, and the Romans themselves are portrayed mostly as just "these nice guys over here" at most caught in the middle.

@49b604ac I think they're problematic because far too many people reading and citing them do not know that they are indeed literature, and, quite specifically, theological literature making theological points, not historical writing reporting on historical events as seen by eyewitnesses.