Bart Ehrman Quotes
Nero did not, technically speaking, prosecute Christians for being Christian. He executed them for committing arson.
True, they probably were not guilty, but that was the charge. Being a Christian was not punishable, but setting fire to Rome was.
Nero’s persecution was localized. It involved only the city of Rome. Nothing indicates that Christians elsewhere in the empire suffered any consequences.
Even more significant, it appears that none of Nero’s successors down to Trajan (ruled 98–117 CE) persecuted Christians.
Between Nero in 64 CE and Marcus Aurelius in 177 CE, the only mention of an emperor’s intervention in Christian affairs, apart from the episode involving Trajan found in Pliny’s letters, is a letter from the emperor Hadrian that gives instructions to a local governor to conduct his trials against the Christians fairly.
Bart Ehrman
Quotes to Explore
I'm trying to grow. I don't want to stay on the same page.
Flavor Flav
He's protected the football, which is very important. I think he has made good decisions when things aren't there, which is really important. Everybody is going to hit something that's open. But when it's not there, Mark has played well.
Joe Gibbs
When we become advocates of a creed, something dies; we do not believe God, we only believe our belief about Him.
Oswald Chambers
Here's a tip...If you leave a girl crying you're probably not doing your Don Juan routine right, asshole.
Rachel Caine
Composing on the typewriter, I find that I am sloughing off all my long sentences which I used to dote upon. Short, staccato, like modern French prose. The typewriter makes for lucidity, but I am not sure that it encourages subtlety.
T. S. Eliot
As we passed over the dark bridge her wan face fell lazily against my coat's shoulder and the formidable stroke of thirty died away with the reassuring pressure of her hand.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
I presume that you are compassionate: to be without pity means to be sick in body and spirit. But one should have spirit in abundance, so as to be permitted to be compassionate! For your pity is detrimental to you and to everyone.
Friedrich Nietzsche
My friend Fred Coury, the drummer in '80s rock band Cinderella, told me that in the rock world, you're either still there, or you're struggling to get back to where you were.
Steve Valentine
The priest is not made. He must be born a priest; must inherit his office. I refer to the new birth-the birth of water and the Spirit. Thus all Christians must became priests, children of God and co-heirs with Christ the Most High Priest.
Martin Luther
Nero did not, technically speaking, prosecute Christians for being Christian. He executed them for committing arson.
True, they probably were not guilty, but that was the charge. Being a Christian was not punishable, but setting fire to Rome was.
Nero’s persecution was localized. It involved only the city of Rome. Nothing indicates that Christians elsewhere in the empire suffered any consequences.
Even more significant, it appears that none of Nero’s successors down to Trajan (ruled 98–117 CE) persecuted Christians.
Between Nero in 64 CE and Marcus Aurelius in 177 CE, the only mention of an emperor’s intervention in Christian affairs, apart from the episode involving Trajan found in Pliny’s letters, is a letter from the emperor Hadrian that gives instructions to a local governor to conduct his trials against the Christians fairly.
Bart Ehrman
