Lucian
In the Passing of Peregrinus, Lucian refers Christians worshipping a man that had been crucified.
- "The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day - the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. . . . You see, these misguided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains the contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property."
Apologists claim this validates the gospel narrative. [1] Regardless of the fact that this is not an eyewitness account but written 120 years after the supposed death of Jesus, nowhere in any of his writings does Lucian mention the man's name, or the cult he brought into the world. Using Lucian as an argument for the historicity of Jesus is special pleading on the Christian's part, that is we are to assume Lucian is talking about Jesus. Except that thousands of people were crucified in Palestine, and many of these men were known to start new religions, especially around the time of Lucian. Palestine covers an area roughly hundreds of miles from north to south and east to west, it spreads from north of Damascus to the far south, past Masada and the Dead Sea. The only thing this proves is that a man was killed because he started a cult.