Unbiased Ancient Historians - Ep.311

Unbiased Ancient Historians & Biased Modern Day Ones – Ep.311 – Miracles – Antisupernaturalism As An Authenticity Criterion? – Part 2

Patrick February 24, 2025

Unbiased Ancient Historians & Biased Modern Day Ones

Before we dig into Hume, we finish our discussion on unbiased ancient historians and then bring in the fact that modern day historians tend to be more biased. Both cases interact with miracle claims but it seems that ancient historians tend to deal with those claims in a more fair way than modern skeptics.

Timeline:

00:00 – Introduction
02:13 – Ancient Writers Did Include Miracle Accounts Without Sensationalizing Them
05:02 – Livy & Tacitus – Ancient Historians Who Did Not Deny Miracles
06:20 – Known Historical Fiction Vs. Known Historical Facts
07:48 – “It Is Said…” Was Said By Ancient Historians To Allow People To Make Up Their Own Minds
09:04 – Ancient Historians Were Not Radical Enlightenment Skeptics But They Did Know Levels Of Evidence Of Miracles
10:27 – Ancient Plausibility Structures
12:29 – Josephus – A Jewish Writer To A Greek Audience When It Comes To Miracles
13:19 – Luke – A Greek Writer Of Miracles And Understands They Are Weird
15:32 – Modern Western Skepticism Towards Miracles
17:06 – No Need To Assume Modern Anti-Supernaturalism Reading Of History
18:54 – Our Cultural Limitations When It Comes To Miracle Claims In History
21:16 – Our Privileged Particular Western Worldview When It Comes To History & Miracles
25:56 – Historians And The Limits Of Their Experience Effects Their Work
30:16 – Overview Of Ancient Historian Claims Of Miracles & Current Historians Bias
32:09 – Conclusion