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The Gospels According to Hadrian, Part III: The Aelian Canon and the Main Hand of God

Archaeologist photographed unearthing a statue of the Emperor Hadrian juxtaposed with an image of the crowning piece among several neo-Surealist paintings executed by Cadiz artist Manuel Caballero on the theme of Aelia Capitolina (2008).  The painting is on display at the Espoo-Helsinki Culture Arts Center (June-July 2010).  The second century cultural imprint of events occurring at Aelia Capitolina shaped the course of subsequent European history. The interpretation of this second century evidence remains a delicate balance of science, art, and inspiration.

This, our third part on the Gospels According to Hadrian, aims to write in the tonic key of our argument.

In part one, we introduced the second century test: any early canonical Gospel papyri must first seek explanation in the century to which they can earliest be attested or dated. In the case of canonical Gospel papyri, this is the second century CE. We have none earlier at this time. Historians and archaeologists therefore have a duty to construct plausible historical scenarios based on a second-century provenance for the canonical Gospels. If any canonical papyri surface of an uncontested earlier date than the second century, then and only then, should the historical models be revised to reflect these data. In part one, we sought to stress that in the question of publishing and distributing texts, the imperial regime held a massive advantage. Moreover, the point was made that the preponderance of the canonical Gospel of John in the early…

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