Quote:
Originally Posted by boxcar
Who the heck is "Typho"?
Identity of Trypho
The identity of Trypho, as rabbi Tarfon (the Hebrew name Tarfon likely derived from Greek Trypho) has been proposed, but virtually all scholars mentioned in Setzer's 'Jewish Responses to Early Christians' do not accept the notion that Trypho is Tarfon.[2] These scholars say that Trypho is a fictional character invented by Justin for his literary goals.[2][3] Setzer's book further claims that, whether a character on which Trypho was based existed or not, one can generally assume that Trypho's words are "largely put in his mouth by Justin".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_with_Trypho
At best the dialogue was nothing more than a fictional literary device depicting an intellectual conversation or debate between a believer and a skeptic as a Christian apologetic.
Apparently, there are no murky, miry depths to which you will not sink before you quit embarrassing yourself.
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Your question should be "who was Justin?" Obviously it was Justin Martyr, a person I assume we can both agree actually existed. I agree that the dialog is possibly "a fictional literary device" but then I must ask you "why did Justin put those words in his fictional character's mouth?"
The dialog is hard evidence that the question of Jesus historicity was extant circa 160 C.E.