Three scientists\u2014Papaia, Banani, Ravioli\u2014and their assistant Igor, who are supposed to attend the famous dark matter conference, take the wrong flight and end up on the other side of the world. After arriving at the wrong airport, they book a hotel to spend the night, but it\u2019s not exactly what they expected\u2026 in the sense that it\u2019s awful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re on the hotel stairs, where the four are making their way up, talking about the book Banani found on the plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: Yes, me too! And just like those detectives do, the author of the study treats the Gospels like a cold case to analyze their reliability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banani: Right, we want to understand if the evangelists\u2019 testimonies are credible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: To do that, the author asks some fundamental questions. The first one is: Were the Gospels really written in the first century?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banani: Why is that important?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: Because there are two crucial types of witnesses in an investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banani: Eyewitnesses?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: Yes, but not just them. There are also those who reported events immediately after they happened\u2014what in English are called early witnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banani: What\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: An eyewitness may write their account many years after the events, while an early witness might not be a direct witness but reports the events in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Banani: Give me an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: Take a World War II soldier who writes a book in the 1990s. He\u2019s an eyewitness but not an early witness because he\u2019s writing long after the events. On the other hand, a journalist who wrote articles during the war is an early witness, even if he didn\u2019t fight himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Igor: Let\u2019s take Banani and send him to the first century\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli: To get an early witness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Igor: No, to get rid of him without leaving any trace in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23<\/p>\n\n\n\n