Reply #33: It seems unlikely that sixteenth century anecdotes could shed much light on the Gabriel tablet [View All]

[struggle4progress]

One might be interested in ancient texts and artifacts, as shedding light on times otherwise lost to us -- so, for example, the effort to locate first century CE Christianity or Judaism in its proper political and social context, and to understand the evolution of current "sayings" from earlier ones, can contribute to human knowledge, independent of one's theological (or anti-theological) predispositions

My posts in this thread have assumed no theology whatsoever

I suppose you imagine you are shocking me by reporting an alleged comment by a Pope in 1514 -- but, being Lutheran, I'm rather used to the idea that the various humans who comprise the Church (like all other humans) are always imperfect (and sometimes even very unattractive). There was, by the way, substantial and widespread unhappiness with the universal Church in the early sixteenth century, which led to a schism called the Reformation (beginning in 1517); you have perhaps heard of it. That said, your charming tale about Leo X may be lifted from John Bale's 1574 Acta Pontificum Romanorum (Pageant of the Popes): you can get it in Renaissance English here,

http://www.archive.org/details/pageantofpopesco00bale

if it interests you, but since the book is subtitled "contayninge the lyues of all the bishops of Rome, from the beginninge of them ..." there might be some question about its complete objectivity