More on conversions coming from miracle stories — as reported by Christians, in their later legendary tales.  You might object (or probably will object) that if these tales are legendary, they don’t show how people actually converted.  My point is not that these relate real events, but they show how Christians (the story tellers and authors) understood  how/why people converted, and it is striking that in virtually every case, it is precisely because of miracles, not other things.  (In my next post I’ll talk about tales connected with actual historical figures).  Again, this is from my book Triumph of Christianity.

******************************

Once we move outside the New Testament the tales of conversion-inducing miracles continue.  Few are more intriguing than the conversion of the entire city of Edessa in Syria, allegedly because of miracles worked by Jesus’ follower Thaddaeus.

In no small part the tale intrigues because it starts with Jesus himself, before his death, and a personal letter he sent to the king of Edessa, Abgar, in response to the king’s written request to be healed – the only piece of correspondence ever attributed to Jesus himself.  The two letters are cited by the fourth-century church father Eusebius, who claims

Unlock 4,000+ Articles Like This!

Get access to Dr. Ehrman's library of 4,000+ articles plus five new articles per week about the New Testament and early Christianity. It costs as little as $2.99/mth and every cent goes to charity!

Learn More!