The siege of Pliny's Letter continues as host Chris Palmero proceeds further in the close reading of this Christian forgery of the late second century. 

Anyone who listens to this episode can learn about other contemporary Christian forgeries written over the name of an emperor, about the poetic structure and literary devices used by the forger of Pliny's Letter, about how the treatment of persecution in Pliny's Letter would only make sense to a Christian of that time, about strange anachronisms and use of terms by Pliny that would only ever have been used by Christians, and about the numerous and flagrant parallels between this document and other Christian writings of the time, including the New Testament and the acts of the martyrs. It's part of BORN IN THE SECOND CENTURY's multi-part investigation of the key text used by those who argue an early date for Christianity.

Opening reading: A fake letter from the emperor Antoninus to the common assembly of Asia sheds further light on Christian forgeries of imperial rescripts during this period.

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