Just as there were niggardly references to Jesus of Nazareth, after his death, there were niggardly references to Roswell after that 1947 incident (as noted in my post showing the 1967 LOOK issue, Flying Saucers and in a comment from Christopher Allen).
No substantive account about Jesus appeared or is extant earlier than the Gospel of Mark, about thirty years after Jesus’ death, allegedly “helped” by The Holy Spirit
No substantive account of the Roswell episode appeared earlier than the 1980 book, The Roswell Incident by Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, covertly helped by Stanton Friedman.
Subsequent books or “gospels” about Jesus, centering on his meaning and mission, culminating in his death and resurrection, appeared later, 60 A.D. to 300 A.D., (with the sojourns of St. Paul, peripheral to Jesus life, showing up around 50 A.D).
These gospels derive from witness accounts, not first-hand information from Jesus or those in his circle.
Many books subsequent to the Berlitz/Moore work have appeared, all offering synopses of the Roswell event, culled from newspapers archives and alleged witness accounts, but no first-hand accounts of a flying disk crash.
Christianity eventually became, with the help of Roman Emperor Constantine, the prevailing religion in the West.
Roswell became, with the help of Stanton Friedman, the template for ufology’s extraterrestrial believers.
While the divinity of Jesus and his alleged miracles and resurrection have been grist for theologians, religious lay persons, and atheists (or agnostics), the supposed crash landing of a flying disk, piloted by extraterrestrial entities, in Roswell, has similarly become fodder for UFO’s ET believers and skeptics (or debunkers, as the UFO fanatics put it).
Jesus of Nazareth has generated more controversy and writings than any other religious oriented subject.
Roswell, in the UFO context, has generated more controversy and writings than any other flying saucer event.
Persons claiming to be Christians have provided a myriad of experiences related to the Jesus phenomenon.
Persons claiming to be Roswell witnesses or friends of same have provided myriad accounts tying them to the Roswell incident.
Both kinds of witnesses engage intellectual or superficial scrutiny by others, with fervant debate deciding nothing that can be substantiated by fact or empirical proof: Jesus remains an enigma for many, believers and non-believers alike; Roswell, remains an enigma, generally, for believers and skeptics too.
The Jesus story has an alleged artifact from his death/resurrection: The Shroud of Turin.
Roswell has artifacts from the alleged crash: misperceived debris.
Both Jesus and Roswell have produced a mythos, a mythology of significant proportions.
Neither is related to the other, but they do resonate as historical “fables” or historical realities.
The Jesus story appears to be transcendent but Roswell appears to be preternatural also.
Sociologists can work with the elements of both to determine the human interactions that provide the integration suggested here.
Jesus’ influence is much greater than Roswell, surely, but Roswell does mimic the vicissitudes that brought the Jesus movement to prominence, even if Roswell is a sociological canard.
But wait, the Jesus thrust has been just as fraught with fraud, falsity, or fallacious human interactions – the difference being that Roswell takes us nowhere theologically or philosophically relevant.
RR
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