The story of Jesus exists in several gospels, including four that have special canonical status, and in a collection of early letters. The story exists that way because nobody tried very hard, early on, to eradicate the gospels they weren't personally fond of. The result is that the study of Jesus is a programmed exercise for clever people: here are a bunch of responses to the same event. What is the event? New Testament scholarship is the result of hundreds of years of cleverness, applied to that puzzle.
The story of Socrates exists primarily in the writings of Plato, writings in which Socrates' role evolves as Plato ages. Further, the story of Socrates is almost always framed dramatically in Plato's dialogues in a way that suggests a quite specific dramatic intent -- very careful dramatic craftsmanship. So, in Plato's dialogues, there's another programmed exercise for clever people: here is a record of how a major event affected the intellectual life of Plato, beginning to end. What was the event?
In both cases, I think, the puzzle-setting is quite intentional. It was decided, early on, that the best way to preserve this heritage was to lay out clear tasks for clever people.
Posted by shea0017 at May 17, 2005 9:42 AM