(November 20, 2010 at 3:40 pm)padraic Wrote:(November 20, 2010 at 2:53 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Constantine and his gang of thugs.
I think Constantine allowed Christianity to be created for political reasons.He was not even a Christian himself until the end of his life,nor was the empire dominated by Christianity under Constantine.
The Christian canon was cobbled together at the First Nicene Council,convened by Constantine in 325 CE.. It attempted, and failed, to homogenise Christian beliefs and make Rome the centre of Christian power. That kind of worked.
THAT Christianity was invented by Saul of Tarsus more than any other single person. He de-Jewified what was an orthodox Jewish sect, by removing the ritual aspects (especially) of Mosaic law.( EG the bris,dietary law) These changes opened the new faith to gentiles,which was essential to the spread of Christianity..The faith called Christianity has little to do with the poor little first century rabbi blamed for founding it...
Christianity has been reinvented several times not only by the Catholic church,but by people such as Martin Luther and John Calvin.Celibacy of clergy was not introduced for at least three hundred years ,never adopted by Easter rites Christianity and abandoned by protestants. Today some denominations (such as Anglicans) allow female and gay clergy.
If you were to historically and geographically trace the roots of christianity back to its origins, you would find that in fact there were christians before 1000 BC, way before the time of Paul or Constantine. There is historical evidence of these people and their faith in a divine creator, and accounts of their stories which have been scientifically dated to be from before 1000 BC.
You would also find that when a man named Jesus went around teaching and living with these christians about 1000 years later, they adopted a refined spirituality. It then led to many different writings about this man Jesus and his life. These have been scientifically proven to have been from as early as 60 AD.
So, to say that one person 'created' christianity isnt exactly a fair statement at all. I would believe that God did, not only because I'm a christian, but the intellectual part of my brain also wouldnt let me think that one person 'created' christianity because if you look at the historical evidence, there really isnt any proof that ANYONE created christianity.
Also, the biblical canon was not simply 'cobbled' together at the council of nicine. Christians in or around 80 AD got together and started to make decisions on which of these writings were to be in the new testament. They used many different pieces of information to try to see what should and shouldnt be in the bible. These included but were not limited to:
-The author had to be either one of Jesus' apostles, or a close associate of an apostle
-The teachings within the writings could not directly contradict christianity or god's word
-The writings had to be accepted by chritians everywhere at that time
Because of the last criteria, 3 writings that were generally accepted as going into the NT were then under dispute. Christians then waited for over 200 years to see just what people thought about these 3 books, and they also prayed to their god to ask him to show them what to do. In 325, at the council of nicine, it was decided that these 3 books would be accepted into the bible.