(April 22, 2014 at 11:20 am)Minimalist Wrote: Josephus makes it clear, over and over, what he thought of people who upset the status quo. It's one of the reasons why the Testimonium Flavianum sticks out as such an obvious forgery.
Ever run across Ken Humphreys?
http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/epistles2.htm
Quote: "The letters, to which the apostle is indebted for the largest part of his fame, seem to have been forgotten for almost an entire century, until we encounter them in the middle of the second century in the hands of the heretic Marcion, who was excommunicated by the Catholic church in 144 CE."
– H. Detering (The Falsified Paul, p60)
Yes, I've learnt a lot from Mr Humphreys.
It is interesting that it was Marcion who introduced Paul's letters to Rome in the 140s. This is what I think happened....
There were three main “Christian” theology schools (or churches) in Rome in the 140’s and 150’s CE: Marcion’s, Valentinus’, and Justin’s. The majority of Christians believed in Marcionism and Gnosticism (championed by Valentinus.) In opposition to these was Justin’s movement, the minority, which was closest to what eventually became Catholicism, so it’s mainly their writings that have survived. They all conveniently, or unknowingly, disregarded or denigrated Nazarene beliefs.
Marcion (110–160 CE) was a key figure in Christianity’s history. He may have been the son of a bishop, and hailed from Pontus, a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea in modern Turkey. He was a ship owner and financially well off. He travelled to Rome about 142–143 CE, and soon attracted a large following, as his wealth allowed him influence and position. (http://www.gnosis.org/library/meadmarcion.htm, http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/fff/fff38.htm).
Some sources claim that Marcion was the first person to promote the Pauline Epistles, as prior to his emergence in Rome, we don’t directly hear of Paul, (other than in Ignatius’ letters, and they’re of doubtful authenticity.) No one knows how Marcion came across Paul’s letters, yet it’s possible that without Marcion, they might never have been published. Some commentators have hypothesized that Paul was, in fact, Marcion himself. I think that highly unlikely, as it would take a literary genius to invent Paul’s character.
The hero of Marcion’s canon was named Isu Chrestos - not “Jesus” or Yeshua. This is one of the reasons I suspect when “Paul” mentions “Jesus,” “Lord Jesus,” or “Jesus Christ,” such references are interpolations.
Marcion was a Docetist; someone who believed Christ was a spirit, an entity who sprung full-grown from the mind of God. Marcion’s (and Paul’s) Christ rescued people from the unattractive God of the Old Testament and the obligations of the Torah. He wasn’t the Messiah of Israel, the hero of Jewish expectations, but the savior of mankind.
Marcion thought that only Paul had understood the message of salvation facilitated by belief in Christ, which was precisely what the narcissistic Paul claimed too.
Marcion’s Pauline Epistles were Romans, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Laodiceans (Ephesians,) Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon.
Marcion was an anti-Semite, and believed that people had inserted the Judaic elements of Paul’s writings after Paul’s death. He completely ignored the Old Testament and any other references to Judaism. His followers were the first Christians to completely break away from Judaism. He (correctly) regarded Yahweh as a primitive god: jealous, envious, vindictive, angry, cruel, intrusive, and judgmental. He didn’t deny Yahweh’s existence, and even acknowledged that he was the creator of the universe, but claimed that an entirely different, previously unknown, god had sent Isu Chrestos. This new god was one of love and benevolence, and had sent Isu Chrestos to replace Judaism’s legalism with mercy and tolerance.
Marcion’s Gospel is very similar to the canonical Luke, although about one third shorter. He called it the Euangelion—the “Good News”—and it wasn’t attributed to an author. The first three chapters of today’s Luke weren’t in it, so it lacked any genealogy, family, or birth story for Isu Chrestos. It’s commonly stated that Marcion shortened the original Luke; however, given that Marcion’s version probably appeared long before today’s “Luke,” it’s more likely that Marcion’s version was closer to the original.
He was the first commentator, in 140 CE, to propose the existence of a new canon, and therefore that a totally new religion, separate from Judaism, had come into being. His canon consisted only of the Euangelion and Paul’s ten letters. Marcion was, therefore, in one sense, the founder of New Testament Christianity.
His complete break with the Jewish epic was a direct challenge to emerging Catholic Christian orthodoxy. He was excommunicated from the Catholic Church around 144 CE, and labeled as a heretic. Polycarp, who couldn’t cope with competition, called him “the first born of Satan,” and other church fathers denounced him. That didn’t stop him. He returned to Asia Minor and continued to spread his ideas. His church expanded throughout much of the known world within his lifetime and remained very influential throughout the second century, when it was more successful than Catholicism. It continued to expand for more than a century, persevering alongside Catholic Christianity, and was its equal well into the fourth century, at which time the Catholics gained political power and forced the rejection and disbanding of most, but not all, Marcionite churches.
One of the oldest Christian churches ever found is Marcionite, dates from 318 CE, and is located in Syria. The inscription on a wall is dedicated to “The Lord and Savior Isu Chrestos.”
In its opposition to Marcion, the Roman Catholic Church would identify itself as the heir to Jewish tradition, and even claimed itself to be the new “true Israel.” So the fact that Marcion was opposed to Judaism meant he had enormous influence on the evolution of Catholic Christianity.
The Roman Church eventually pinched many of Marcion’s patrons, and Paul’s teachings became the essence of Catholic Christianity. Hence Marcion’s ghost is very much alive in Christian churches today. (http://messianicpublications.com/daniel-...f-marcion/). His anti-Jewish, anti-Old Testament, pro-Paul heresy lives on, but it was dogma that would have dismayed Jesus.
Paul had proclaimed that Christ’s return was imminent, but as the second century rolled by Christ failed to make a reappearance. In the mid-second century, Paul’s Christ needed to be anchored in history, and the Gospel of Mark was the answer. The exact relationship between Paul’s writings and the Gospels is a topic of much conjecture, yet I suspect that Paul’s mythical son of God, the Christ, was only written into Mark’s story at this later stage. By then, any Jewish resistance to Paul’s ideas about the nature of Christ would have been half-hearted at best. The Jews had had their society and their messianic hopes cut to ribbons, so were in no state to argue over theology and history, and what Yeshua’s descendants thought didn’t matter anyway. The description of Jesus reappearing after his death wasn’t included in the original edition of Mark, an omission fixed by interpolators. Mark’s Gospel began to take shape; Jesus the son of God went from life to death to life again, as per Paul’s Christ.
To the growing group of Gentile Christians, who were mainly uneducated souls, the story of the son of God who died for them and promised them eternal paradise if they didn’t cause trouble had great appeal.
