Historical Easter Question for Minimalist

[ThomM]

From another forum: 

"I need your help, my fellow damned souls -

I still haven't found out the exact timeline of the development of the Easter myth. Yes, the concept of the killed then resurrected deity is common in almost all ancient religions, but what I haven't pinpointed yet is how the execution of the political dissident Jesus of Nazareth in c. 30 CE morphed into what we know as the Easter story in less than a century.
Please share any academic scholarly references you may know of."



Any ideas? 

First - you must remember that there was no execution of a political dissident - the "christ' of these stories is not a person - but an amalgamation of dozens of different fictional texts of the time.

Now - think of the number of stories we have of the venerable James Bond - of whom we have far more details than that of the christ - down to his preferred libation. It is a LOT easier when you can make it all up yourself and don't have to bother yourself will mindless "reality".

But in fact it was not the writers that made up their stories that brought the "concept" of the christ together - it was the leaders of the religion - who decided to "choose" among the many and varied and conflicting stories  - and VOTED which should be included and which should not be. And that did not happen in less than a century - it took almost 4 centuries. Remember - there were LOTS of different stories and claims made by lots of different sects - most of which were deliberately destroyed once the "bible" was fully ratified. THe few that have survived to this day (Gospels of Thomas - and Mary Magdalene come to mind but there are others) all have far more MAJOR disagreements with the voted on persona of the christ.

And for that you have to get the reason WHY the New Testament was compiled (IT was not written as a single book). THat bring us to a Roman Emperor - Constantine I, who converted to "Christianity" and then required the church to compile the basis for their religion.  There were at the time - LOTS more gospels _ why only four - and why one of a person who could not have seen the christ if he had existed. So - the church called together a group pf Synods near the end of the fourth century CE(Including the Synod at Hippo among others) - and somewhere in them - and it is by no means agreed which - an accepted version of the "Bible" came to pass - the Latin Vulgate - as approved by Pope Jerome. While a clear "preference" for which "stories" would be included in the bible years before - it was not until the individual pieces were VOTED ON by the church leaders - and then made cannon by the Pope - did we actually have an idea what the Roman church - which would be the dominant christian church for ages - wanted their christ story to be.

Also remember that only the rich could actually afford their own books - AND  - the church made it a sin for the average follower to have a copy.