RE: Who was Jesus?
August 17, 2021 at 1:49 pm
(This post was last modified: August 17, 2021 at 3:20 pm by Bucky Ball.)
As mentioned before, the content of the preaching which we see in what eventually were accepted as the canonical gospels relates better to what were the concerns of the Jewish rabbis in the late First Century, rather than early 1st Century, thus it does give one pause. There are a number of "Jesus-formulaic" preachers the character could be based on, (including what was in the "Gabriel stone" references) ... but the thing is,
... early Christianity had 3 major forms, a. members of the Way sect of Judaism, (and we know this was quite strong mid century until at least the end of the 1st Century because the high Priest found it necessary to promulgate the Expulsion Curses, late in the 1st Century, so they were essentially Jewish people who found that one of the apocalyptic preachers was compelling, b. there were the non-Jewish followers who were essentially led by the Pauline (non Jewish ie "Gentile" views) , and a bit later the Nicene Christians who followed a form of orthodoxy which the Roman emperor Constantine caused to be invented at the council of that name.
We know the first group took FAR longer to die out/amalgamate because in his Christmas sermon of the year 400 CE, (St.) John Chrysostom, the archbishop of Constantinople, (we have a copy of that sermon), told his congregants that they should stop going to the synagogue. That is far later than the tales were are told about early Christianities. But, the thing is ... the fact is, ... the Way sect had some impetus to get going. If we're going to deny the historicity of Jesus, we need to explain what would have been the impetus for the Way sect. It could have been Nazarene / Essene influence with a hero attached, but I don't ever see any real explanation for the development of the Way sect by the 100% mythers.
... early Christianity had 3 major forms, a. members of the Way sect of Judaism, (and we know this was quite strong mid century until at least the end of the 1st Century because the high Priest found it necessary to promulgate the Expulsion Curses, late in the 1st Century, so they were essentially Jewish people who found that one of the apocalyptic preachers was compelling, b. there were the non-Jewish followers who were essentially led by the Pauline (non Jewish ie "Gentile" views) , and a bit later the Nicene Christians who followed a form of orthodoxy which the Roman emperor Constantine caused to be invented at the council of that name.
We know the first group took FAR longer to die out/amalgamate because in his Christmas sermon of the year 400 CE, (St.) John Chrysostom, the archbishop of Constantinople, (we have a copy of that sermon), told his congregants that they should stop going to the synagogue. That is far later than the tales were are told about early Christianities. But, the thing is ... the fact is, ... the Way sect had some impetus to get going. If we're going to deny the historicity of Jesus, we need to explain what would have been the impetus for the Way sect. It could have been Nazarene / Essene influence with a hero attached, but I don't ever see any real explanation for the development of the Way sect by the 100% mythers.
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell
Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist
Militant Atheist Commie Evolutionist