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The Origins of Christianity
Background Material
From the earliest times people venerated the Earth-mother/Goddess and the female was seen as miraculously giving life, nourishing her young and losing blood through menstruation without bleeding to death. People also associated the monthly menstrual cycle with of the phases of the moon.
Gradually patriarchy replaced the matriarchy system as seen in the Old Testament through the Jewish accounts of their history.
Judaism, itself, was influenced by other cultures in the Middle East, particularly Persia and Egypt. There were many different deities in play which led to diverse interests. The idea of having only one deity contributed to unifying tribes and empires. But that meant there could be no rivals or consorts and so goddess worship and everything associated with the goddess, was suppressed. The wild boar for example, was one of the sacred animals to the goddess and in order to continue the policy of destroying female deities, eating pork was forbidden. Jews and Muslims continue this prohibition. Eventually the character of the goddess was reinterpreted in the process of installing a symbol of a male deity.
From Middle-Eastern traditions sprang mystery cults of gods (e.g Attis, Adonis, Tammuz, Mithra and Osiris). These cults told of similar themes:
The deity was born of a virgin; The deity was born in a humble abode like a manger or cave; Very little is known of their childhood; The deity died and was resurrected.
These myths originated far back in time and relate to the changing seasons and agricultural societies. In winter, everything seems to die, but slowly the sun moves further up in the sky and “Mother Earth” comes to life again in the spring (i.e resurrected.)
Beginning of Christianity
While some schools of thought doubt if there ever was an historical Jesus (see The Jesus Puzzle), and others maintain Jesus existed and married Mary Magdalene (see Holy Blood, Holy Grail, or The Da Vinci Code), the followers of Christianity accept the doctrines from their sacred book – The Holy Bible.
There were very turbulent times in Judea during the first century. The constant Jewish uprisings exhausted the Roman Empire’s resources and in the end, the Romans besieged Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish temple. Today, there is only one wall from the temple that remains standing. During those times, it is possible that the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden for safe keeping.
Long before Jesus was considered a 'son of God', Christianity began as a social movement to reform Judaism. The corruption by temple priests brought a desire for reform and when the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, Judaism had to abandon temple worship, which in turn broke down the hierarchy of the priestly class. The priesthood was the central authority for doctrine and rituals. At that time, the high priest was a Roman political appointee, and Jews begun to feel that their culture and religion were in danger of perishing. A new version of Judaism had to be developed that would be flexible enough to attract adherents and yet not be politically offensive to Rome.
St Paul, known originally as Saul, was born in the town of Tarsus in what is now southern Turkey, probably about 10 CE. He was educated in Jerusalem and he joined the Pharisees, a party of strict constructionists of the Judaic laws. Paul was not one of the original disciples of Jesus, and he never met Jesus nor heard Jesus preach. Paul had not been converted by the apostles but found the calling to the Christian faith by experiencing an epiphany on the road to Damascus. Before that, Paul was an active persecutor of Christians but after his revelation, he became Christianity’s most influential supporter of its doctrine. Paul almost single-handedly transformed a fringe movement of messianic Jews into a vibrant new faith. As a Christian missionary and theologian, Paul was ignorant about the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Paul was more interested in the death and resurrection of the exalted Christ and the promise of salvation for humanity. Writing about 20 years after the presumed crucifixion, before the four gospels were composed, Paul excludes the details concerning the circumstances of the virgin birth, parables or any miracles.
The mother church in Jerusalem, led by James, brother of Jesus, had kept strong ties to traditional Judaism and carefully observed the Mosaic Law (the many rules of religious observance).* But Paul gave little deference to the views of the disciples and was summoned to Jerusalem to be questioned about his convictions before the apostles; James, Peter, and John.
The conflict was about whether this new gospel should include gentiles as well as Jews. General outlines of how proselytizing should be done, how the church should be structured and what doctrines should be promulgated in order to appeal to as many people as possible were also discussed. As more and more gentiles joined the fellowship of believers, leaders of the Jerusalem church grew increasingly concerned that the laws of Judaism were being neglected, particularly the law requiring circumcision of male converts.
Judaism doesn’t proselytize but survives through Jewish bloodlines. Paul saw the message of Christianity as a message for all humanity, not just for the ‘Chosen People.’ The Jewish requirement of circumcision and dietary laws was an obstacle in attracting gentiles. The apostles agreed that circumcision would not be necessary for gentiles.
Over time, the new gospel diverged significantly from Judaism and the Christian Jewish wing disappeared. The gentile church spread throughout the Roman Empire and Christianity became a separate faith shaped by Paul's vision of salvation through the Risen Savior, not by works under the old Mosaic Law. Paul continued to travel the roads of the Roman Empire and the commercial sea lanes of the Aegean and Mediterranean, carrying the gospel to the cities of Asia Minor, Greece, and eventually to Rome. He was executed in Rome in 64 CE.
This new version, which would become Christianity, began to appear as isolated groups in widely separated towns and villages throughout the region. The word was spread by bands of wandering preachers. Independently, these groups developed different views and conclusions but always referred to their leader as 'Jesus', 'Jeshua', 'Yeishu', 'Yeshua', or 'Christos', meaning 'The Anointed One.'
It was customary in that era for authors to write their own material but ascribe it to someone they respected. Thus Mark, Matthew, Luke and John are not the authors of the gospels attributed to them. None of the gospels were written earlier than 65-70 CE. Most are second or third accounts and were composed after the establishment of the church; some as late as the 2nd century CE or even later. These gospel writers were converts to the new Christian sect.
The myths surrounding the life of Jesus were liberally borrowed by the gospel writers from the pagan religions of that era, because of the appeal these myths had had for the followers of the pagan religions. Everywhere were to be found religions that had as major features one or more of the myths that eventually came to be associated with Jesus. The Mithra cult was a formidable competitor to Christianity and their teachings placed a strong emphasis on the virgin birth and resurrection. Early Christian writers would have felt compelled to emulate the same themes.
The first generation of Christians were not interested in a permanent written record of the ministry of Jesus. They believed that the return of Jesus and the restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth were imminent. Therefore, what was the point of the written word if the world was about to end? Stories were passed along orally, primarily as a means of preaching and convincing outsiders. But as the first generation began to die off and hopes for the Second Coming dimmed, there was a need to preserve the words of Jesus to teach future generations. For Christianity to survive and grow, a complete Christian theological structure was needed. This requirement was met by Paul, the writers of the four canon Gospels, and other Christians who provided the writings which became the official New Testament canon. There are literally dozens of gospels, most of which have been lost, but significant numbers survive, not just those included in the canon. Most of the non-canonical gospels are polemics and some (particularly those from the Nag Hammadi library) are interesting mostly for what they tell us of the early church.
The gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John were written independently of each other and of Paul. The writings of Paul shows he was not aware of the gospels and the gospel writers were not familiar with the writings of Paul. The works of Mark, Matthew and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they are so similar. Since Mark is the shortest Gospel and has the least original material, Mark was written first and Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source. There are many similarities between Matthew and Luke which do not occur in Mark. Matthew and Luke must have had another source. This source, “Q”, was likely a collection of sayings of Jesus, similar to the gospel of Thomas. The gospel of Q gets its title from the German word “quelle” which means “source.”
The importance of Q regarding early Christianity is significant. The interval from the death of Christ to the writing of Q was only about 20 years. The next Gospel, Mark, was not written until more than 50 years after the crucifixion. Although Paul wrote his Epistles during the 50's and early 60's CE, they contained little material on the sayings of Jesus and his activities. Thus, Q gives us a much better understanding of an early, non-Pauline Christian movement: their preoccupations, beliefs, and developing theology.
What is remarkable about Q is that the original Christians appeared to be centered totally on concerns about their relationships with God, and their preparation for the Kingdom of God on earth. Totally absent from their spiritual life are almost all of the factors that are associated with Christianity today. There is no mention of apostles, baptism, church, clergy, confirmation, crucifixion, demons, divorce, Eucharist, healing, heaven, hell, infancy stories, John the Baptist, Last Supper, Mary and Joseph, magi, miracles, marriage, Messiah, resurrection, roles of men and women, Sabbath, salvation, trial of Jesus, trinity, or the virgin birth.
Quite a few collections of stories about Jesus circulated in the early church, among them The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, and the Secret Book of John. Some of these gave very different and in some cases conflicting accounts of the gospel and, most importantly, of Jesus' alleged resurrection. Some argued for the physical resurrection, others said the resurrection was a spiritual event. Each of the four gospel writers wrote at different times and for different audiences. This accounts for several discrepancies and obvious interpolations. For example, the massacre of the innocents under King Herod was written simply to satisfy Biblical prophesies and a Jewish congregation. At other times, through the centuries, it seems that some passages were changed to reflect current thought. Sometimes scribes made errors in copying texts. |