Christianity
This is the second of three articles about the monotheistic religions.
This is a rational analysis of how Christianity developed. From all historical accounts Pontius Pilate was a ruthless Roman Governor of the province of Judea. The idea, described in several of the Christian Gospels, that he engaged in a philosophical discussion with Jesus at his trial is ridiculous. As far as Pilate was concerned here was a Jewish trouble-maker from the provinces come to Jerusalem for the Passover festival, who had enraged the Priests of the Temple, and so he should be executed.
The idea that such a ruthless Roman Governor would give the crowd (of Jews) the choice between the crucifixion of Barabbas or Jesus is absurd. He would have passed judgement on Jesus as a trouble-maker and ordered his crucifixion without qualm, as he had done thousands of times before. During this period and for some years later, the Romans executed ca. 500 people a day by crucifixion, and the execution of Jesus would have been routine and immediately forgettable. According to Josephus, during the uprising against Rome, this figure increased to over a thousand crucifixions a day. Pilate's supposed ritual washing of his hands to symbolically cleanse himself of responsibility for the blood of Jesus was a Jewish tradition, mentioned in Deuteronomy, not a Roman tradition, and something that he would not have done. Crucifixion on the other hand was a purely Roman punishment and was never used by the Jews.
Jesus never called himself "Christ," that is a Greek word, and he never regarded himself as the progenitor of a new religion, even according to the Gospels. All his preaching, as far as it can be believed, was within the Jewish tradition, including his non-conformism. His views were not very different from those of other Jewish sects of the time, such as the Essenes and the Samaritans. His following was enhanced over the period of ca. 300 years first mainly by the preaching of Paul, who went to the non-Jewish, mainly Greek and Roman, world and pushed what were in essence Jewish values (lovingkindness and abhorence of cruelty) but in a package devoid of Jewish ritual observances (such as prayer in Hebrew and kosher diet) that would be acceptable to them. This developing Paulist religion then competed among the many religions that were present in Rome (Mithraism, Dianism, etc.) that were filling the vacuum as the traditional Roman religion of ancestor and idol worship was waning. This process was completed as Christianity became more powerful as the only religion in Rome preaching "love thy neighbor" (taken from Rabbi Hillel several centuries before). Emperor Constantine followed his wife's conversion to Christianity after supposedly seeing a vision of a cross before a battle that he won, and also converted.
However, at first there were many forms of Christianity, the worship of the Christ figure who had been crucified and in purely Greek manner had risen from the dead. Among these were Gnostics and Monophyites, including the Jerusalem Church in which Jewish rituals continued to be observed for several hundred years. In 312 ce Constantine convened the Council of Nicea and invited all the Bishops of the Church, but only 330 came. They then discussed whether or not Jesus was purely a man or a God. As a compromise it was decided that he was the "son" of God (!) There was a vote and under Constantine's control this was the formulation that was accepted by the majority (of 5). Constantine used the Council of Nicea to regularize the tenets of Christianity with himself as head of the Church. Henceforth any deviation from this dogma was heretical and was punishable by death, a punishment that was often carried out. The use of Latin and the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church comes from this origin. Many Gospels that were extant after the time of Christ were suppressed and only the canonical four, with suitable editing, became the "New" Testament. The "Old" Testament (the Hebrew Bible) was also declared sacred by Constantine, because otherwise Christianity made no sense. The eastern and other Churches (Ethiopian, Greek, Armenian, Coptic) all had their own languages of worship and distinct variations.
From the beginning anti-Judaism became a strong thread in the dogma of the Church as it sought to supplant its progenitor. The Jews conveniently fitted the role of the devil that was emphasized in the new religion, and so were persecuted. Later of course, as anti-Semitism, this became increasingly racist and irrational and it still is today in the form of anti-Israelism (the belief that only the Jews should not have a State).
This is a rational analysis of how Christianity developed. From all historical accounts Pontius Pilate was a ruthless Roman Governor of the province of Judea. The idea, described in several of the Christian Gospels, that he engaged in a philosophical discussion with Jesus at his trial is ridiculous. As far as Pilate was concerned here was a Jewish trouble-maker from the provinces come to Jerusalem for the Passover festival, who had enraged the Priests of the Temple, and so he should be executed.
The idea that such a ruthless Roman Governor would give the crowd (of Jews) the choice between the crucifixion of Barabbas or Jesus is absurd. He would have passed judgement on Jesus as a trouble-maker and ordered his crucifixion without qualm, as he had done thousands of times before. During this period and for some years later, the Romans executed ca. 500 people a day by crucifixion, and the execution of Jesus would have been routine and immediately forgettable. According to Josephus, during the uprising against Rome, this figure increased to over a thousand crucifixions a day. Pilate's supposed ritual washing of his hands to symbolically cleanse himself of responsibility for the blood of Jesus was a Jewish tradition, mentioned in Deuteronomy, not a Roman tradition, and something that he would not have done. Crucifixion on the other hand was a purely Roman punishment and was never used by the Jews.
Jesus never called himself "Christ," that is a Greek word, and he never regarded himself as the progenitor of a new religion, even according to the Gospels. All his preaching, as far as it can be believed, was within the Jewish tradition, including his non-conformism. His views were not very different from those of other Jewish sects of the time, such as the Essenes and the Samaritans. His following was enhanced over the period of ca. 300 years first mainly by the preaching of Paul, who went to the non-Jewish, mainly Greek and Roman, world and pushed what were in essence Jewish values (lovingkindness and abhorence of cruelty) but in a package devoid of Jewish ritual observances (such as prayer in Hebrew and kosher diet) that would be acceptable to them. This developing Paulist religion then competed among the many religions that were present in Rome (Mithraism, Dianism, etc.) that were filling the vacuum as the traditional Roman religion of ancestor and idol worship was waning. This process was completed as Christianity became more powerful as the only religion in Rome preaching "love thy neighbor" (taken from Rabbi Hillel several centuries before). Emperor Constantine followed his wife's conversion to Christianity after supposedly seeing a vision of a cross before a battle that he won, and also converted.
However, at first there were many forms of Christianity, the worship of the Christ figure who had been crucified and in purely Greek manner had risen from the dead. Among these were Gnostics and Monophyites, including the Jerusalem Church in which Jewish rituals continued to be observed for several hundred years. In 312 ce Constantine convened the Council of Nicea and invited all the Bishops of the Church, but only 330 came. They then discussed whether or not Jesus was purely a man or a God. As a compromise it was decided that he was the "son" of God (!) There was a vote and under Constantine's control this was the formulation that was accepted by the majority (of 5). Constantine used the Council of Nicea to regularize the tenets of Christianity with himself as head of the Church. Henceforth any deviation from this dogma was heretical and was punishable by death, a punishment that was often carried out. The use of Latin and the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church comes from this origin. Many Gospels that were extant after the time of Christ were suppressed and only the canonical four, with suitable editing, became the "New" Testament. The "Old" Testament (the Hebrew Bible) was also declared sacred by Constantine, because otherwise Christianity made no sense. The eastern and other Churches (Ethiopian, Greek, Armenian, Coptic) all had their own languages of worship and distinct variations.
From the beginning anti-Judaism became a strong thread in the dogma of the Church as it sought to supplant its progenitor. The Jews conveniently fitted the role of the devil that was emphasized in the new religion, and so were persecuted. Later of course, as anti-Semitism, this became increasingly racist and irrational and it still is today in the form of anti-Israelism (the belief that only the Jews should not have a State).
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:10 PM
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