Origins of Christianity

The Origins of Christianity are traditionally that Jesus set up an organization with his apostles and that after his death it continued until this day.

The facts are that the origin of Christianity is far more complex.  In fact, it is so involved, we are likely to never fully have all the details. Today, religous historians see Christianity as a complex composite of elements from many religions built on a Jewish framework.

Thousands of years ago religions were based primarily on location. As one travelled from one area to another, The differences between one religion and another were primarily the names of the gods and traditions based on local history. An individual from Rome who traditionally worshipped Jupiter, after he had lived in Jerusalem for a while, would find himself changing some of his ideas about God to be more akin to the views of his Jewish neighbors. People were little concerned with theology. Christianity appears to have developed in this way. It is not a single religion that fragmented into many sects over the centuries, but rather it arose from dozens (if not hundreds) of individual congregations governed by bishops, angels(ministers), priests or elders who had adopted  various beliefs about Jesus. These congregations held a variety of beliefs which were combinations of Pagan, Jewish and Christian theologies who often regarded other congregations as apostate.

The Holy Roman Church

Pontifex maximus (Latin;"greatest priest) was the most important position in the Roman religion. Under Augustus Caesar it became part of the office of emperor. In the fourth century the Emperor Constantine ordered all religions to recognize him as their chief officer. In 313, to gain the support of the various Christian groups, he decriminalized Christian worship. In response, the majority of Christians now recognized him as chief religious authority. As pontifex maximus he convened the Nicean Ecumenical Council in 324 AD.  Finally in 380 AD the Emperor proclaimed the state church of Rome to be the universal religion, i.e. The Roman Catholic Church, and divided it into five patriarchates: Jerusalem, Constantinople, Rome,  Alexandria and Antioch,  .

 

Jerusalem claimed right to authority because, according to tradition, It is where Christianity was born. James was the "brother" of Jesus who took over tht congreation after the death of Jesus. They practiced a modifed extention of Judaism upon which the enlightened teachings of Jesus were imposed. They were not ruled by dogma. They had no belief in crucifixion or resurrection.  Their idea of Jesus  was as the  "Lord of glory" who would judge the world as King in the future heaven. They were interested in living a practical moral life and had no interest in wrangling for power and condemn those congreations who did:"A plague on all your houses!"

Constantine was chosen as a patriarchate because, in the year 330, Emperor Constantine had moved his residence to the small Greek town of Byzantium, renaming it Nova Roma, and eventually building  the city of Canstantinople there. Because it was now the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, the church there grew in influence. 

Antioch was believed to be the Christian community founded in Antioch by the Apostle Paul.According to Luke the Evangelist- himself a Greco-Syrian member of that community: The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26). St. Peter and St. Paul were regarded as its cofounders.

The Patriarchate of Alexandria included all of Africa and was primarily Coptic(Egyptian). SOme of the greatest theologians originated there. Perhaps it was for this reason that its doctrines and liturgy differed greatly from the rest of the Holy Roman Church.

Rome was a patriarchate simply because it was the primary home of the Roman Empire. The stories about Peter living there and organizing the church are fables invented by the Church hudreds of years later.

Within these three political divisions, there were many “faith communities,” often in the same vicinity, with different and competing beliefs.

 

The core of Christianity

Many of the miracles attributed to Jesus, are identical to stories Pagans told about their deities. The worship of a miracl-working, salvation-bringing deity was also the core of many other ancient religions that had begun many years before Jesus.

 

Heaven, hell, prophecy, daemon possession, sacrifice, initiation by baptism, communion with God through a holy meal, the Holy Spirit, monotheism, immortality of the soul, and many other "Christian" ideas are all derived from earlier Pagan faiths. They were simply part of ancient Mediterranean culture. Along with  a miracle-working son of god, born of mortal woman, these elements were found in pre-Christian Pagan religions.

 

 Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the doctrine of the Old Testament represented by: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. (Deut. 6:4)".

Jewish Origins
Judaism, beginning in 1500 BC, experienced many changes. The system that Moses created contained a number of Egyptian elements. After all, wasn't he the adopted grandson of the Pharoah? Then we find the writers of the Old Testament repeatedly bemoaning the fact that the Jews were adopting the customs and beliefs of their non-Jewish neighbors.

Then there was the so-called "Babylonian Captivity" in which a large element of the Jewish people were held in Persia for hundreds of years. When they finally returned to Jerusalem, they brought with them a belief in angels, a dualistic view of deity, the practice of baptism, the sect of the Pharisees and more.

After they returned from captivity and tried to rebuild their kingdom, the Jews evolved the idea that God would send them a Messiah (an annointed leader like King David) who would re-establish their great "Kingdom of God" as they imagined it had once been under Kings David and Solomon.

Almost before it had begun, the Jewish kingdom was taken over by the Greeks and then the Romans. As a result  there were continuous religious and political tensions in Judea which came to a head under the rule of Herod, who relied on Rome to keep him on the throne.

Many claimed to be the promised Messiah. As John notes: "My children, this is the last hour. You were told that a false messiah was to come, and now many false messiahs have appeared, which proves to us that this is indeed the last hour.  -l John2.-18

 There was a serious revolt in 66 AD which was put down, but continued to boil underground. A second revolt erupted under the command of Simon bar Kokhba, who was regarded by many Jews as the true Messiah. He finally restored their national independence. His troops occupied Jerusalem and held out against the Romans for over two years. Finally Roman Emperor Hadrian assemblef a large scale Roman force which invaded Judea in 134 AD and crushed the revolt.

Greg Kane, referred to by his detractors refer as Pikachu, has produced a remarkable website - Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth.  For fear that this website might someday drop off the web, we are hooking you up to it here: Origins of the Christ Myth