We are coming to the more crucial parts of Laura George's book, "The Truth (about the five major religions)", where she argues the weaknesses - and ultimate failures - of today's major religions. But she has already hit Christianity hard. For many Christians, the very act of being a Christian relies on the belief in the divinity of Christ (a special divinity, as in "one with the Father"). We learn, however, that this has not always been the case. According to her research, the first head of Christianity - those who were making the sayings of Jesus into a religion, or body of texts - was James, the brother (either through Joseph and Mary, or Joseph alone), who remained in Jerusalem as a Jew. He and his followers continued to observe Mosaic law, but, unlike other Jews, believed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. In Jewish tradition, the Messiah was akin to King David, a special emissary from God - but NOT God - who would reclaim Israel for the Jews and bring worldly peace. Although this did not happen, they took Jesus as the Messiah none-the-less, with a different literal understanding of the prophesies. In any case, he was NOT considered divine - only a very special son of Man.
At the same time, the Gnostics (ie, Wisdom seekers) were also Jews living in Qumran, or the village near where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. They also took Jesus to be the Messiah - although not God - but differed from James in that they did not practice Mosaic law. That, they declared, was ended by the acts of Jesus himself, who often defied the rules. Both they and the James faction believed that Jesus had indeed opened the door to heaven for the common man, but believed to the core that God could only be ONE God - that any other notion would be idolatrous.
Finally, there was Paul. Viewed with suspicion by the other Christians - he had persecuted them before his fabled epiphany on the road to Damascus - he was kept out of the inner circle and forced out of Jerusalem. He thereby became the Gentile evangelist, and as he stated himself, he would "be a pagan to the pagans, a Jew to the Jews, anything to spread the word..." (my paraphrase). It is George's view, taken from other scholars, that it was HE who insisted on the divinity of Christ, as it was more compatible with pagan costume. They liked multiple gods, and perhaps would not have respected a mere mortal as the spiritual founder of a religion. It was also Paul who instituted a hierarchy within the church, one that latter would be absorbed by the Roman Empire.
For the author, the institutionalization of Christianity was the beginning of its greatest problem - and it is obvious that the Church has not only strayed from Christ's teachings, but also become, by their very hierarchy and institutions, the hypocrites declaimed by Jesus for keeping the law and not the spirit. She also sees a problem with the deification of Jesus - for as God, he then becomes the premier prophet of all prophets, making His religion arguably the greatest of the Great Religions. It is in such a context that John, writing 70 years after Jesus's death, could quote Jesus as saying "I am the only way..." For the author, this formed the source of the bigotry and violence that the original Christian Church is so famously guilty of.
Tonight I will read more, but it is not hard to see that Christianity will fair especially poorly under this author, herself a cradle Catholic, for such is often the case in the West. It is almost a pathology of our Euro-culture to hate ourselves for our own shortcomings far more than we dislike othres for their own the shortcomings - if we are allowed to recognize the shortcomings of "others" at all without accusations of bigotry. This aside, though, she does have a point which concerns all religions: her overriding idea is that we are put here on Earth to learn the path to God. To have it closed because of orthodoxy or exclusion is anathema to her, and to a large extent, I agree. One of the greatest things about our often awful times is the openness with which we may pursue God or Truth, as well as the world-wide availability of information about and by others who have also traveled along the path to truth. It may well be that many will find that the Old Time Religion (whatever that might be for them) is the best path, regardless of its historic shortcomings, but that the path or paths are open to all is a guarded blessing. It can lead to confusion and wrong conclusions, but it can also lead to each finding his or her own path based on their own free will - something that Christians as well as others insist we must have to reach heaven. FK
At the same time, the Gnostics (ie, Wisdom seekers) were also Jews living in Qumran, or the village near where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. They also took Jesus to be the Messiah - although not God - but differed from James in that they did not practice Mosaic law. That, they declared, was ended by the acts of Jesus himself, who often defied the rules. Both they and the James faction believed that Jesus had indeed opened the door to heaven for the common man, but believed to the core that God could only be ONE God - that any other notion would be idolatrous.
Finally, there was Paul. Viewed with suspicion by the other Christians - he had persecuted them before his fabled epiphany on the road to Damascus - he was kept out of the inner circle and forced out of Jerusalem. He thereby became the Gentile evangelist, and as he stated himself, he would "be a pagan to the pagans, a Jew to the Jews, anything to spread the word..." (my paraphrase). It is George's view, taken from other scholars, that it was HE who insisted on the divinity of Christ, as it was more compatible with pagan costume. They liked multiple gods, and perhaps would not have respected a mere mortal as the spiritual founder of a religion. It was also Paul who instituted a hierarchy within the church, one that latter would be absorbed by the Roman Empire.
For the author, the institutionalization of Christianity was the beginning of its greatest problem - and it is obvious that the Church has not only strayed from Christ's teachings, but also become, by their very hierarchy and institutions, the hypocrites declaimed by Jesus for keeping the law and not the spirit. She also sees a problem with the deification of Jesus - for as God, he then becomes the premier prophet of all prophets, making His religion arguably the greatest of the Great Religions. It is in such a context that John, writing 70 years after Jesus's death, could quote Jesus as saying "I am the only way..." For the author, this formed the source of the bigotry and violence that the original Christian Church is so famously guilty of.
Tonight I will read more, but it is not hard to see that Christianity will fair especially poorly under this author, herself a cradle Catholic, for such is often the case in the West. It is almost a pathology of our Euro-culture to hate ourselves for our own shortcomings far more than we dislike othres for their own the shortcomings - if we are allowed to recognize the shortcomings of "others" at all without accusations of bigotry. This aside, though, she does have a point which concerns all religions: her overriding idea is that we are put here on Earth to learn the path to God. To have it closed because of orthodoxy or exclusion is anathema to her, and to a large extent, I agree. One of the greatest things about our often awful times is the openness with which we may pursue God or Truth, as well as the world-wide availability of information about and by others who have also traveled along the path to truth. It may well be that many will find that the Old Time Religion (whatever that might be for them) is the best path, regardless of its historic shortcomings, but that the path or paths are open to all is a guarded blessing. It can lead to confusion and wrong conclusions, but it can also lead to each finding his or her own path based on their own free will - something that Christians as well as others insist we must have to reach heaven. FK
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