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Post by waywardwanderer on Jun 11, 2013 2:23:06 GMT -5
I have been pondering this for a while now. Given that we have multiple sources that even the most contentious scholars agree likely preserve authentic sayings of Jesus, and that recent scholarship has shed much more light on early christian thinking is it possible to reconstruct an "original Christianity"? It also seems like there were some common core thoughts that seemed to run through most pre-catholic Christianity, with all this available is this something that is possible even as just a thought experiment? It seems like within a few shot decades christian thought had developed many different avenues of expression, I also wonder if pondering this could shed more light on the development of different schools of thought.
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Post by rmcdra on Jun 11, 2013 7:34:04 GMT -5
I lean to possibly but this depends on core beliefs and rituals of the community being able to be converted into a modern context. I don't think that there was ever an "original" Christianity though. I think that there has always been multiple Christianities with each sect thinking that they were doing it just like they were taught.
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Post by Soulgazer on Jun 11, 2013 7:51:01 GMT -5
I spent several years trying, or rather, studying scholarship that was trying. I am going to agree with rmcdra when he says there were multiple versions right from the starting gun.
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Post by eachallberg on Jun 22, 2013 17:16:35 GMT -5
I find the most earliest form of Christianity to be on the walls of the pyramids in Egypt.
In a popular scifi movie (alien vs predator) a pyramid is discovered under the ice of Antarctica... Maybe there's some truth to it?
Christainity had always been around perhaps in other galaxies. In dimensions where time and space isn't a part of it, it's beyond are imagination.
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Post by Soulgazer on Jun 22, 2013 18:26:46 GMT -5
I find the most earliest form of Christianity to be on the walls of the pyramids in Egypt. In a popular scifi movie (alien vs predator) a pyramid is discovered under the ice of Antarctica... Maybe there's some truth to it? Christainity had always been around perhaps in other galaxies. In dimensions where time and space isn't a part of it, it's beyond are imagination. I think the archtypes have been with us, certainly. If Christ is the love of God for mankind, and has been crucified from the beginning of the world, then that crucifixion in my mind, had to have taken place whenever someone crushed that love. Could have happened a hundred thousand years ago when Og bopped Ugh on the head to steal his bannana, and the crucifixion is still going strong today. |
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Post by waywardwanderer on Jun 23, 2013 18:40:50 GMT -5
The motifs and themes certainly seem to appear again and again through history. It seems like deep down we have always known.
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Post by phantasman on Jun 30, 2013 11:45:52 GMT -5
I watched a special on H2 (History channel) last night that agrees that there were different sects of Christianity before the RCC. The advantage the RCC had over most was that it was empowered by Rome, whom dictated rule and law across the world. Most sects simply died out as the RCC became stronger. Many sects did not operate as a "growing business" type attitude to Christianity, that is using money and power to defeat any opposition.
The final part of the segment said that those older sects have somehow still survived with new evidence being unearthed (as in Nag Hammadi). It spoke how things like the Gospel of Judas has shined light on a world that has succumbed to Orthodoxy. That Judas may have not been as much a traitor as he was a key used to complete the crucifixion. While many judge Judas because of a small verse in Matthew and Acts, maybe we shouldn't judge, but seek more to make sure we are getting the full story. Isn't that what Gnosis is?
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Post by waywardwanderer on Jul 1, 2013 13:21:05 GMT -5
Absolutely. I think that scholarship of the past few decades has begun to open a door for us that has been shut for a very long time. We must I think move forward with an open mind, but a critical eye as we have gather more Nd more of the pieces of the puzzle that the RCC and the tides of history have denied us until now. It is exciting to me to think of what we may know next year or the year after that we don't know. I keep hoping that one of the hypothetical sources for the synoptic gospels, such as Q will turn up.
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