The Coming of Christianity

(Originally written November 12, 2006 in Book 11)

The Mystery Cults all began to reflect the shift from human emphasis to superhuman. The acceptance and adherence to them paved the way for Christianity.

The cults brought hope to the masses who were in despair due to the collapsing of the Empire. "But the masses had doubtless been ignorant and superstitious, ready to put their trust in occult powers" (Jones, 19).

Neoplatonism was the first instance where, not only the uneducated lower class gravitated toward the supernatural, but the educated, middle and upper classes abandoned the natural, human mind set.

The emphasis on discovering the natural reality shifted to an emphasis on discerning why a transcendent Absolute Being created a natural world.

Another major shift was to view this world as evil and thus not capable of producing the good life.

Christianity first appealed to the uneducated, but when it became socially acceptable Neoplatonism proved to be a philosophical model and rival.

The survival of Christianity over the mystery cults has nothing to do with its possession of an objective truth or moral superiority, but its energy, ingenuity, polemical ability, administrative skill and the good luck of early Christian Fathers.

Linehan: really? luck? wow, that is quite ad hoc.

Jesus: The Jewish Heritage

Pagan View of the Christians.

Christ was born circa 4 BC during the reign of Augustus.

He was crucified in 29 AD during the reign of Tiberius.

The first three centuries after Christ's death, Christianity spread slowly.

The persecution was not as great as the Church fathers reported and was due mainly to their traitor status. They pledged allegiance to a divine God, not the divine Emperor.

The Christians refused to conform to the outward state religion so the officials viewed the tiny sect as ignorant and dangerous.

They were regarded as atheists and hopelessly immersed in the blackest superstition.

Jesus was a Jew and sought to reform Judaism, not destroy it.

Yahweh

Yahweh seems to be originally a war god, associated with meteorological phenomena.

Moses fused the tribes of Judaism together and made Yahweh a state god.

Yahweh chose the Jews as his people, but was the supreme creator of all. Why should a supreme god trouble himself with such a small group of people? The Jews never asked this question.

Linehan: Not true! "What is man that you are mindful of him?"

Israel developed a supreme national egoism.

Despite Yahweh's love for them, the Israelites had an unfortunate career. They lost their independence again and again.

Their intense nationalism deeply marked their religious thinking.

Their loss of independence led them to develop the notion of a jealous god who demanded strict, sole, individual worship.

The Israelites aimed to get back into the good graces of YHWH. This changed over the centuries from primitive outward signs to an inner righteousness. This gradual transformation took place through the Hebrew prophets.

Elijah was one of the earliest prophets. He sought to defend the worship of YHWH (Moses' god of wrath) from the new polytheism of King Ahab's foreign wife Jezebel.

Amos, who lived 100 years or so after Elijah saw YHWH no longer a vain monarch. Amos' YHWH could be won over by flattery and was angered by luxury and vice, not so much disobedience.

People seeking to formulate a single YHWH face a problem of harmonizing primitive beliefs with a more sophisticated version of God.

Deuteronomy, written in the 7th century BC attempted to harmonize the two conceptions of YHWH. It stated that the rituals are important (primitive) because they were outward expressions of an inner righteousness (motive).

Motive for worship was key in Judaism's mature form.

The Deuteronomy harmonizing resulted in a codifying law. This law became unalterable and strict. The adherence to this law caused men to return to the primitive ritualism of Judaism.

Jesus' attitude toward the Law

Jesus was anti-legalistic. He wished for Judaism to return to being concerned with the spirit or motives, not the rigid ritualism of the law.

Jesus' main position was what matters is the thoughts of our hearts, not what we actually do.

Jesus did not however reject the Law totally. He simply believed that Jews were using the Law to justify unjustifiable conduct.

He wished to complete the Law, not destroy it.

He attempted to simplify the ever multiplying law into a few simple precepts.

Jesus' two main precepts were actually derived from the Law.
1) Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
2) Love thy neighbor as thyself

Fatherhood of God

Jesus emphasized that God was the father of man.

This was not a discovery of Jesus. Many Eastern cults viewed God as a Father and the Jews even had come to the conclusion long before Jesus Christ.

Jesus' emphasis is on this point transferred the notion from the East to the West. The Gentile Christians who are unfamiliar with God as Father notion made it a pivotal part of the emerging religion.

The wrathful God of the Hebrews was also adapted and grafted into the teachings of Jesus,

Jesus' belief in imminent judgment day

Jesus was dominated by a conviction that the end was near. This imminent doom mentality affected all of his teachings.

The teachings of Jesus

There is no formal ethical theory or doctrine of virtues in Jesus' teachings.

Jesus' teachings were not systematic. He used paradoxes and parables.

Jesus' view of pleasure was similar to the Greek Cynic view, but his adoption of this view was for very different reasons.

Jesus was criticized for enjoying the company of low persons too much.

Jesus was not an ascetic, but his focus on the kingdom of Heaven led him to ignore the physical world to a point. Christianity would adopt an ascetic bias because of this aspect of Jesus.

Jesus did not place emphasis on tomorrow because there will be no tomorrow. He held that the more we concern ourselves with property and possessions the less we'll concern ourselves with readying for the judgment day.

Jesus criticized the wealthy for two reasons:
1) They got their riches unjustly
2) Their possessions naturally caused them to think about them.

The poor were at an advantage to focus on the judgment day for Jesus and this mind set caused Christianity to be popular with the poor.

Jesus' ethics compared with Greek ethics

Jesus' ethic is noticeably absent of any social ethic.

Jesus' focus on the Kingdom of God and on inwardness made him uninterested in overt social or political theorizing.

Christianity, when it became a state religion, had to concern itself with politics.

Jesus' ethics also varied from Greeks in that he placed no emphasis on intellectual virtues that Aristotle was so concerned with.

Jesus was vitally concerned with moral, practical virtues, but also differed from Aristotle here.

Jesus denigrated pride as a sin, which was a key virtue for Aristotle.

Jesus' starting point was God, whereas Aristotle's starting point was man. Pride was self-centered and thus it took away from God and sinful.

Jesus' altruism replaced Aristotle's egoism.

Jesus emphasized the equality of man or at least all Jews. Jesus was provincial.

Jesus' view was narrow compared to the Greek but possessed two advantages:
1) its altruism
2) its democratic outlook

The Messiahship of Jesus

Jesus' messiahship is not a philosophical issue and in philosophy it is more important what his followers thought of it, not what he thought of it.

The moral and eschatological meaning Jesus taught was understood in political terms by many of his followers.

The Romans were not worried with Jesus until he came into the urban centers and caused the crowds to riot.

The Jesus Movement

Christianity developed slowly by created a complex theology out of Jesus', Judaism's, Oriental Cults' and late Greek philosophical teachings.

How the movement survived

The crucifixion of Jesus and the scattering of the disciples could have easily killed the movement. Somehow, the disciples' belief in the Messiahship of Jesus was revived after his death.

Jesus miracles and resurrection convinced the disciples of his supernatural status.

The disciples formed a communal life after Jesus' death.

Shift of Emphasis to Jesus

Jesus began to become the focus of a new religion, rather than a reformer of an ancient one.

Jesus had always been considered anointed by his followers. The emphasis shift made him a deity.

The divinity of Jesus created problems. It faced monotheistic problems, conception of God problems and eschatological problems.

The Jews of the Dispersion

Only a small portion of Jews lived in Palestine. The Diaspora (dispersed Jews) lived all over the empire.

The Gentile Mission

The Orthodoxy of Judaism was primarily located in Palestine. The Diaspora and converts were less Orthodox and more open to Christianity.

The Hellenized Jews and Gentiles converting to Christianity continued to change the new religion.

Converts began interpreting Christianity and preaching it around the world. The most important of these converts was St. Paul.