History of Christian Thought: The Rise of Christianity - The First 600 Years Dissertation - Research Paper Example

? The History of Christian Thought: The Rise of Christianity – the First 600 Years The Ministry of Jesus “(I)t's a life that we don't know in detail until his death” (White, 1998). It has been said that history is written by the victorious. Nowhere is this more evident than the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. For hundreds of years after the death of Jesus, common Christians had no written documents to describe Jesus’ ministry. Most were illiterate except for the scholarly and rabbinical classes. Early Christians relied on word of mouth passed from village to village and generation to generation. The gospels, the earliest probably written at least 40 years after Jesus’ death, purport to describe the life and times of Jesus. Many writings were contradictory at the basic essence of Jesus, his birth and his purported resurrection. It’s important to remember that Jesus was not teaching from these New Testament books as they did not exist during his earthly lifetime. Jesus was Jewish and the laws and teachings he spread were straight from the Hebrew canon. He refers to Moses’ laws, the messianic prophecies of Isaiah and some Psalms (Cohen 1998). He oftentimes used parables as well, which may or may not have been thinly veiled social commentary (Cohen 1998). Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God but many now believe he was teaching about the social injustice of the Roman Empire (Crossan 1998). Soon enough his teachings in the synagogues were not well received by the Pharisees and he began preaching out of doors where anyone could come and listen (Barnett 155). Jesus most often spoke in parables as a way to reach ordinary people. But these parables are open to interpretation in the absence of context (Crossan 1998). Again these parables are written down with a combination of spoken word beliefs and political implications as Christianity was a persecuted religion. Jesus does not declare himself Christos or ‘the anointed one” in the Greek, but canonical Gospels tend toward that declaration as coming from Peter, as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (“Jesus,” Wikipedia.org). To those who knew him, Jesus was a teacher or rabbi, strictly adhering to the Hebrew scriptures pertaining to God and Heaven but differing from them in ritual fasting, purity and Sabbath (Hall n.d). Jesus, in Matthew 5:17, Jesus purports to say, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill,” (King James). Regardless of the political undertones, Jesus’ primary message was one of love, kindness and forgiveness (“The Teachings of Jesus,” Gospel-Teachings.net). Jesus taught a radical form of Judaism but one that was not separate from Judaism. Like ordinary Jews, he does teach in the synagogues; but he also teaches outdoors. Jesus directs his teachings to everyone and not just to the educated class or to a particular religious group. His message is not secretive or esoteric but is directed towards anybody 'who has ears to hear' (Hall n.d.) Several scholarly resources list Jesus’ ministry as lasting anywhere from one to nine years. Despite the conflicts of dates, the Four Gospels and other resources describe Jesus ministry as beginning in Nazareth, his home-town. After his preaching anger the church elders (Barnett 155), he takes his ministry on the road to Israel (Jordan, Jericho and Samaria), then to Galilee, again to Judea, then Peras, and returning to Jerusalem where he is arrested and executed (Bible 1979). 2. The Work of Paul/Pauline Reaction “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for ye are all one in Jesus Christ” (Boyarin 1, quoting Paul) Saul of Tarsus described himself in the first century A.D. as a Pharisee and a Zeolot, admitting to persecuting the Jewish church violently against the defense of traditional rabbinic law from the new messianic sect (Barnett 223). In his Roman position his responsibilities included arresting Jews for a failure to do homage to the Roman Emperor and, to some extent, fomenting rebellion within Roman provinces (“The Search For Jesus,” ABC News). During Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, he claims that he saw Jesus clearly and Jesus spoke to him, instructing him to take the message to Jews and Gentiles alike (“The Search For Jesus,” ABC News). Saul renamed himself Paul and began teaching that Jesus was the messiah of the Old Testament prophecies, that Jesus would return soon and that the end of days were near. Paul’s ministry took him to what is now Turkey in Asia Minor. Initially he preached, as was the custom at the time, that one must first be Jewish to convert to the Jesus movement (“The Search For Jesus,” ABC News). This would mean observing Hebrew laws, traditions, rituals and restrictions. It would also require circumcision of males, even adults (“The Search For Jesus,” ABC News). Needless to say, many would-be converts balked at the heavy restrictions of Jewish law and totally rejected circumcision. Paul tried to discuss this situation with the other apostles in Jerusalem to get some direction or assistance (Acts 9:26). Over the objections of the remaining apostles, Paul continued to teach an end to the duality of Jew/Gentile, male/female, slave/freeman as differences recognized by God (Boyarin 23). Instead he taught that those differences made not a wit of difference before the Creator, that the transformation of the earth was near and to make ready for the return of the messiah (“The Search for Jesus”). This in fact was the very basis of his ministry: that the world as we know it was soon going to end and the pettiness of everyday life was useless in the face of that fact. When Paul wrote epistles, he was not writing for a 2000 year old church but small communities of converts he left behind on his travelling ministry (“The Apostle Paul and the Earliest Churches” 2004). Paul is renowned for his views on gender and sexuality that persist in today’s church. He makes several arguments between the body and the flesh (Boyarin 62). In some of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, one can read an undertone of frustration at having to deal with ordinary, daily life when obviously the Kingdome of God was at hand. Because of this he is often referred to as a misogynist, homosexual or simply asexual (“The Search For Jesus, ABC News). Modern Christian scholars agree that he was likely none of these things but simply wanted people to put aside earthly issues to focus on the coming of God’s Kingdom. Paul’s early ministry is sometimes considered one sect among many at during the 1st century (Fiorenza 35). 3. Variety of Early Christian Communities Paul’s journeys took him across a vast area of the Roman Empire (Lunn-Rockliffe 2011). In each place he stopped, he began to preach and seek converts (“The Search for Jesus” ABC News). In order that this conversion continued apace, Paul took the bold step of saying that conversion to Judaism was not necessary and that the Kingdom of God was open to all (“The Search For Jesus,” ABC News). This put him at odds with the message of the apostles who had actually worked with Jesus’. The apostles still held tight to the Hebrew canon and viewed Jesus’ ministry as a continuation of the Jewish faith. For them, ritual circumcision was just part of the sacrifice expected from the Chosen of God (Jewish Israelites). Paul viewed Orthodox Judaism as heretical because of its reliance on good works and ritual to get to the Kingdom of God, when, in Paul’s view, all that was necessary was to hear and believe (Boyarin 87). Scholars believe the other apostles contacted these communities to tell them that Paul was wrong, undercutting his ministry (“The Search For Jesus,” ABC News). Therefore, we see differences of opinion from the beginning. One group of early Christians, the Gnostics, believed that it was only through knowledge of Christ and Christ’s teaching could one be transformed (Kirby n.d.). Other early Christians argued over whether Jesus was a man divinely inspired, an actual Divine Son of God, or merely a prophet of things to come (“The Search For Jesus,” ABC News). Some of the most fascinating discoveries in the Gnostic Gospels include the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of early sayings attributed to Jesus—it starts out with the words "These are the secret words which the living Jesus spoke and which the twin Thomas wrote down,” (Brockman, The Edge.org). The teaching we find in the Gospel of Thomas are very much like some of the teaching in other Christian texts, such as the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament. But some of it is radically different. Some of it looks like Buddhism, and may have in fact been influenced by a well-established Buddhist tradition at the time that these texts were first written. (Brockman, The Edge.org). Peter Kirby (2003) states that some scholars believe the Gnostics actually pre-date Christianity. If this were true, then certain segments of the Gnostics actually combined with early Christianity to become something more than each of them separately. Pauline Christians were persecuted at various times throughout this period for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they were scapegoats, their faith attacked where more personal or local hostilities were at issue. Contemporary pagan and Christian sources preserve other accusations leveled against the Christians. They were accused of incest and cannibalism, as a resulting of misunderstood accounts of the rites which Christians celebrated in necessary secrecy, being the agape (the ‘love-feast’) and the Eucharist (partaking of the body and blood of Christ). Pagans were probably most suspicious and angry of the Christian refusal to honor or worship Roman gods. This was considered an insult to the Roman gods and potentially endangered the entire Roman Empire. Furthermore, the Christian were accused of treason and even sacrilege for their refusal to worship the Emperor, a semi-divine monarch. (Lunn-Rockcliffe, 2011) 4. Conflicting Teachings Among the first Christian sects of which we are aware are the Ebionites (Greek for “The Poor Ones”), Nazoraeans, Cerinthians, the Qumran sect and the Carporations. We know of these sects through Greek and Roman writers of the time, such as Irenaeus, Eusebius and Origen (McDonald 15, 16). It is interesting to note that none of these sects or their writings are mentioned in the Bible, as they were later considered heretical (King James Bible). Thankfully many of early writings were found at Nag Hamadi and the Dead Sea site, preserved through the ages that we might understand the political and cultural surroundings of the time as well as how that informed the beliefs of diverse sects (Pagels 32). The Ebionites were a Jewish sect that believed in one God but rejected the concept of the virgin birth and instead believed Jesus was the natural son of Joseph and Mary, a true messiah. None of the Ebionite literature survives today but was said to have echoed Matthew without the birth narrative (“Ebionites” Encyclopedia Brittanica). Paul’s teachings clearly suppressed the Ebionites Judean influence and suppressed them from the lay-person’s knowledge of early Christianity (Boyarin 202). The Greek historian, Irenaeus, wrote that they held tightly to Jewish law and considered Paul a renegade (McDonald 16). Little is known of the history of this sect. They had almost no influence in the West, where they were known as Symmachiani. In St. Epiphanius's time some communities seem to have existed in some pockets of Syria and Palestine, but they have been lost to us. Further east, in Babylonia and Persia, their influence is perhaps traceable amongst the Mandeans, and Uhlhorn and others suggest that they may be brought into connection with the origin of Islam (Arendzen 2009). Nasor?ans, sometimes known as Nazoreans, Mandeans, or Christionas of St. John, are pagan Gnostics who formed a sect which flowered in Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Though over 2000 families flourished in the seventeenth century, there are now approximately 1500 individuals living on the Shat-el-Arab near the Persian Gulf. It is the only Gnostic sect that has survived and the sacred writings of which are still extant; a few remnants excepted, the writings of the so-called Christian Gnostics have perished (Arendzen 2009). Cerinthus was an Egyptian Jew. The exact date of his birth and his death are unknown. In Asia he founded a school and gathered disciples. No writings of any kind have come down to us and what we know come from questionable sources, that of St. Epiphaneus and Theodoret. The doctrines of Cerinthus were a strange mixture of Gnosticism, Judaism, Chiliasm, and Ebionitism. By admission he believed in one Supreme Being and also believed the world was far inferior to the divine. He does not identify this Creator or Demiurgos with the God of the Old Testament (Arendzen 2009). Iren?us writes that Carpocrates was a contemporary of these men, and that he was the father of another heresy, called the heresy of the Gnostics, who wish to transmit the magic arts of Simon openly. They boasted of love potions that were carefully prepared by them, and of demons that lent them their protection; and in accordance with these things they taught that it was “necessary for those who wished to enter fully into their mysteries, or rather into their abominations, to practice all the worst kinds of wickedness, on the ground that they could escape the cosmic powers, as they called them, in no other way than by discharging their obligations to them all by infamous conduct,” (Arendzen 2009). Elaine Pagels in her discussion of early Christianity says: “What was discovered in December, 1945 was a large library of ancient manuscripts which ranged from classical texts to early Christian texts, which transformed the way we see the beginning of the Christian movement. We now see that Christianity, like Judaism, like Islam, is enormously diverse in its beginning and could have turned out very differently from what we see now” (Brockman, The Edge.org). Again, Pagels explicates: [I]nvestigation of the newly discovered gnostic sources . . . suggests that these religious debates—questions of the nature of God, or of Christ—simultaneously bear social and political implications that are crucial to the development of Christianity as an institutional religion. In simplest terms, ideas which bear implications contrary to that development come to be labeled as "heresy"; ideas which implicitly support it become "orthodox (p. xxxvi). “What was discovered in Egypt includes over fifty of the gospels and writings that the Church tried to banish and discredit. And it's no accident—and no surprise, when you think about it—that Paul’s Roman kind of Christianity—authoritative, simple, hierarchical—is what many Christians, including many politically minded Christians, still declare is the "only true Christianity" today. For with the surprise conversion of Emperor Constantine in the year 312 the situation of Christians transformed from that of an illegal group to becoming the religion of the empire. Constantine apparently found in it a new way of organizing—and justifying—the politics of imperialism” (Brockman, The Edge.org). 5. Conclusion The widespread success of Christianity can be attributed to the aggressive ministry and political astuteness of Paul and his tireless quest for converts, preaching that Jesus would return soon and the end of our world was near, that the world would be transformed. He preached that Jesus was just the first example of that transformation and that only those who had faith in Jesus’ teachings and divinity would be allowed to enter the Kingdom of God. Paul’s focus was on faith, whereas other Christian sects at the time believed that Jesus was just a prophet for the coming messiah. Still others believed that unlocking the mysteries of the Christ required knowledge (gnosis) of Jesus as a man and a preacher. All sects argued vociferously about the virgin birth, the divinity of Jesus, the very humanity of Jesus and why the messiah prophesied in the Old Testament (Pentatuach) could be hanged as a common criminal. There were also questions concerning his resurrection and its meaning (if true). The variety of early Christian belief came to be codified and many sects suppressed at the First Council of Nicea, called by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D.. The goal of this counsel was to bring order and make some sense of the way the Christian church would move forward in its’ ministry to the world and best benefit the vast power of the Roman Empire. The Council effectively brought about a schism among the various sects where the strongest or best political players had their scriptures or beliefs included in the early Christian canon, while the rest died an ignonomous death of persecution and the burning of their spiritual writings. By the time of Emperor Constantine’s conversion, those who did not believe and place their faith in the veracity of the Nicean Counsel were considered heretics, their writings burned and the non-believers tortured to death. It would be helpful and convenient if there was one tome addressing the inter-relation between politics, theology and power from 1 A.D.. The Christian faith was popular among slaves and soldiers, hardly the respectable orders in society. (Lunn-Rockliffe, 2011). That it rose to such heights as to crown kings or depose them, command vast armies to Crusade into Jerusalem, to wield such awesome power over the everyday lives of people has never been done within any movement before or after. Works Cited “Apostle Paul and the Earliest Churches” n.d. Lucas Media 2004. Web 4 Sept. 2011. Arendzen, John. "Ebionites." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton. Company, 1909. Web 5 Sept. 2011. . Barnet, Paul. Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1999. Print. Blieberg, Edward, et al, eds. “Early Latin Christianity in Northern Europe.” Arts and Humanities Through the Eras. Vol.3. P. 302-309. Print. Boyarin, Daniel. A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity. Berkley: University of California Press, 1994. Print. Brockman, John, ed. “The History of Early Christianity: A Talk with Elaine Pagels.” The Edge.org. July 17, 2003. Web 28 Aug. 2011 Cohen, Shaye. “Jesus Ministry and Teachings” Frontline: From Jesus to Christ. April 1998. Web. 29 Aug. 2011. Crossen, John. “Jesus Teachings: The Kingdom of God.” Frontline: From Jesus to Christ. April 1998. Web. 2 Sept. 2011. Dickens, Andrea Janelle. "A New History of Early Christianity." Interpretation 65.2 (2011): 216. Web. 24 Aug. 2011. “Ebionites.” Encyclopedia Brittanica. Web. 4 September 2011. Fiorenza, Elisabeth, ed. Aspects of Religious Propaganda in Judaism and Early Christianity. London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1976. Print. Hall, Gerald. “Jesus Life and Ministry” A Christology Course: Chapter 3. n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2011 The King James Bible. Acts 19: 1-41. Camden, New Jersey: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 1970. Kugel, James and Rowan Greer. Early Biblical Interpretation. Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press, 1986. Print. “Jesus.” n.a., n.p. Web. 3 Sept. 2011. Kirby, Peter. “Gnostics, Gnostic Gospels and Gnosticism.” Early Christian Writings. 2003. Web 4 Sept. 2011 . “Luke 4: IVP New Testament Commentaries.” N.p., n.d. Web. 29 August 2011. Lunn-Rockliffe, Sophie. “Christianity and the Roman Empire” BBC History. 2 Feb. 2011. Web 28 Aug. 2011. McDonald, Lee. The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995. Print. Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Random House, 1979. Print. “The Teachings of Jesus. n.d., n.p. Web 4 Sept. 2011 “The Search for Paul.” An Exploration of the Journey to Modern Day Christianity.” Writ. Peter Jennings, Jeanmarie Condon. ABC News, 2004. DVD White, Michael. “Jesus Ministry and Teachings” Frontline: From Jesus to Christ. April 1998. Web. 29 Aug. 2011. Wright, Nicholas T. The Resurrection of the Son of God. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003. 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