TPF : Gnostic Christianity

[Gnomon]

Gnostic Christianity, the Grail Legend: What do the 'Secret' Traditions Represent?
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... ent/824946

Some of this may come down to scholarship, but it is likely that there are gaps here, which may reflect biases in theology, as well as the political aspects of the development of the Christian Church. This may say alot in itself, but it does make it hard to put the missing jigsaw pieces together coherently. — Jack Cummins

I'm not a scholar of religion, but I have some general ideas about how the Christian religion developed. For example : if Jesus had survived his crucifixion, Christianity, as we know it today, probably would never have emerged. Jesus seemed to intend only to revive the crumbling Jewish religion with messianic motivation. But after his death, other motives were promoted by some of his followers. Their ideas ranged from personalized synagogue Judaism, to nationalized temple Judaism, to monkish retreats like the Essenes, and to abstract philosophical thinkers such as the Gnostics.

However, the most important factor in spawning a completely new popular religion was the political power of the Roman Empire. It was emperor Constantine, who by imperial fiat converted a minor Jewish sect --- appealing mostly to the oppressed underclasses meeting in modest homes --- into a majestic imperial religion --- congregating in awe-inspiring sky-scraping gold-encrusted cathedrals. Then, in order to unify all the divided streams of Jesus/Judaism sectarianism, Roman church leaders surveyed the range of then current beliefs & practices --- circa 300 AD --- in order to compile a compendium Bible that would best serve the interests of an imperial religion, and a world-spanning state.

Of course, the compilers of an official, emperor authorized, canon of God's Word --- beginning with the council at Nicea --- had to include the writings & doctrines of Paul, who single-handedly spread his version of the Gospel throughout the Roman empire. They also included John, who spiritualized the mundane mission & message of Jesus to make his humiliating death seem to be a victory instead of a defeat. Thus, giving new life to a moribund messianic revolution, whose inspirational leader, failed to rise from the grave as expected. It also replaced the martyred semi-divine messiah, with a living human political leader, whose religious role was appropriated from the Roman pagan political appointee*1, who ruled over all the various, mostly idol-worshiping religions of the empire. But, they excluded those writings that advocated skepticism & independent thinking.

Thus an isolated localized minor religion was transformed into a worldwide bastion of orthodoxy, with a novel hybrid theology, combining elements from Paganism, Gnosticism, Judaism, among others. Which may explain how adherents of the thousands of modern Christian sects can all claim to be faithful to the same Hebrew God that Jesus represented on Earth. The jigsaw puzzle of Christianity is held together by their common faith in the myth of a God, who came down to Earth to save mankind from the ravages of another God, whose mission is to make human life a living Hell*2.


*1. Why do they call the pope the pontiff?
It comes from the Latin 'pontifex” meaning any high or chief priest, a link or bridge builder between the people and the Almighty. Julius Caesar was called pontifex maximus 40 years before Jesus was born. After the time of Christ, the ancient Roman church had a college of pontiffs.
https://www.wytv.com/news/daybreak/pope ... e-correct/

*2. Sympathy for the Devil
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

[Gnomon]

I am glad that you raise the question of what happened to the historical Jesus, especially in regard to the resurrection. My own interest in uncovering the Grail tradition is in relation to this. It seems to be so important in understanding and disentangling facts and mythical ideas. The problem is so much literature, and trying to understand the historical agendas which are underlying them. — Jack Cummins

As far as I can tell, the historical Jesus was a mundane locally-focused Jewish Messiah candidate --- whose socio-political mission was limited to reviving the self-image of the sifted sediment of Abraham's seed, then living under the heel of yet another oppressive Gentile empire. In which case, it's possible that the flesh & blood Jesus had a child with Mary, as later mythologized in the Holy Grail legends. But it's also likely that --- due to his ignominious end --- his revival mission would have disappeared in the dust of history, like all the other Jewish messiahs of the era*1.

However, as a spiritual incarnation of the one & only super-human God, in the form of a world-conquering Christ, the notion of carnal knowledge with a worldly woman would have clashed with the glorious mystical myth that Rome wanted to propagate. So, I suspect that any documentation of his physical lineage would have been suppressed by the Roman Bible editors, whose official agenda might be to separate the noble Roman Christ from his humble Jewish roots.

On the other hand, some practical-minded people seem to prefer a romantic-but-plausible mundane myth over barely-believable other-worldly sublime fantasies. For example, the dual-god gnarly-gnostic Cathars may have promoted a more down-to-earth fable of Jesus as a real royal king, who founded a genetic Jewish dynasty, doomed to propagate on the margins of Imperial Rome*2. Like our modern-day video games, sometimes our gritty fairy-tale heroes battle the forces of Evil as muscular underdogs, rather than as super-heroes with divine powers.


*1. Many Messiahs :
. . . . making Jesus of Nazareth the most widely followed and most famous Jewish Messiah claimant in human history. Aside from Christians, Muslims also believe that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah but not the Son of God. Aside from the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth is allegedly mentioned by Josephus in the Antiquities of the Jews and by Tacitus in his Annals.
Several Jewish rebels and military leaders lived in the 1st century, including Judas of Galilee, Theudas, Simon of Peraea, and Athronges, all of whom are only documented by Josephus in surviving accounts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_J ... _claimants

*2. What is the difference between Cathars and Catholics?
The main difference between Cathars and Catholics is their beliefs about creation. Catholics commonly understand the creation of the world to be good before it was corrupted, while Cathars believed that the world was created by an evil force.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/cathar ... arism.html