thread: 2006-09-08 : Picky-choosy religion, 3 views
On 2006-09-16, Valamir wrote:
Oh, Whose Bible is It?
by Pelikan is another good source for the history of the scripture
On the topic of Paul...
First, Paul never knew Jesus. He converted after Jesus was already dead. Everything he knew about Christ he picked up second hand...filtered through his own personal history and background.
Second, Paul was a Hellenized Jew from Greek Anatolia (Turkey). He was a Roman Citizen. That meant that while he and his family were devout Jews, he was culturally Romanized. Roman culture at the time was HIGHLY patriarchal and authoritarian. A Roman father had the legal right to kill his wife and children...he was, after all, the master of the household. This was the sort of culture that Paul was familiar with and it colored his perception of "God the Father" right from the outset.
Third, Paul's early career was as a hitman for the Jewish hierarchy and Roman authorities in persecuting this new cult of Jesus' followers... He's known to have participated in at least one stoning of an early evangelical in Jerusalem. That's the kind of person Paul was. "Disagree with me and I'll kill you". That was Paul. He may have converted and honestly embraced the teachings of Christ but he carried much of that sentiment with him. His anger and hostility towards people who wouldn't do things his way is threaded throughout all of his letters.
Fourth: Paul pretty much invented Christianity as a church. It would not be much of a stretch to say that without Paul there would be no Christian church at all. Jesus was Jewish reformer. He didn't set out to found a new religion. He set out to topple the corruption at the top of the Jewish hierarchy and return to a simpler, purer JEWISH relationship with God. His early followers were Jews, they thought of themselves as Jews, they preached to Jews, sought to reform Judaism, and lived and died as Jews. It was Paul who invented Christianity as its own religion seperate and apart from Judaism. It was Paul who took this new religion to the "gentiles" throughout the Hellenistic world of the Eastern Mediterranean. It was Paul who laid the foundation and formed the model for all the flavors of Christianity to come.
It was Paul who Romanized Jesus.
Now I love the Romans. They were impressive, culturally sophisticated, bad asses. Romans rocked. Reading the history of Julius Caeser conquering Gaul is some cool shit.
But they were assholes.
They were not a people of peace, love, tolerance, and respect for your fellow man. They were a people of slaves, brutality, and warmongering who thought nothing of feeding people to lions for amusement. Their entire society was based on oppressing others and keeping the people pacified with bread and circuses. Now don't me wrong...I'm all for a good gladitorial game and sending some legions out to crack some heads...but that doesn't make them a good model to base a religion around.
Paul was a Roman, and he brought Roman sensibilities to the church he founded, and in so doing did irreperable harm to the message of Christ.
I can only imagine what a Christian church founded by James and Peter without Paul would look like today. Who knows...maybe without Paul's dedication and ambition the whole thing would have fizzled out in a couple of generations and Jesus would be long forgotten. But in any case, it certainly would have been a very different looking church.
For a pretty even handed treatment of Paul (i.e. who Paul was without my anti-Paul editorializing) see the aptly named
Paulby Wilson
