What Paula Fredriksen gets wrong (and what she gets right) (original) (raw)

There is little to support the idea that a Jewish sage instituted the religion of Christianity around the year 30. Fredriksen like most theologians is partly right but mostly wrong. The crucial date was AD70. This date marks the birth of the myth, and the emergence of Christians.

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ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY: AN ALTERNATE PERSPECTIVE

ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY, 2020

This essay was inspired by two scholarly works one arguing that Jesus Christ was a real individual and that his teachings, preaching and ultimate crucifixion by the Romans formed the basis of what over time became the Christian religion. This viewpoint is cogently presented by Bart D. Ehrman in his most engaging volume “Did Jesus Exist? The historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth” Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY (2012). The second point of view is that the legend of Jesus Christ was essentially made up by a group of original founders has been presented by G. A. Wells in an equally cogent and engaging volume entitled “Did Jesus Exist?” Pemberton Publishing Co. Ltd. (1986). The conflict between these two perfectly rational and capable scholars nicely illustrates an aspect of unpredictable human behavior where two capable researchers arrive at a diametrically opposite conclusion based on the same data.

Rise of Christianity: Developments in 1st to 4th Century CE

Jesus was crucified in 33-36 th CE and had that been the end of the story, one wouldn't have Christianity. But Jesus came back to life and this started a new chapter in the history of humankind. Scholars in the past and modern-day have tried to evaluate and trace the development of Christianity from being an obscure, marginal Jesus Movement to the dominant religious force in the Western world and beyond in the first few centuries. In this paper, an attempt would be made to historicise the developments that occurred in the first four centuries of Christianity that led to its consolidation. Rather than dwelling on the theological ideas and debates, the historical developments would be taken up in chronological order. A brief survey of the social, cultural, and political environment of the early centuries would be explored with emphasis on the relationship of the Church with the State, cultural confluence of Judaism and Christianity, the active role played by women, and the plausible environmental interruptions and Christian value system.

History of Christianity HIST 297

I taught this course at the University of Alberta. This course will outline the History of Christianity from the perspective that throughout Christian history people have constructed and continually reconstruct the Christ myth to legitimize their interests and in order to adapt to competing challenges. To do this, we will study the historical, social, and cultural situations that arise in Christian history by analyzing Christian literature in the various contexts to understand how the myth is scripted and re-­‐scripted to suit the new situation.

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Christianity": a response to Roman-Jewish conflict

Katell Berthelot (ed.), Reconsidering Roman power: Roman, Greek, Jewish and Christian perceptions and reactions, Collection de l'École française de Rome 564 (Rome: Publications de l’École française de Rome, 2020), , 2020