A Short History of Christianity: Second Edition, Revised, With AdditionsRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
History
A Short History of Christianity: Second Edition, Revised, With Additions
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Church history
The Epistle of James, by whomsoever written, is in no sense a
Christist document--containing as it does not a single Jesuist or
Christian doctrine, save perhaps the appended invective against
the rich, which is Ebionitic. Of its two namings of Jesus, one is
clearly an interpolation, and the other is presumptively so. There
remains only a moral exhortation to Jews meeting in synagogues, a
teaching strictly comparable to that of the original and pre-Jesuine
"Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," though the epistle makes no mention
of any other apostles. Such writing tells of an essentially different
propaganda from that of the Christists proper; and its preservation by
them testifies to its priority. The epistles ascribed to John, on the
contrary, belong to a considerably later period; telling as they do of
a fanatical movement which swears by the name of Jesus the Christ as
one who has died to take away sin, but which is full of apprehension
as to the advent and functions of a number of Anti-Christs.
Judas (Ioudas), of whom there is no mention in any of the epistles, and
whose traditional treason is not recognized in the lately-recovered
"Gospel of Peter," or in the pseudo-Pauline reference to "the
twelve," is a late creation; having probably taken shape first as
a simple Ioudaios, "a Jew," in an early Christian mystery-play of
the crucifixion and resurrection. Mythologically, the conception may
derive from the Diabolos or "Adversary" of Persian lore, as Judas in
the gospels is called "a devil"; and the tradition which gave him red
hair assimilated him to Typhon, the slayer of the Egyptian Saviour-God,
Osiris. On the other hand, the name may have a mythological connection
with the story of the betrayal of Joseph by his eleven brethren, of
whom Judas was the ringleader. [6] The story of the betrayal in the
gospels is in any case plainly fabulous. The hired help of Judas is
represented as necessary to identify a teacher who figured daily in
the temple, and was a familiar figure to the populace. Such a myth can
be best explained on the theory that a Jesuist mystery-play, arising
or becoming modified among the Gentiles, would readily represent
a Jew as betraying the Lord, even as the twelve were represented
as forsaking their master. A bag to hold the blood-money would be a
dramatic accessory, and would originate the view that Judas had been
the treasurer of the apostolic group.
§ 5. Primary Forms of the Cult
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account