Bible. New Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Jesus Christ -- Historicity
It borrowed the chief part of its doctrine, the specific point in
which it differed from ordinary Judaism, the central idea of the God
sacrificing himself for mankind, from the neighbouring peoples, who had
brought down this belief into Asia, in connection with fire-worship,
from its earlier home in the North. Only in so far as that faith
points in the end to an Aryan origin can it be said that Jesus was "an
Aryan"; any further statements on this point, such as, for example,
Chamberlain makes in his "Grundlagen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts,"
are pure fancies, and rest on a complete misunderstanding of the true
state of affairs. Christianity, as the religion of Christ, of the
"Lord," who secularised the Jewish Law by his voluntary death of
expiation, did not "arise" in Jerusalem, but, if anywhere, in the
Syrian capital Antioch, one of the principal places of the worship
of Adonis. For it was at Antioch where, according to the Acts, [366]
the name "Christians" was first used for the adherents of the new
religion, who had till then been usually called Nazarenes. [367]
That certainly is in sharpest contradiction to tradition, according to
which Christianity is supposed to have arisen in Jerusalem and to have
been thence spread abroad among the heathen. But Luke's testimony
as to the arising of the community of the Messiah at Jerusalem
and the spreading of the Gospel from that place can lay no claim to
historical significance. Even the account of the disciples' experience
at Easter and of the first appearances after the Resurrection, from
their contradictory and confused character appear to be legendary
inventions. [368] Unhistorical, and in contradiction to the information
on this point given by Matthew and Mark, is the statement that the
disciples stayed in Jerusalem after Jesus' death, which is even
referred by Luke to an express command of the dead master. [369]
Unhistorical is the assemblage at Pentecost and the wonderful "miracle"
of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, which, as even Clemen agrees,
probably originated from the Jewish legends, according to which the
giving of the Law on Sinai was made in seventy different languages,
in order that it might be understood by all peoples. [370] But also
Stephen's execution and the consequent persecution of the community
at Jerusalem are legendary inventions. [371] The great trouble which
Luke takes to represent Jerusalem as the point whence the Christian
movement set out, clearly betrays the tendency of the author of
the Acts to misrepresent the activity of the Christian propaganda,
which really emanated from many centres, as a bursting out of the
Gospel from one focus. It is meant to produce the impression that
the new religion spread from Jerusalem over the whole world like an
explosion; and thus its almost simultaneous appearance in the whole of
Nearer Asia is explained. For this reason "devout Jews of all nations"
were assembled in Jerusalem at Pentecost, and could understand each
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