The Jesus Problem: A Restatement of the Myth TheoryRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Religion
The Jesus Problem: A Restatement of the Myth Theory
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Jesus Christ
Thus the Christian movement was doubly a copy and competitor of
Judaism, upon whose books it primarily founded. As the dispersed Jewish
synagogues were co-ordinated from Jerusalem by the High Priest, and
later from Tiberias by the Patriarch, by means of Twelve Apostles and
possibly by a subordinate grade of seventy-two collectors who brought
in the contributions of the faithful scattered among the Gentiles,
so the Jesuists, beginning with an organization centred in Jerusalem
and likewise aiming at the collection of funds for which almsgiving
in Jerusalem was the appealing pretext, were bound after the fall
of the Temple to aim at a centralization or centralizations of their
own. A literature became more and more necessary if the new faith was
to extend. That was the way at once to glorify the new Hero-God and
to multiply his devotees. And it would seem to have been from the
starting-point of the Jewish Teaching of the Twelve Apostles that
the new departure on one line was made.
To say who, or what class in the new organization, began the evolution,
seems impossible in the present state of our knowledge. The point at
which the Christist organization in course of time most noticeably
diverges from the Jewish model is in the creation and aggrandisement
of the episcopos, the bishop, a title and a function borrowed
from the pagan societies. These had officials called epimeletai
(superintendents) and episcopoi, whose function it was to receive
funds and dispense alms. [354] The early Christists adopted the latter
title, and constituted for each group a single official so named, who
as president of the assembly received the offerings of donors and was
personally responsible for their distribution. This is not the place
to trace the effects of the institution in the general development of
the churches. It must suffice to note that while in their presbyters
these preserved the democratic element which they had derived from
Judaism and which gave them their social foundation, their creation
of a supreme administrator, whose interest it was always to increase
the influence of his church by increasing his own, gave them a special
source of strength in comparison with the Judaic system. [355]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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