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
3. The first tendency of the new Jewish promoters had been to develop
the Saviour-God of the sacramental rite (which they may at this stage
have adopted in its "pagan" form, now taken as canonical) into a
Messiah who was to "come again," introducing the Jewish "kingdom
of heaven." At a later stage they adopted the rite of baptism,
traditionally associated with John, whom they represented as a
Forerunner of the Messiah who had met, baptized, and acclaimed him,
playing the part assigned by Jewish prophecy to Elias.
4. As time passed on, such a cult would of necessity die out among
Jews, in default of the promised "Second Coming." The connection of
the idea of salvation with a future life for all believers, Jew or
Gentile, gave it a new and larger lease of life throughout the Roman
Empire, in every part of which there were Asiatics. But the Jewish
doctrine of the Second Coming remained part of the developed teaching.
5. Further machinery was accordingly necessary to spread and sustain
the cult; and this was spontaneously provided by (a) developments
of the early and simple propagandist organization, and (b) provision
for the needs of the poor, who among the Gentiles as among the Jews
were the natural adherents of a faith promising the speedy closing
of the earthly scene. Richer sympathizers won esteem by giving their
aid; but the poor, as always, helped each other. The propaganda
included the services of travelling "prophets," and "apostles" who
would be the natural compilers and inventors of Jesuine lore. The
administrative organization, framed on Hellenistic lines, put more
and more power in the hands of the bishop, whose interest it was
to develop his diocese. At first the "prophets" and "apostles" were
strictly peripatetic, being called upon to avoid the appearance of
mercenariness. In course of time they were enabled to settle down,
being systematically provided for.
6. Under the hands of this organization grew up the Christian Sacred
Books, which gave the cult its footing as against, or rather alongside
of, the Jewish, which in the circumstances had an irresistible and
indispensable prestige. Thus on the literary side the Jewish influence
overlaid the non-Jewish, assimilating the outside elements of scattered
Jesuism. The earliest literature is Jewish, as in the case of the
Didachê, or a Jewish-Jesuist manipulation of outside Semitic matter,
as in the Apocalypse. On these foundations are laid "Christian" strata.
7. The Didachê ("Teaching of the Twelve Apostles of the Lord") was
primarily a brief manual of monotheistic and moral instruction used by
the Twelve Apostles of the Jewish High Priest. To this, Jesuist matter
was gradually added. The result was that "Twelve Apostles" became part
of the Christian tradition; and they had ultimately to be imposed on
the gospel record, which obviously had not originally that item.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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