Implications of the Da Vinci Code
What one discovers if one studies the origins of the Christian Gospels is that they were put on parchment long after the events that they report. Given the diverse orientations -- and differences between the 4 versions -- it becomes manifestly clear that what was being reported were the oral traditions and memories of largely humble folk who found in Jesus of Nazareth their savior. The shaping of the Gospels also reveals that they had been tailored to match previous authoritative texts. Mark is generally considered to be the most primitive of the four. Matthew is manifestly directed to Hebrew audiences. Luke is elaborated to match the experiences of Jesus to his predecessor, Moses-- and uniquely gives us the lovely Xmas tale. John is a mystical take off directed to Hellenes. There is only one external reference to Jesus in Roman literature -- a brief report that a revolutionary type was executed by a Roman governor in Palestine.
St. Paul's letters -- he never met Jesus and started his career as a persecutor of Christians -- were written down a generation or so prior to the Gospels and twist the message of peace in them into a hate list of enemies -- Jews, gays, women whom he feared and denigrated, and synchophantic obedience to Roman authority. He also eschews life in this world on the assumption that it is about to be destroyed by the imminent return of the Messiah.
The Da Vinci Code is just another of the many interpretations of events about which we have virtually no solid factual information. It is one of a long series of reinterpretations. Another is the Book of Moroni, allegedly dug up on Gold tablets in the U.S., but in fact based on a penny dreadful novel of the early 19th century -- it became the official revised version of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons).
Current contemporary religious scholars sotto voce report on other alternative Gospels, e.g. the Gnostic one:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/gnostics.html
Summarily, the Christian church as if evolved had many possible story versions of things from which to choose. Various church councils authenticated what they wanted to amongst the alternatives.
One of the major efforts, thus, during the early decades of the 20th century was to winnow out the 'real' Jesus from all the variant accounts. Many a scholar wrote a 'Life of Jesus'. One of them happened to be my grandfather, who was our leading American Biblical Scholar during that period and a great liberal who opened the then closed U. S. doors to minorities for advanced religious studies -- Jews, African Americans, Catholics -- in his capacity as Woolsey Professor of Biblical Studies at Yale and founder of what was first called the National Council on Religion in Higher Education:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Foster_Kent
As such was in my family heritage, I took 3 years to study theology in this country and at Oxford which exposed me to the 'greatest story ever told' and also made me aware that it was a story -- what so often catches the human imagination and motivates us.
And so the recent films on the life of Jesus are but two more in a long train of those started with the now official texts. Not bad stories, but sometimes subject to evil abuses by knaves and thieves. By their acts you shall judge them -- the false prophets.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
St. Paul's letters -- he never met Jesus and started his career as a persecutor of Christians -- were written down a generation or so prior to the Gospels and twist the message of peace in them into a hate list of enemies -- Jews, gays, women whom he feared and denigrated, and synchophantic obedience to Roman authority. He also eschews life in this world on the assumption that it is about to be destroyed by the imminent return of the Messiah.
The Da Vinci Code is just another of the many interpretations of events about which we have virtually no solid factual information. It is one of a long series of reinterpretations. Another is the Book of Moroni, allegedly dug up on Gold tablets in the U.S., but in fact based on a penny dreadful novel of the early 19th century -- it became the official revised version of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons).
Current contemporary religious scholars sotto voce report on other alternative Gospels, e.g. the Gnostic one:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/gnostics.html
Summarily, the Christian church as if evolved had many possible story versions of things from which to choose. Various church councils authenticated what they wanted to amongst the alternatives.
One of the major efforts, thus, during the early decades of the 20th century was to winnow out the 'real' Jesus from all the variant accounts. Many a scholar wrote a 'Life of Jesus'. One of them happened to be my grandfather, who was our leading American Biblical Scholar during that period and a great liberal who opened the then closed U. S. doors to minorities for advanced religious studies -- Jews, African Americans, Catholics -- in his capacity as Woolsey Professor of Biblical Studies at Yale and founder of what was first called the National Council on Religion in Higher Education:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Foster_Kent
As such was in my family heritage, I took 3 years to study theology in this country and at Oxford which exposed me to the 'greatest story ever told' and also made me aware that it was a story -- what so often catches the human imagination and motivates us.
And so the recent films on the life of Jesus are but two more in a long train of those started with the now official texts. Not bad stories, but sometimes subject to evil abuses by knaves and thieves. By their acts you shall judge them -- the false prophets.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 8:08 AM
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