A Question for 'Judaizing' Scholars of Christianity

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
Post Reply
Secret Alias
Posts: 18362
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:47 am

A Question for 'Judaizing' Scholars of Christianity

Post by Secret Alias »

1. we don't have any material from the Ebionites.
2. we don't have any material from the Marcionites.

BUT

Modern scholars delight in the mostly THIRD HAND reports about 'Jewish Christianity.' What is really there?

a) Irenaeus's three sentences
b) Hegesippus fragments in Irenaeus, Eusebius, Epiphanius
c) Epiphanius's exaggerations.

NEVERTHELESS

We get all this nonsense about a 'Jesus family' about the 'Jewish Christian' tradition all from dubious fragments. When we compare this with Marcionism which argues:

i) our New Testament as a forgery
ii) our history (Acts) as a fraud
iii) our understanding of our founding apostles (Peter, Paul) as bullshit

SURPRISINGLY this tradition is 'dubious' whereas the three lines from Irenaeus, the complete bullshit of Hegesippus and Epiphanius lies are 'the beginnings' of an understanding of pre-orthodox Christianity. I wonder why this is. Could it be that we simply 'like' Judaism with all its sex, materialism, it's 'us vs them' (Jew versus Gentile), it's 'j'accuse' against our fellows rather than the sexless monasticism of Marcionism? Of course it is. That's why the humanities are a waste of time. It's just filled with little people, losers, using a big vocabulary (mostly never ending invented terminology) to create a false world, false history that they are in control of. It's an older (and less cool) version of Fortnite.

But let's face it. Acts if surely fake. The Pastorals too. And once you factor the fakeness of Ignatius, 1 Clement (no fucking 'letter' can possibly have been delivered to anyone in anything short of a crate it's SO LONG) it just seems that orthodox Christianity is fake. That's why they are so desperate to embrace this 'fake' Jewish background for Jesus. His 'family.' His mother Mary. His 'brothers.' Even a romance with Mary Magdalene. It's an outgrowth of the same problem. Orthodox Christianity seems reworked and fake.
Post Reply