The Gospel of the Egyptians

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

Re: The Gospel of the Egyptians

Post by Secret Alias »

Since the forum isn't working and you can't see my 'brilliant' videos let me try to explain what I am talking about without Youtube.

1. Everyone promotes their products. It is not that the Church Fathers promoted the canon that is inherently fraudulent. The point is that terrible products often succeed because of their marketing strategy.
2. Is the fourfold gospel an inherently terrible product? No. But clearly it was not aimed at the 'average' Christian. The fourfold canon was written for the ecclesiastical hierarchy. It was pitched as a more reliable gospel. But already we've moved from 'the text(s) being used by actual Christians for a long time to a collection of texts promoted within an elite hierarchy and imposed on the general public. Not good.
3. If the Gospel of the the Egyptians = Secret Mark this was something different. This was a text used continuously by one specific community - the Alexandrian Christian community. Nothing in Irenaeus's account of the four gospels resembles this. He says that Matthew was written in the Hebrew language (no specificity i.e. who where what), Mark was written at Rome but no specific mention of it being used in a/the Roman Church, Luke nothing and John there is merely the claim that the exemplar exists in Antioch. No specific mention that any of these texts was part of a living tradition in the manner of Secret Mark.
4. Finally by the fact that the Gospel of the Egyptians was secret it had a disadvantage. It couldn't be promoted. If anyone is wondering why the fourfold gospel won out. It comes down to that.
Secret Alias
Posts: 18362
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:47 am

Re: The Gospel of the Egyptians

Post by Secret Alias »

Or put another way ...

Company 1 has a product:
IT IS SECRET (NO ADVERTISING OR ONLY BY WORD OF MOUTH)

Company 2
Mass production overt 'preaching from rooftops' marketing

Company 1
YOU HAVE TO GO TO A SPECIFIC LOCALE TO GET ACCESS TO THE PRODUCT (ALEXANDRIA)

Company 2
No overt center. Distribution of bishops all over the world who oversee that the 'overt canon' is maintained.

Company 1
AT ODDS WITH THE GOVERNMENT

Company 2
Acknowledged to be favored by the government.

Which product wins out? Give me a break.
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