Buried in Pliny and Pentecost: Oldest Christianity?

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Jagd
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Buried in Pliny and Pentecost: Oldest Christianity?

Post by Jagd »

Bolded and underlined are the things that I see as hints to what the oldest "Christians" were up to and what was important to them.
Everything italicized was, in my estimation, added later to the story in order to clarify its meaning under proto-Orthodox dogma.
Acts 2:
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,

‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,

‘He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’

This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.”


Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Things important to the oldest Christians as we can gleam from this story:
  • Powers given by the Holy Spirit
  • Wonder-working (put into retrospect by proto-Orthodox as "signs", i.e. things that needed to happen for a certain time in order to prove things, but otherwise do not occur)
  • Selling possessions and goods and giving the proceeds to all
  • Breaking bread at home ("shared meals" as Crossan likes to put it)
  • Warm brotherly unity
  • Doing good for the community and ending up with goodwill in where they go
  • Christ was crucified due to the house of Israel (oddly emphasized in this story)
  • Christ "overpowered" the powers of death (suggestion being that the Christians would share such power)
  • Christ's authenticity was proven by deeds of power and wonder-working "signs".
  • Christianity was widespread across many different cultures, despite language difference
  • Perhaps the suggestion that their community was widespread but few (only three thousand or so)
  • "New wine" - spiked drinks? I recall an anthropologist pointing out that the ancient Greeks would get drunk out of their minds from small cups, suggesting that there was more than just normal wine in there. Could this be a cause of the Holy Spirit ecstasy and visions common of the apostolic age?
  • Praising their god (Christ?) together
  • Baptism, seemingly as an initiation ritual
Now I'd like to compare this to parts of the Pliny letter (perhaps interesting that Pontus in mentioned in the Pentecost story and was the site of Pliny's governorship and the home of Marcion):
[...] For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. [...] They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.
I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you. For the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially because of the number involved. For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. [...]
Things to gleam here:
  • Corroboration of assembly
  • Corroboration of share meals (ordinary food - bread?)
  • Corroboration of their spread
  • Suggestions that the community included people from rural/commoner areas, including slaves (it appears that this only became a problem for Pliny once they started spreading into the major cities)
  • Suggestion that "Christianity" wasn't much of a religio, but a supersitio bound by oath/creed.
  • Apolitical (allegiance to one another, instead of any political authority?)
  • Inclusion of any and all people ("of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes")
One thing to note between the letter is that it is only in the parts of the Pentecost story that attempts to affirm authenticity through scripture that we see the importance of cohesion with Judaism. It almost looks like the Christians as seen by Pliny worship Christ and only Christ, and if the community is filled with peasants and slaves then it seems possible that all they really knew/cared about was the single godly figure of Christ. In fact, it is only in the first bulk of the speech by Peter that we hear mention of the higher "god".
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Jagd
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Re: Buried in Pliny and Pentecost: Oldest Christianity?

Post by Jagd »

Speculative reconstruction of an older "Pentecost" story:
[All] were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

[...] And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “[...] [H]ow is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

[...] Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
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neilgodfrey
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Re: Buried in Pliny and Pentecost: Oldest Christianity?

Post by neilgodfrey »

One point to bear in mind: the description of Christian worship we find in Pliny's letter may actually represent a later development: https://vridar.org/2016/02/17/fresh-dou ... hristians/
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Jagd
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Re: Buried in Pliny and Pentecost: Oldest Christianity?

Post by Jagd »

neilgodfrey wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 3:55 pm One point to bear in mind: the description of Christian worship we find in Pliny's letter may actually represent a later development: https://vridar.org/2016/02/17/fresh-dou ... hristians/
Would the forgery and the Christianity described therein come from the 2nd century? Acts is already a 2nd century text, so even if the letter is a forgery it would then still be of the same era (albeit without a handy third-party perspective).
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