Monotheistic Dominance Theory and the Rise of Christianity
Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:10 am
Hi All,
I am not sure why I can't find the Bill Cosby thread I started a few weeks ago. I did perhaps go too specifically into the details of the modern case and we brought up modern issues that strayed too far from Early Christian History.
At that time I was more interested in seeing the possible parallels in the development of the Cosby Demonization Myth with the development of the gospels' Jesus Apotheosis Myth.
I suggested that the minor accusation (1997)/minor accusation (2000) and wave of more serious accusations (5-6 in 2005-6) and wave of incredible and fantastic accusations (30 and counting in late 2014 and 2015) was a good model for how the stories in the gospels developed.
While I still hold this to be important to study, I would like to propose a more interesting parallel of political forces in the Cosby Case with the development of political forces in early Christianity. In the Cosby case, we have a general racist atmosphere in America where black criminality is blamed on innate genetic make-up of African-Americans instead of the economic and social conditions that lead to that criminality. This is the background of the case, but in the foreground is a push by certain feminists for legal dominance feminism, which would grant women special legal rights acknowledging woman as normally victims of men in society. To balance the advantages of men in a patriarchal society a certain group of feminist, starting in the 1970's (exemplified by Catherine McKinnon) started demanding special laws to protect women. This was in opposition to second wave feminism created by Simone de Beauvoir in the 1950's which was demanding social and sexual equality between men and women. In the Cosby case it is the legal dominance feminist movement that is using the generally racist attitude towards blacks to gain power. They are able to use the Cosby Demonization Myth effectively because of the strong subliminal background racism in American society. (a non-racist society would examine each accusation on its factual merits and see that they are without evidence and baseless).
I will stray here a bit and say that the legal dominance feminists using racism to gain power is not an unusual politcal tactic. One can even see it in Cosby's personal history. In 1965, Bill Cosby became the first Black man to play a staring role in a television drama series. He was in a series called "I Spy." It ran on NBC, but four NBC affiliate stations in the South refused to carry the show because Cosby, a black man, was a hero in it. In the very first episode, "So long, Patrick Henry," we have an answer to people not seeing Blacks as worthy of being shown as heroes. In the episode, a Black militant athlete defects to Communist Red China. Cosby, as an American spy is immediately shown to be the good calm black man working for the American government in contrast to the angry Black anti-American political man. The Black athlete believes he will find the freedom to live a life without racism in Communist Red China. The Black athlete soon finds that he is only a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communists. They will kill him if he does not obey them and say what he wants them to say. Cosby saves the black athlete from the clutches of the Chinese Communists. The message of the show is that blacks and whites misunderstand each other. They have a love of freedom in common. It is the Asian Communists who are trying to take away that freedom. Only by uniting can Whites and Blacks in America save freedom from the Asian Communists. It was racist anti-Asian propaganda. It also worked. "I Spy" became a hit and Bill Cosby became a superstar. Cosby should not be blamed for this, he was just being marketed in this way to Americans who had been raised on needing a racial enemy to prove their superiority.
When looking at the early History of Christianity, we look at it from the Jewish view and the Christian view. That is the problem. We need to see it in a more complex fashion. Just as today most men and women agree with Simone De Beauvoir's message of male-female equality and the legal dominance feminists represent a small minority (usually lawyers and rape center counselors), The vast majority of Jews in the First century and Second century simply wanted equality with Romans. They just wanted to control their own state as the Romans did, a rather small bit of territory compared to the Roman's empire. The Romans were generally simply racist towards the Jews, seeing them and their God as inferior to the Roman state. This attitude of racism spawned a Monotheistic Superiority Complex. There were Jews who not only thought that Jewish customs and the Jewish God was equal to the Romans, but they felt that they were superior to the Romans. The Romans were only in a superior position because Jews had not seen that he was superior. This was the Monotheistic Dominance Jews. The customs, rules and laws that Moses had received wasn't the essence of Judaism for them, It was that the Jewish God was the one true living God and all other Gods were evil demons compared to him. It is the Jewish Monotheistic Dominance Movement that uses the Jesus stories to gain their political ends of making the world worship only the one true Jewish Gods. They should be distinguished from the mass of Jews who simply wanted to worship their God and follow the Mosaic laws that they had been given. The Jewish Monotheistic Dominance Movement used the background and natural antisemitism of the Romans. Their Jewish Monotheistic Dominance ideas were sublimated in the gospel stories. By screaming hysterical that the Jews were God Killers, the Romans were duped into seeing the Jewish Monotheistic Dominance Movement as their allies and friends against the Jews.
We should see the Pauline letters as being part of the Jewish Monotheistic Dominance Movement and the gospel mythology as developing later within that movement.
Warmly,
Jay Raskin
I am not sure why I can't find the Bill Cosby thread I started a few weeks ago. I did perhaps go too specifically into the details of the modern case and we brought up modern issues that strayed too far from Early Christian History.
At that time I was more interested in seeing the possible parallels in the development of the Cosby Demonization Myth with the development of the gospels' Jesus Apotheosis Myth.
I suggested that the minor accusation (1997)/minor accusation (2000) and wave of more serious accusations (5-6 in 2005-6) and wave of incredible and fantastic accusations (30 and counting in late 2014 and 2015) was a good model for how the stories in the gospels developed.
While I still hold this to be important to study, I would like to propose a more interesting parallel of political forces in the Cosby Case with the development of political forces in early Christianity. In the Cosby case, we have a general racist atmosphere in America where black criminality is blamed on innate genetic make-up of African-Americans instead of the economic and social conditions that lead to that criminality. This is the background of the case, but in the foreground is a push by certain feminists for legal dominance feminism, which would grant women special legal rights acknowledging woman as normally victims of men in society. To balance the advantages of men in a patriarchal society a certain group of feminist, starting in the 1970's (exemplified by Catherine McKinnon) started demanding special laws to protect women. This was in opposition to second wave feminism created by Simone de Beauvoir in the 1950's which was demanding social and sexual equality between men and women. In the Cosby case it is the legal dominance feminist movement that is using the generally racist attitude towards blacks to gain power. They are able to use the Cosby Demonization Myth effectively because of the strong subliminal background racism in American society. (a non-racist society would examine each accusation on its factual merits and see that they are without evidence and baseless).
I will stray here a bit and say that the legal dominance feminists using racism to gain power is not an unusual politcal tactic. One can even see it in Cosby's personal history. In 1965, Bill Cosby became the first Black man to play a staring role in a television drama series. He was in a series called "I Spy." It ran on NBC, but four NBC affiliate stations in the South refused to carry the show because Cosby, a black man, was a hero in it. In the very first episode, "So long, Patrick Henry," we have an answer to people not seeing Blacks as worthy of being shown as heroes. In the episode, a Black militant athlete defects to Communist Red China. Cosby, as an American spy is immediately shown to be the good calm black man working for the American government in contrast to the angry Black anti-American political man. The Black athlete believes he will find the freedom to live a life without racism in Communist Red China. The Black athlete soon finds that he is only a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communists. They will kill him if he does not obey them and say what he wants them to say. Cosby saves the black athlete from the clutches of the Chinese Communists. The message of the show is that blacks and whites misunderstand each other. They have a love of freedom in common. It is the Asian Communists who are trying to take away that freedom. Only by uniting can Whites and Blacks in America save freedom from the Asian Communists. It was racist anti-Asian propaganda. It also worked. "I Spy" became a hit and Bill Cosby became a superstar. Cosby should not be blamed for this, he was just being marketed in this way to Americans who had been raised on needing a racial enemy to prove their superiority.
When looking at the early History of Christianity, we look at it from the Jewish view and the Christian view. That is the problem. We need to see it in a more complex fashion. Just as today most men and women agree with Simone De Beauvoir's message of male-female equality and the legal dominance feminists represent a small minority (usually lawyers and rape center counselors), The vast majority of Jews in the First century and Second century simply wanted equality with Romans. They just wanted to control their own state as the Romans did, a rather small bit of territory compared to the Roman's empire. The Romans were generally simply racist towards the Jews, seeing them and their God as inferior to the Roman state. This attitude of racism spawned a Monotheistic Superiority Complex. There were Jews who not only thought that Jewish customs and the Jewish God was equal to the Romans, but they felt that they were superior to the Romans. The Romans were only in a superior position because Jews had not seen that he was superior. This was the Monotheistic Dominance Jews. The customs, rules and laws that Moses had received wasn't the essence of Judaism for them, It was that the Jewish God was the one true living God and all other Gods were evil demons compared to him. It is the Jewish Monotheistic Dominance Movement that uses the Jesus stories to gain their political ends of making the world worship only the one true Jewish Gods. They should be distinguished from the mass of Jews who simply wanted to worship their God and follow the Mosaic laws that they had been given. The Jewish Monotheistic Dominance Movement used the background and natural antisemitism of the Romans. Their Jewish Monotheistic Dominance ideas were sublimated in the gospel stories. By screaming hysterical that the Jews were God Killers, the Romans were duped into seeing the Jewish Monotheistic Dominance Movement as their allies and friends against the Jews.
We should see the Pauline letters as being part of the Jewish Monotheistic Dominance Movement and the gospel mythology as developing later within that movement.
Warmly,
Jay Raskin