The Gospels Were Not Published Until c.150

[MrMacSon]

... it does explain a number of difficulties like for instance Celsus's knowledge of Christianity. He seems to have had access to a library that contained Christian books ...

Perhaps Celsus is just a fictitious sock-puppet.

[Secret Alias]

Calling it clandestine b/c it does not seem to have been known for 50-60 yrs

Calling it clandestine because all the evidence suggests the Christian tradition was preserved in secret.

[Secret Alias]

Perhaps Celsus is just a fictitious sock-puppet.

STFU.

[Secret Alias]

The Zohar is another secret text which has roughly the same significance in Sepharic tradition.

[Bernard Muller]

to Secret Alias,

"Early in the fourth century, the religion was legalized by the Edict of Milan"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians
That means before early fourth century, Christianity was illegal.

Cordially, Bernard

[Secret Alias]

When Irenaeus discusses the creation of the LXX he insinuates that not only was the text divinely inspired but (from what I remember) divine truth needed to be preserved in a public library. The passage can be read as if Irenaeus would have supported placing Christian scriptures in the same public library 'system' (realizing of course that ancient libraries weren't like modern public libraries).

[Secret Alias]

That means before early fourth century, Christianity was illegal.

Being a secret association was illegal. There is evidence that the Emperors before Constantine knew and interacted with Christian communities at Rome. Commodus, Decius, Aurelian etc.

[Secret Alias]

Aurelian allowed the two parties, for and against Paul, to present their cases before his own tribunal. Aurelian was not a Christian and had no interest in the doctrinal issues of the Church. Wishing only to restore order, he relied on the judgment of the bishops of Italy and Rome. The unanimous verdict was for Paul to relinquish his position as bishop.

The ruling of Aurelian occurred during the "Little Peace of the Church", a roughly 40-year period when Christianity flourished without official sanctions from the central government. It was the first time the Church had sought the emperor's intervention in an internal dispute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_of_Samosata

[Secret Alias]

The Severian dynasty had close ties with Christians and Christianity.

[Secret Alias]

In fact from the time of Commodus - that is from the time of Irenaeus - Christianity had a presence in the Imperial court. Many in the imperial household were Christians. This influence extended down to the persecutions of Diocletian.