A negativity as evil and anti-Christ as it can get
"In the book Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, Bart Ehrman examines a wide diversity of early Christian texts and the various belief systems they represent. The primary purpose of this book is to shed light on the early Christian writings that came to be "rejected, attacked, suppressed, and destroyed" (ix). As a result of the battle for Christian orthodoxy, these texts and forms of Christian faith were declared heretical. In this book, Ehrman provides a general discussion on the wide variety of " Lost Christianities" in order to show the diversity of Christian beliefs and practices in the second and third century. Ehrman's book is directed toward a general audience that has little to no background in the studies of early Christianity. It is clear that one of Ehrman's main objectives is to educate the general population (both Christian and non-Christian) on the formation of the canonical NT, while emphasizing how one group emerged from the battle victorious. Ehrman encourages the reader to think about the major influence orthodox Christianity has had on western civilization. With this in mind, he asks the reader to imagine what civilization would have been like if a different form of Christianity won the battle for orthodoxy."
May 17, 2011
What if a different form of Christianity had won the battle for orthodoxy?
Dear disciples of the Paraclete,
i may order this book "Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture
and the Faiths We Never Knew" too.
The last few weeks have been significant in my comprehension of Jesus
and His true message. Without question, the Paraclete Shri Mataji
had to be sent. The discovery of Christian texts excluded from the
Bible could not have come at a more perfect time. Only through Shri
Mataji and the Spirit-Paraclete is it possible to have faith in
Jesus' Self-realization and evidence of the Kingdom of God within.
However, that would have been regarded as "heretical" two thousand
years ago and excluded from Christianity. That it is no different
today only confirms the ignorance that the Paraclete, just like
Jesus, found almost impossible to overcome. That She spent almost
forty years compared to Jesus' three only magnifies the intensity and
strength of the negativity.
The title of this post is: What if a different form of Christianity
had won the battle for orthodoxy? It is most relevant today because
that battle for Jesus' teachings have been going on since 1993. The
outcome will answer: What if a different form of Christianity had won
the battle for orthodoxy? ................. i.e., only if we win! It
will never arise if we lose. That loss would be far more: Unlike the
Church, the SYs and their SYSSR have completed edited out Jesus, the
Paraclete and the Spirit-Paraclete! That is a negativity as
evil and anti-Christ as it can get.
The appended post will give us a window into the past, and a door
into the future if we win. The battle is for the souls of humanity to
enter the Kingdom of God that Jesus laid down His life for, and the
Paraclete selflessly dedicated four decades to. Both tried valiantly
to resurrect the different form of Christianity that lost; that of
the Kingdom of God, and God too, within all humans ..... and that you
need no rule, ritual or ruler of the Church, Temple, Mosque, Synagogue
or Gurdwara. You do not need the rules, rituals and rulers of the SY
organization either. You only need yourself!
regards to all,
jagbir
A Critical Review of Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities, Oct 19, 2004
By Ry O. Parrish-Siggelkow (St. Stephen, New Brunswick Canada)
This review is from: The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the
Faiths We Never Knew (Hardcover)
In the book Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We
Never Knew, Bart Ehrman examines a wide diversity of early Christian texts and
the various belief systems they represent. The primary purpose of this book is
to shed light on the early Christian writings that came to be "rejected,
attacked, suppressed, and destroyed" (ix). As a result of the battle for
Christian orthodoxy, these texts and forms of Christian faith were declared
heretical. In this book, Ehrman provides a general discussion on the wide
variety of " Lost Christianities" in order to show the diversity of Christian
beliefs and practices in the second and third century. Ehrman's book is directed
toward a general audience that has little to no background in the studies of
early Christianity. It is clear that one of Ehrman's main objectives is to
educate the general population (both Christian and non-Christian) on the
formation of the canonical NT, while emphasizing how one group emerged from the
battle victorious. Ehrman encourages the reader to think about the major
influence orthodox Christianity has had on western civilization. With this in
mind, he asks the reader to imagine what civilization would have been like if a
different form of Christianity won the battle for orthodoxy. This critical
review will examine some of Ehrman's main discussions in Lost Christianities. It
will also attempt to determine the merit of this book according to its general
purpose, by analyzing Ehrman's ability to display information and to make clear
and distinct arguments.
Ehrman's book is divided into three main parts. The first part, entitled
"Forgeries and Discoveries," uncovers some of the discovered hidden Christian
texts, including a Gospel claiming to be written by Jesus' disciple Simon Peter,
an account of the life of Thecla an alleged disciple of the apostle Paul, as
well as other interesting accounts, which represent an even larger number of
texts that had been determined to be forgeries either in the second and third
century or in recent scholarship. The problem of forgery was fairly widespread
in the second and third century and in many cases distinguishing the
authenticity of a text has not been an easy task. Ehrman supports the recent
arguments questioning the authenticity of some of the canonical NT writings,
particularly the supposed Pauline letters 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and 2
Thessalonians. Although most Christian scholars have been reluctant to label any
canonical book a forgery (the term "pseudonymous" is usually incorporated
instead), almost every scholar has agreed that the non-canonical books (the ones
excluded from the NT canon) are indeed, forgeries. Nonetheless, many followers
of Jesus would have considered these writings and others to be sacred scripture.
Ehrman points out that these writings display drastically different beliefs
about Jesus and his message than what is known to us in the canonical books of
the NT; the writings are the greatest representation of the diversity of
Christianities in the second and third century.
The second part of Ehrman's book called "Heresies and Orthodoxies" deals with
various faith movements within early Christianity. Ehrman points out that "this
matter of being `right' was a concern unique to Christianity" (91). Although
Ehrman's comment appears to be overstated, his argument does make sense in the
religious context of the first and second century, especially in the midst of
Roman polytheism. In comparison to the Roman religious beliefs, the salvation
pronouncements of Christianity had an exclusivist nature. For instance, many of
the early Christians believed that salvation comes only through Jesus (e.g. John
14:6). Ehrman discusses the four main early Christian movements about which we
have any substantial evidence. He includes the following: the Jewish Christian
Ebionites, the anti-Jewish Marcionites, the early Christian Gnostics, and the
group he labels proto-orthodox. Ehrman spends a good amount of time on each of
these early Christian movements giving the reader a general overview of their
belief systems. He points out the difficulty in gaining an accurate assessment
of these movements, since most of the evidence comes from biased proto-orthodox
sources.
The third part of Ehrman's book deals with major conflicts between the various
Christian movements. As each movement began to spread the Christian message, the
differing views were conflicting and creating more diversity and confusion. In
order for Christianity as religion to gain any sense of unification, it needed
to define orthodoxy. Thus, the last part of Ehrman's book discusses the battle
for orthodoxy, primarily taking place in the fourth century. Each movement held
to particular beliefs on specific literary grounds, and each claimed that their
view should be considered as orthodoxy. Hence, the faith that eventually emerged
victorious is what has been passed down through the centuries, beginning with
the basic orthodox creeds and a NT canon that was deemed authoritative for all
Christians.
Overall, Lost Christianities is a good overview and general discussion of early
interpretations of the life and message of Jesus of Nazareth. Ehrman addresses
some of the foremost controversial texts while provoking a good discussion and
rendering liberal conclusions. It appears as though Ehrman has a good
understanding of the texts themselves as well as the scholarly debates that have
revolved around the various writings over the past century. His task is a
difficult one because he is writing for a popular (non-scholarly) audience, yet
he is able to maintain a balance between overview and depth in most of his
discussions. Ehrman provides definitions for many theological terms, which
allows the book to be conducive to a reader who does not have background in
theological studies, in particular, studies concerning the formation of the NT
canon and orthodoxy.
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