Posted: Oct 08, 2015 1:25 pm
Mike S wrote:MS2 wrote:
My opinion is:
The best (and therefore most likely) of the various possible explanations for the origin of Christianity is it began with one man gathering a group of followers who, after he died, morphed into various groupings that had various beliefs and 'memories'* about the guy it all began with, and some of those beliefs and 'memories' can be found in the ancient writings that still exist. A small portion of the beliefs and 'memories' are reasonably likely to have their origins in things he said and did. The majority though are better explained by what happened later.
I’ve always been more interested in how Christianity was (haphazardly?) created than in its central figure Jesus, but, here’s a thought, MS2 – what if Christianity didn’t start in one location with one man labeled Jesus at all?
What if we’re looking at different groups in different places, mainly in the east (with mystery religions galore), movements which to varying degrees espoused different teachings and traditions, but which all eventually contributed to, and formed part of early Christianity. It would certainly go a long way toward explaining the well nigh irreconcilably conflicting nature of much of the early writings.
I think my version better explains two key features of the early writings: 1. the Jewish elements in them; 2. the view throughout that a figure called Jesus is extremely important (albeit important in different ways).
On the other hand, I don't think my version has much difficulty explaining what you refer to as the conflicting nature of much of the early writings, as this can be ascribed to the underlying beliefs held by the different groups which they combined with their new allegiance to Jesus.