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Baruch
Great quote ...
Thu Apr 26, 2012 13:31
68.89.250.138

"powerful new social, spiritual and philosophical syntheses". Correction though, Christianity at the beginning, wasn't Western, it was Eastern (as was Judaism then). Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch and Ephesus weren't part of Western Civ ... Hellenistic civilization was Eastern (Persian, Indian, Egyptian, Babylonian mostly, with a Greek veneer). The Romans, and subsequent Latin Christians are Western.

It only became Western because the Jews were exterminated or purged, the epistles of Paul etal and a few popular religious novellettes (gospels) survived by miracle, several different Gentile Christianities competing after 135 CE, and Emperor Constantine chose what was post-facto Orthodox Christianity when he could have chosen something else instead. Three Jewish messianic revolts against Rome from 66 - 135 CE all failed.

We could have all been Buddhist in the West (well in fact we are, we just don't recognize it because of cognitive dissonance and subsequent historical layering). Orthodox Christianity was the Gentile zombie version of Pauline Messianic Judaism, which was BuJew. The Christianity most of us are familiar with, is Western Latin or its derivatives.

Shalom

  • Historically speaking...... — clarym29, Wed Apr 25 18:06
    At first value there are many unreasonable things about the beliefs of early Christianity, and, as the organized church developed, those individuals who possessed the key of interpretation, the... more
    • RC's still believe in transformation! (nm) — Kasey, Tue May 1 07:19
      • RC dogma usually based on Plato ... — Baruch, Wed May 2 17:14
        except when based on Aristotle. Except as symbol for the believer, transubstantiation never was good philosophy, but was originally promoted in the 800s as a pietistic belief, and also to avoid... more
    • Yes, Gnosticism aka Kabbalah ... — Baruch, Thu Apr 26 06:44
      goes back to the Wisdom literature of Egypt and Mesopotamia (not counting imports from Persia and India). The Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary clearly show the raw material and process that... more
    • Well — sai ram, Wed Apr 25 19:58
      there were enough people on earth that people didn't need to make others up....I believe Jesus to be real....but I also believe we don't have a accurate nor true picture of His... more
      • All the myths are true ... — Baruch, Thu Apr 26 06:46
        to the cultures in which they arise ... the problem is that the modern notion of factual truth is bogus. Shalom
        • Facts died — MN_Morgan, Mon Apr 30 14:20
          http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-04-19/news/ct-talk-huppke-obit-facts-20120419_1_facts-philosopher-opinion It's a crying shame. ;D
          • I read that same article last week ... — Baruch, Mon Apr 30 18:20
            pretty funny in a sad way. The facts were ... as defined by the Enlightenment, by the European colonialist upper classes ... particularly facts on the ground ... such as we have steel and horses and... more
            • Of course not! — MN_Morgan, Wed May 2 09:28
              The people who migrated there first and settled in the land did. :P
        • To be more precise, it's a myth — Frashavan, Thu Apr 26 07:40
          the myth of "factual" truth and "objective" and "empirical" science is the most common myth in our societies. Quite a few people (not naming names) are unable to see that it isn't, and couldn't be a... more
          • I have sympathy ... — Baruch, Thu Apr 26 13:34
            any great civilization is a cultural Matrix complete in itself, and only requires pre-industrial technology to propagate and survive ... computers are not required. But most people in any culture... more
            • Sympathy, he's got! — Frashavan, Fri Apr 27 04:46
              Even though you, and I, and perhaps a few others, peek under the corner of the curtain in idle moments, most of the time we accept and act as if the prevailing myths were true. People always do. The... more
      • You are more well — clarym29, Wed Apr 25 20:23
        traveled than I. I am envious. Not all truth that is embedded in myth comes from a real person--symbolic truth does not need a person to impart truth or lesson. Aesop demonstrates that--as well as... more
        • But in Delphi they still believe they executed ... — Baruch, Thu Apr 26 06:49
          the annoying Aesop, by throwing him off the top of the mountain there. Did they? What matters is that they have believed they did, for 1000s of years. Truth and falsehood aren't opposites, they are... more
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