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As Jewish Christianity began to develop its own character, Jesus was no longer considered to be just a man. He had a special relationship with god, and was perhaps conceived of by God before anything was created. But he was not an eternal man nor a god. My page on Arianism continues: “Arianism describes the pre-trinitarian doctrine of a holy, but not a godly, Jesus. It is not always adoptionism and not always monotheistic, either. It was defined by a negative principal (that logically Jesus can't be God and still suffer on the cross). If Jesus was God (i.e., perfect), Arians realized, what chance would any Human have of imitating him? Although Arian-sounding theologies existed from the second century onwards, it only became a wide point of contention after the third century. In the third century Origen of Alexandria, the greatest theologian of his time, had declared that the Father was Greater than the Son. This principal was later named after its principal proponent and most articulate defender, Arius (256-336 CE). It was opposed by Athanasius, who became a Nicene Christian from 325 CE. In the Roman Empire, Arian Christianity was supplanted by intolerant Nicene Christianity by the 5th century, but remained the most popular form of Christianity amongst the tribes surrounding the empire, until the 8th century. [...] The eventual victory of the Cappadocian Nicene faith from 380 CE meant that as the Empire collapsed, the Christianity that was left behind was the dark, violent, centralized type that did not tolerate dissent. By the late fourth century, a recognizable Roman Catholic Church had emerged. The doctrine of the Trinity had been created, and the vengeful violence of Nicene Christianity was in full, open, bloody view. Anti-semitism was given its official sanction. The edited Nicene Creed was the only form of belief that was to be tolerated. Inquisitors began reviewing religious beliefs, condemning victims to imprisonment, torture and public execution for failing to believe the right things. This state of affairs persisted and plunged Christian societies into a 1000-year long dark ages. If the Arians had survived the onslaught and been the religion that the Empire left behind, we would have been left with a Christianity that would have left a glowing legacy of Jesus. Instead, the Nicene's violence and intolerance won out, and the 'ages of faith' that resulted darkened humanity from the fifth until the fifteenth century. ”"Arian Christianity" by Vexen Crabtree (2008) Tags: christianity, god, history, jesus, religion
Current Location: Afghanistan
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"National Apologies for Ancestral Sins and Historical Evils" by Vexen Crabtree (2007) Should we return annexed land to its original owners? Should we send immigrants home? And other questions relating to things done by previous generations... should we apologize for those things, on their behalf? I enjoyed writing this page... even got in a bit about the Adam and Eve story from Christian mythology. Tags: adam and eve, apologies, evil, history, immigration, land ownership, politics, repatriation, sins, slavery, war, world wars
Current Location: London
Listening To: "Love Will Find a Way" by De/Vision
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Added to the following text to my page on Scandinavia: Estonia: Scandinavian?
We saw above that Mr Bildt (Prime Minister of Sweden 1991 to 1994) described Estonia as part of Scandinavia (2006 Sep)4, but this claim remains largely ignored. As Estonia was once 'part of' or a colony of Sweden, it borders the Gulf of Finland, and as it shares many cultural, some linguistic, and economic factors with Scandinavia, some have called for Estonia to be considered Scandinavian9. It is traditonally considered one of the Baltic countries, like Latvia and Lithuania. The colonial history of Sweden provides a 100-year window where Estonia was 'scandinavian'.
In the 16th century, Sweden slowly increased their grasp of the eastern shores of the Baltic and during the rule of Erik XIV from 1567 Sweden saw northern Estonia steadily absorbed into their empire. Gustav II Adolf from 1611, invaded Latvia and consolidated Swedish rule of the eastern side of the Baltic. During the reign of King Karl XII, who ruled the Swedish empire from 1697 to 1718, Latvia and Estonia were lost to the Russians after a defeat at Poltava in 1709.16. The public will require time and much convincing if Estonia is to be considered Scandinavian rather than Baltic. Tags: estonia, history, latvia, russia, scandinavia, sweden
Current Location: Germany
Current Mood:  busy
Listening To: "Beside you in time" by Nine Inch Nails
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- Ebionite Christians were the true Christians: Aramaic-speakers like Jesus and his apostles, they would have been the Jewish witnesses to Jesus' ministry and preaching. From this starting point, Jesus' teachings spread. They also, however, spread from Saul of Damascus, who renamed himself Paul and who preached an anti-Ebionite version of Christianity for the gentiles, which was much easier to follow and more popular.
- Gnostic Christians: With stories, myths and beliefs that are exactly the same as Christian ones in many of the little details, gnostic beliefs manage to pre-date Christians ones by over 200 years. They understood what the stories of the NT really meant. Jesus didn't really exist, but was a collection of such earlier stories, rewritten in Greek, with Greek names. This is the approach taken by historians such as Freke & Gandy.
- Pauline / Roman Christians: When the Roman-backed instance of Christianity went in search of the ancient centres of Christianity, they discovered to their horror that the Ebionites and Gnostics pre-dated them. Their un-Christian answer was to edit verses, burn books, arrest and harass the other poverty-stricken Christians until no opposition was left. The form of Christianity that we have inherited from the Roman Empire is far from what Christianity originally was.
Added to: "Types of Christianity: Who were the original Christians?" by Vexen CrabtreeTags: christianity, gnostics, history, religion
Current Location: Afghanistan
Listening To: "Temptation" by Heaven 17
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http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/marcionites.htmlMarcionites had some great theology, and some great solution to some otherwise-unsolved problems within Christianity. It's a shame that the more sensible ones are frequently the less aggressive... as they were of course wiped out by their less compassionate Pauline Christian brethren. Marcionites believed that the God of the Old Testament was a different God to the new testament. Their reasoning is sensible, and their collection of Christian books into a canon was the first ever collection. "At one point, the early Christian writings that were collected by Marcion, along with his own writings, were all destroyed. A domineering early Catholic Church, the Pauline Christians, committed themselves to a long-term campaign against these early Christians. [...] If it is Christian duty to 'turn the other cheek', 'resist not evil', 'love your enemies' and 'love your neighbours as yourself', then it is clear that the Pauline Christians, who eliminated Marcionism and got to choose the books of the Bible, were not the true Christians. " Tags: christianity, history
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http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/ebionites.htmlEbionite Christians had an early copy of the Gospel of Matthew; they did not have the two first chapters (including the virgin birth), which were added by later Christians. They strongly believed that all the Old Testament Jewish Laws had to be obeyed; including the Sabbath and circumcision for all males. As such, they considered St Paul to be the archenemy of Christianity as he taught that people did not have to obey the Law in order to be saved. Pauline Christians eradicated the Ebionites, burnt all their books (none survived), and wrote volumes and volumes against them. "If we were to guess which group was the more austere, holy and godly, we would have to guess it was the Ebionites rather than the Pauline Christians who slaughtered, slandered and oppressed them. Unfortunately the victors get to write history, and it is Pauline Christianity that became the legacy of the Roman Empire. After the fourth century, the Ebionites were vanquished." Tags: christianity, history
Current Mood:  tired
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Billions of people are completely forgotten, having left no legacy and with no-one alive to remember them. And with so many Humans alive today, and so many recently dead, who has time to wonder about the forgotten dead? Wouldn't it be interesting to, pretty much randomly, pick out one person from history, a completely unknown person say from 1920s London, and get to know them? Find out about them, their interests, loves, hopes? Just in the vain hope that if WE can remember someone else, someone in the future might also be affected by OUR insignificant lives, and somehow rectify the fearful nothingness death that encroaches on us all? I was thinking about responses to near-death experiences... many people are energized by it. My response to impending nothingness, the victory of death, is to be obsessively productive, short and elitist... but nearly always in intellectual, high-brow ways... I want to understand, forsee and affect the future BECAUSE my life is short. But others, instead, become obsessed with trivial life, they merely want to see, experience and do. I was thinking, what good is having seen that or having been there, once you're dead? Who would know or care what you've seen or done? But if you make yourself great and productive, creative in a Nietzsche superman way, it seems to make life worthwhile. What merit is there in either of these two reactions? Physical, experience, or in future power and foresight? One person decides, because life is short, to do as many extreeme sports as possible.. another decides to change the future and make the world a better place, not caring for their own life. One is a hero, the other is shallow... but both are equally trying to nullify the pointlessness of life. So is it interesting to find out, WHO IS a dead person? Nearly all dead want to be remembered... but hardly any are. Everyone should research a random dead dude! Tags: death, history
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Voodoo priests organized several slave revolts, English economics dictated the end of support for the slave trade... did monotheism play a role in abolition? Emancipation came firstly through slave revolts, and then finally through large scale military and beaurocratic opposition to the slave trade, what made these forces possible? And for those who remained slaves, which forces relieved or increased their suffering? I look at factors that brought the slave trade to an end and conclude that economic forces were the most potent. (This page was inspired by a recent comment to Empiress, which made me remember I had a large file of notes that were sat on my hard drive unused, so here they are, all HTMLized) Tags: abolition, history, slave revolts, slavery, slaves, voodoo
Current Mood:  uncomfortable
Listening To: "Mercy street" by Peter Gabriel
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