The more I get through Paul's various letters, the more i feel that Christianity could fairly be called "Paulism". Anyone else feel the same?
Top | Newest First | Oldest First
1354swrdt · 70-79, M
This of course is the standard liberal view that has gone out of date now in scholarship. It is based on the assumption that Christianity was a western religion rather than a Jewish one. Paul of course was the one with the intellect to see that Jesus was the Messiah in fulfilment of the Jewish scriptures and the intellect to put this down. Unless you grasp the fact that he is writing from the point of view of second temple Judaism you will not see this. Paul’s working out of Jesus’ teaching is quite clear - he is the Messiah in fulfilment of the Jewish scriptures in which he had been steep since birth. He was a ‘Hebrew of the Hebrews’ hence in a unique position to make clear just how those scriptures had been fulfilled. Unfortunately German scholarship with its antisemitism made Paul out to be some form of anti-Semite which is of course the most ludicrous charge one could have brought. What you are saying is based on your own total misunderstanding of Paul and the purpose of the gospel
View 18 more replies »
@exexec I'm glad. I support this. I legitimately think Paul was a fraud.
OggggO · 36-40, M
Depends on the denomination. I do feel his influence is generally outsized compared to the other apostles, possibly overwhelmingly so. But since he was the one most focused on converting non-Jews instead of convincing Jews that Jesus was the Messiah, and since those same converts eventually came to greatly outnumber Jewish Christians, it's not exactly surprising.
Carazaa · F
@LeopoldBloom Are you you joking? Jesus spoke, God spoke, to the apostles! That's why they are sacred!!
@Carazaa So what. He started a cult that went against the teachings of Jesus. If you want Paul as God fine. Do what you want.
Carazaa · F
@canusernamebemyusername Why do you think that it is a cult?
LeopoldBloom · M
Yes. He won the dispute between him and the Jerusalem faction run by James the brother of Jesus. We’d be living in a different world if James had won.
@LeopoldBloom
Yeah Jesus didn't seem to be trying to make Jews not Jews. It's Paul who keeps saying the old law is a path to failure.
lol yes he does seem to humble brag more than once. It really does strike me as a man just trying to grow his church, his religious movement.
Yeah Jesus didn't seem to be trying to make Jews not Jews. It's Paul who keeps saying the old law is a path to failure.
lol yes he does seem to humble brag more than once. It really does strike me as a man just trying to grow his church, his religious movement.
LeopoldBloom · M
@Pikachu Nietzsche observed that Paul had the novel idea of divorcing Christianity from Judaism, simplifying it and making it appealing to the pagans. Nobody is going to convert to Judaism, but if you tell a polytheist that there is just one more god they need to follow, that's not a huge stretch. "Paul remained Saul - the persecutor of Jesus."
@LeopoldBloom
Interesting.
lol yeah i guess following the laws of Moses is probably a hard sell if you're not born into it.
Interesting.
lol yeah i guess following the laws of Moses is probably a hard sell if you're not born into it.
This comment is hidden.
Show Comment
This comment is hidden.
Show Comment
LeopoldBloom · M
@SW-User And of course now we have Trumpism.
OnePatheticClown · 51-55, M
George Bernard Shaw had a quote about it which i do not remember exactly...
walabby · 61-69, M
@LordShadowfire I agree with the possibility of the first half of that, but there was an uprising anyway which the Romans brutally put down in AD70, resulting in the total destruction of the temple except for the foundations. There was another uprising in AD137, resulting in the Jews being banned from Israel, hence the diaspora.