The Emergence of Christianity
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
Christianity
emerged from a rich array of spiritual traditions that it has been
influenced by. The preponderance of common ideas found among the
people’s religious practices cannot be explained away or destroyed. For
instance the stories like the great flood in Genesis are believed to
have come from ancient Babylonian beliefs. The idea of the archetypal,
or heavenly man created before the advent of terrestrial man, who is
then made into the image of his Creator (Adam in Christianity), is a
common concept. For the Kabbalists, this initial subject is Primordial
Man, Adam Kadmon, who encompasses all humanity (See U.M.S.
Quabalah course). The Phrygian Ophites believed in “a Man and a Son of
Man,” as the origins of all subsequent things. In the Avestic
literature of Persia, Gayomort was the son of Spenta-armaiti. The
daughter of the Supreme God Ahura Mazda is believed to be the source of
humanity. The “First Man,” found in the Babylonian belief system, is
seen as an intermediary between the gods of light and this earth. The
Pistis Sophia, a collection of Gnostic writings, tells us of a “First
Man” called Jeu, referred to as “overseer of the light” and the
arranger of the cosmos. This was written in Greek yet shows more
affinity with Egyptian beliefs than Persian religion. This “First Man”
concept appears at the same time, yet in different countries and
between peoples who were often hostile rivals.
The Great Religions By Which Men Live (1961) by Floyd H. Ross and Tynette Hill recounts
the life of Jesus as a life “embroidered with the hopes and dreams of
generations of Christians.” From reading this work we learn that it is
almost impossible to know just who this man historically was and that
in fact it was an inadvertent move that started the Christian religion
and the unintended result that many people today believe that he is God
incarnate.
We are encouraged to approach the study of
Jesus like other religious prophets and leaders, keeping an open mind.
It is only natural for our human nature to deify a religious leader.
The history of Christian attitudes illustrates this as opposed to the
way of Taoism and Buddhism. The Church was “intent on exulting the
divine role that the church has given to Jesus; many have missed
finding the wisdom of his teachings. They have worshiped him, but
failed to follow him. Yet the Jesus, whom some at least can see behind
all the adoration, sought not to make man accept himself, but to accept his way of life.”
According to Legge in the introduction to Forerunners And Rivals Of Christianity (1964)
the Christian religion and its divine origin would follow the same
lines of development as its rivals. Christian religion survived the
early competition from other belief systems, as it was better suited
for its environment. Judaism, Christianity’s matrix, was not a rival of
Christianity. The Sadducees were the dominant party of the Jewish state
but were a small part of the population of Judaea, which was mostly
populated by the Pharisees. After 69 A.D. tensions and hostility rose
between Jews and Gentiles however Judaism never attempted to become a
world religion. In The Great Religions By Which Men Live (1961) by Floyd H. Ross and Tynette Hills,
we learn that although John’s Gospel records much hostility from the
Jewish religious authorities (who refuse to believe in Jesus), there is
nothing but respect for the Judaism of the past and the Old Testament.
It is written in Greek, but its authors appear to be at home with
Aramaic thought and idiom, and with the thought of contemporary Jewish
rabbis. Those rabbis spoke of the Torah (the
law given by Moses) as water, bread and light for the world, so John
presents Jesus as the living fulfillment of that Law. But the Jewish
Law is also to be made available to all men by means of the Lord’s
coming and death. John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men to myself.”
The religions competing
with Christianity fall into three categories. The Oriental religions
were found west and east of the Mediterranean, free from Hellenic
culture until after the time of Alexander. When Alexander married
European and Asian cultures through his military conquest, these belief
systems exerted far more influence than they had before in their own
native lands. The second group consists of the many sects called
Gnostics. Magic and alternative beliefs in the worship of the gods of
Olympus were found among this group. The third competition was the
religion of Manes arose and attempted to merge the three religions of
Zoroaster, Buddha and Christ.
The knowledge concerning these religions is limited and fragmented. The
Catholic Church later destroyed many documents that traced the history
of these religions. A Pope of the 7th century who stated, “Break the
idols and concentrate the temples” of the heathen. However, scholars
have managed to discover some artifacts and writings from these ancient
belief systems. Fragments of works by Gnostics writers and Manichaean
documents have been discovered even as far as the Western frontiers of
China.