Edwin Herbert's Blog - Posts Tagged "atheism"
FATHER OF LIES
Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea (260 – 340 CE), the first Christian historian and “father of ecclesiastical history,” is responsible for most everything we know about the early centuries of Christianity. And yet more than two dozen complaints by his contemporaries have surfaced about his poor scholarship, dishonesty, and hypocrisy. Below is a list of what many scholars believe to be his accomplishments for the Church:
• Forged two letters between Jesus and King Abgar of Edessa
• Forged a letter by Marcus Aurelius
• Borrowed from a Roman novel to create Christian martyrologies
• Prime suspect for inserting the Testimonium Flavianum - a paragraph that mentions Jesus as messiah - into Josephus’ book, “Antiquities of the Jews”
• Wrote a manual for clerical preparation entitled “How it may be lawful and fitting to use falsehood as a medicine for the benefit of those wishing to be deceived”
As Emperor Constantine’s posthumous biographer, Eusebius concocted the tale of the “Labrum” – the battlefield vision Constantine supposedly experienced in 312 CE of a chi-rho symbol floating in the sky with the words: “By this sign, conquer!” Eusebius claimed the miracle immediately converted Constantine to Christianity, won him the battle, and led to dominance over pagan religions. (Strangely, this life-changing event didn’t find its way into the bishop’s earlier book, “Ecclesiastical History,” penned while Constantine was still alive.)
The problem with this story is Constantine actually did claim to have an earlier divine vision in 310 CE prophesying victory – by the god Apollo. Not only that, but the emperor continued to worship the invincible sun, Sol Invictus, until his death. And the chi-rho emblem did not represent Christ at that time, but Chrestus, which signified good, worthy, and useful – a common epitaph in those days.
Eusebius may even have escorted Constantine’s mother, the empress Helena, to the Holy Land – resulting in the discovery of Jesus’ tomb, pieces of the Holy Cross, nails, and relics. This is when the pilgrimage and phony relic trade got their start.
Eusebius: instigator of pious fraud, father of lies.
• Forged two letters between Jesus and King Abgar of Edessa
• Forged a letter by Marcus Aurelius
• Borrowed from a Roman novel to create Christian martyrologies
• Prime suspect for inserting the Testimonium Flavianum - a paragraph that mentions Jesus as messiah - into Josephus’ book, “Antiquities of the Jews”
• Wrote a manual for clerical preparation entitled “How it may be lawful and fitting to use falsehood as a medicine for the benefit of those wishing to be deceived”
As Emperor Constantine’s posthumous biographer, Eusebius concocted the tale of the “Labrum” – the battlefield vision Constantine supposedly experienced in 312 CE of a chi-rho symbol floating in the sky with the words: “By this sign, conquer!” Eusebius claimed the miracle immediately converted Constantine to Christianity, won him the battle, and led to dominance over pagan religions. (Strangely, this life-changing event didn’t find its way into the bishop’s earlier book, “Ecclesiastical History,” penned while Constantine was still alive.)
The problem with this story is Constantine actually did claim to have an earlier divine vision in 310 CE prophesying victory – by the god Apollo. Not only that, but the emperor continued to worship the invincible sun, Sol Invictus, until his death. And the chi-rho emblem did not represent Christ at that time, but Chrestus, which signified good, worthy, and useful – a common epitaph in those days.
Eusebius may even have escorted Constantine’s mother, the empress Helena, to the Holy Land – resulting in the discovery of Jesus’ tomb, pieces of the Holy Cross, nails, and relics. This is when the pilgrimage and phony relic trade got their start.
Eusebius: instigator of pious fraud, father of lies.
ARCHETYPAL HERO
Saviors in the ancient world tended to conform to a hero narrative. One such narrative is known as the Rank-Raglan mythological hero archetype, or mythotype. Named for Otto Rank and Lord Raglan, the two scholars who first described it, the mythotype is a list of 22 traits or incidents which occur with regularity in hero myths of most western cultures:
His mother is a virgin, father is king or rightful heir, the hero is reputed to be the son of a god, an attempt is made to kill him as an infant…and 18 other characteristics.
In his 1936 book, The Hero, Raglan notes that historical figures rarely achieved more than six of these traits. Even Alexander, Caesar Augustus and Mohammed with all their legendary accretions couldn’t manage half.
For those heroes who meet more than half of the Rank-Raglan criteria, a special category exists. Historian Richard Carrier, who refers to the hero narrative as “the fable of the divine king,” finds fifteen ancient figures who make the grade, fulfilling twelve or more of the elements. They are listed below with their R-R score:
Oedipus (21)
Theseus (20)
Moses (20)
Jesus (20)
Dionysus (19)
Romulus (18)
Perseus (18)
Hercules (17)
Bellerophon (16)
Jason (15)
Zeus (15)
Osiris (14)
Pelops (13)
Asclepius (12)
Joseph, son of Jacob (12)
Notably, every one of the fifteen was at one time regarded as a historical person. That is, each had been placed in a historical context and was believed to have been an actual divine or semi-divine being who lived on earth. Each would have had followers willing to kill and die for them.
Yet, it would be exceedingly improbable for any living person to have made the list. None of the Egyptian, Greek, or Roman demigods listed are now thought to have existed. In fact, most mainstream scholars think Joseph and Moses were purely legendary characters as well.
That leaves only Jesus, who, when the Gospel of Matthew is taken into account, scores 20. However, if we use only Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ score falls to 14, on par with Osiris. In other words, Matthew, who is known to have copied 90% of Mark’s Gospel nearly verbatim, further “legendized” Jesus’ narrative, making him appear even more of an archetypal hero.
For more on the Christ myth, visit:
www.mythoschristos.com
His mother is a virgin, father is king or rightful heir, the hero is reputed to be the son of a god, an attempt is made to kill him as an infant…and 18 other characteristics.
In his 1936 book, The Hero, Raglan notes that historical figures rarely achieved more than six of these traits. Even Alexander, Caesar Augustus and Mohammed with all their legendary accretions couldn’t manage half.
For those heroes who meet more than half of the Rank-Raglan criteria, a special category exists. Historian Richard Carrier, who refers to the hero narrative as “the fable of the divine king,” finds fifteen ancient figures who make the grade, fulfilling twelve or more of the elements. They are listed below with their R-R score:
Oedipus (21)
Theseus (20)
Moses (20)
Jesus (20)
Dionysus (19)
Romulus (18)
Perseus (18)
Hercules (17)
Bellerophon (16)
Jason (15)
Zeus (15)
Osiris (14)
Pelops (13)
Asclepius (12)
Joseph, son of Jacob (12)
Notably, every one of the fifteen was at one time regarded as a historical person. That is, each had been placed in a historical context and was believed to have been an actual divine or semi-divine being who lived on earth. Each would have had followers willing to kill and die for them.
Yet, it would be exceedingly improbable for any living person to have made the list. None of the Egyptian, Greek, or Roman demigods listed are now thought to have existed. In fact, most mainstream scholars think Joseph and Moses were purely legendary characters as well.
That leaves only Jesus, who, when the Gospel of Matthew is taken into account, scores 20. However, if we use only Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ score falls to 14, on par with Osiris. In other words, Matthew, who is known to have copied 90% of Mark’s Gospel nearly verbatim, further “legendized” Jesus’ narrative, making him appear even more of an archetypal hero.
For more on the Christ myth, visit:
www.mythoschristos.com
