The Long Awaited Comprehensive Manifesto From The Christian Left

[Odin2005]

76. Well, I defenitly think there was a dissident preacher named Yeshua going around.

If Jesus was made up out of whole cloth the primary symbol of him would not be of him being executed like a common criminal!

Interestingly, at the time Christianity emerged there was a substantial and growing number of semi-converts to Judaism called "God-Fearers". They subscribed to Jewish theology and went to synagogue meetings, but were reluctant to go all the way and get circumcised and follow Jewish dietary customs. They were part of a deep monotheistic yearning among people in the Graeco-Roman world.

This is why St. Paul was such an important figure. He essentially took the mysticism Judaism of Jesus' teachings (which probably had their roots in the Essene sect via John The Baptist), and dropped the circumcision and dietary restrictions. Basically, Christianity is a mystical form of Judaism made palatable for Romans who were not of a Jewish background.

The figure of Jesus himself was also important because of the whole "Word made Flesh" idea, the notion that God made himself into a human being and suffered and died as any human being would was a huge appeal to people who were put off by the abstract, austere, deistic "prime mover" God of the Platonists.