Look out, the Christians are coming, the Christians are coming!

Let me begin with my usual apology for my dismal ignorance on yet another subject.  Whilst I have always found history to be fascinating the fact is that my knowledge of it is patchy!  For example, ancient history is a definite 'no-no' for me.  It was either the Greeks bashing the Romans or the Romans bashing the Persians or the Persians bashing the Greeks, whatever, it's all Greek to me!  As for the advent of Christianity, alas, most of my knowledge comes from Monty Python's "Life of Brian".  Mind you, I did once read a proper book on the lives of the early Christian saints and preachers and I have always been hugely impressed at the speed with which 'the Word' spread across the ancient world in a time of crude and dangerous travel techniques.  Whist I can't recall the name of the book, I do remember enjoying a cynical smile at how very quickly the early church became more and more bureaucratic with 'rules and regs' far from anything Jesus ever taught!

Today, another book has been published which has been reviewed in various papers and mags and which, from the reviews, looks likely to produce even more sniggers from me plus some eye-ball rolling.  The book is The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Ancient World by Catherine Nixey.  She is, apparently, a correspondent for The Times as well as an historian.  From what I can gather from the reviews, if you want to know what it was like back in the day when the Christians over-ran the ancient Western world, just think what life will be like if ISIS actually win!  Yeeeeeees, quite!  Frankly, I blame that Emperor Constantine in AD312 who for some reason gave up tossing Christians to the lions and instead, converted and from then on it was Christians getting their own back against the pagans.  And it was not just people who were crushed but also famous buildings and works of art.  Those ISIS fighters who destroyed the ancient buildings in towns in the Middle East were just carrying on old traditions!

Anyway, sorry 'SoD' but that's another book to add to my Xmas Wish List but it's only £10 quid on Kindle so nothing to a man of your means and, as I keep reminding you, you can never do enough for your poor, old Dad!

 

 

Comments

[ortega]

In case you have nothing better to do (and probably even washing the dishes would be better) a quite long history of the catalan situation from an angainst secession point of view.

https://hayderecho.com/2017/09/26/the-catalan-problem-for-dummies/

[Bob]

David, you're right to blame Constantine. The relatively quick spread of Christianity was mainly due to its spread and expansion through the power of the Roman Empire. Constantine considered Jesus a war god:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Milvian_Bridge

The symbol that came to him in his vision can still be seen on many stained glass windows:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho

[Whitewall]

David, I do believe SoD will have to take out a loan to buy all the books on your Christmas list!

[David Duff]

Ortega, thank you, I will read that with interest tomorrow.

Bob, and thanks to you, more interesting articles - my cup over-floweth!

Yes, Whiters, and he'll probably borrow the money from me!

[Timbo]

Ortega, very good article. I am just grateful that I'm not responsible for cleaning up this mess as my solution would be short and brutal.

[jimmy glesga]

Christianity has evolved a bit since Roman times and routine stoning has been eradicated to an extent. Islam has about another thousand years to catch up. Thank goodness for the Reformation. David Duff will have played his part in allowing Saudi women to drive a car in Saudi!

[TheBigHenry]

Timbo,

"... short and brutal."

According to Hobbes, that's just part of life.

[decnine]

Gibbon has a couple of chapters specifically about the development of the early church.

[David Duff]

Thanks, Deccers', obviously a trip to the library is called for!

[Epikouros]

As I understand it Jesus called gentiles scum. It was Paul who hijacked what was in essence the rantings of a minor rabbi protesting against the excesses of the Jewish hierarchy taking it to the gentiles offering them a heavenly afterlife that founded Christianity. Islam founded in much the same way the offer of an afterlife that was too good too miss. Superstition, lack of scientific knowledge, a distortion and a bit of rewriting and dubious twisting and interpretation of facts is the basis of all ideologies be they religious or political has been the foundation that many have been built on. None can stand up to scrutiny so the need to have faith covers that problem up.

[Bob H]

Epikourus.
I recall nowhere that Jesus called Gentiles scum or anything like that.
Nor did Paul hijack the gospel in any way, neither did he found Christianity. In fact long before Paul came on the scene, Peter had been sent to the gentiles.

The only place that Jesus made apparent derogatory comments against the gentiles was when a Canaanite woman begged him to heal her daughter. His reply that it wasn't right to feed the children's (Jewish) bread to the dogs (Canaanites) was clearly intended to both challenge her, and educate his disciples.
Her response that even the dogs eat the crumbs under the table was declared as of "great faith" and he instantly healed her daughter.

[ortega]

Thank you for your interest (and for having enough patience to read such a long story).

Today anything, meaning anything, is possible. Let's hope just for the bad. I guess my solution would be very close to yours.

PS: The BBC keeps on saying that this is a conflict between the Madrid Government and the Catalan one. It's simply not true. We have also separation of powers here and if something is illegal or not it is up to the courts to decide. And also the courts are the ones sending the police to stop it.