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One Jesus, Many Christs : How Jesus Inspired Not One True Christianity, but Many
In this exciting volume, Riley reveals that from the beginning there was not just one true Christianity, but many different Christianities. United by passionate allegiance to Jesus as Hero, these early, doctrinally diverse Christianities have led to the development of many different kinds of Christian churches among us today. Riley shows that early Christianity harbored major doctrinal differences about all aspects of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and divinity. This book provides not only a whole new understanding of the nature of earliest Christianity, but it also conveys a vital message for today about what Christian faith is really about. Riley reveals the authentic character of Christianity as inherently pluralistic and tolerant of diverse ideas while passionately centered in Jesus.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 23, 2017
The author sought the origin of the Church, a quest that I share and this book gives what was taking place in the background to what the Letters of Paul, the Gospels, and the Gnostics writings are not able to offer.
November 25, 2017
Interesting research, writing and perspective on the beginnings of Christianity.
March 29, 2018
Thought provoking and informative in some respects but also I found some aspects conflated through word usage across translation boundaries that do not do justice to the concepts presented (rather than explored). However there are many well-selected passages of the Bible that are examined from different cultural perspectives especially with regards categories of beings. This placement within history rather than simply as an historical documentary in its own right, broadens understanding and perspective without becoming too theologically engulfed.
The concept of inheritance is particularly explored with the importance of working for one’s own rewards highlighted above any passing from previous generations as spiritual development is a personal commitment and journey. This, in a sense, explains the sub-title of many Christian traditions and the potential of a living religion to continue to create more permutations over time. This also shows the continuing challenge of elders of any stream of Christian thought and practice to encourage and embrace the fluctuations required by their own youthful followers or divergences.
The concept of inheritance is particularly explored with the importance of working for one’s own rewards highlighted above any passing from previous generations as spiritual development is a personal commitment and journey. This, in a sense, explains the sub-title of many Christian traditions and the potential of a living religion to continue to create more permutations over time. This also shows the continuing challenge of elders of any stream of Christian thought and practice to encourage and embrace the fluctuations required by their own youthful followers or divergences.
August 28, 2024
A NEW TESTAMENT PROFESSOR LOOKS AT THE DIVERSITY OF EARLY CHRISTIANTY
Gregory Riley is professor of New Testament at the Claremont School of Theology; he has also written books such as 'The River of God,' 'A New History of Christian Origins' and 'Resurrection Reconsidered.'
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1997 book, "There really were several Christianities, each giving expression to something about the person of Jesus that it found to be essential, but none with the same conception or formulation. So we may return to our original observations: (1) Christian missionaries preached different and even contradictory doctrines about Jesus; and (2) they nevertheless eventually won over the Roman world. It therefore must not have been the doctrinal content that was at the core of the appeal of the message. So what was?" (Pg. 14)
He states, "It is remarkable how narrowly Christianity escaped becoming a rather different religion. Had politics turned out differently in the fourth century, the Church might have defined 'orthodoxy' as Arianism, instead of believing in the Trinity as the Nicenes did and the Church does today. Non-Trinitarian Christianity survived in the East long after the age of the creeds into the time of the Arab conquests in the seventh century and later... One should keep in mind that no one in the first century was a Trinitarian in the sense defined by the fourth-century Church." (Pg. 6-7) He adds, "If the sentence 'Jesus was a Jew' actually meant something like 'Jesus was a Jew like other Jews we [think we] know of and are comfortable with,' then we would not have Christianity today." (Pg. 9)
He observes, "It seems that there never was unanimity of opinion concerning Jesus, and that he himself did little to clear things up... [In Mk 8:27-29] Four different answers are given, and one of the points of the Gospel of Mark is to redefine the correct one, to claim that Jesus is the messiah but not the type of messiah Peter was looking for. Mark, therefore, gives a fifth answer. The confession that Jesus was Messiah... is what made a Jew into a Christian Jew, but immediately there was fundamental diversity of opinion about what that might mean." (Pg. 98)
He concludes, "One aspect of the genius of Christianity, in its solution to the seemingly intractable problem of understanding the nature of Jesus, was that it found a way, in its traditions and stories and liturgy and creeds, to meld what was important, the two categories of heroes and gods, and allow them to serve as means to understand Jesus, the God who had descended from heaven and lived as hero and savior." (Pg. 138)
This book will be of interest to those looking studying the development of Christology, as well as early Christian history.
Gregory Riley is professor of New Testament at the Claremont School of Theology; he has also written books such as 'The River of God,' 'A New History of Christian Origins' and 'Resurrection Reconsidered.'
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1997 book, "There really were several Christianities, each giving expression to something about the person of Jesus that it found to be essential, but none with the same conception or formulation. So we may return to our original observations: (1) Christian missionaries preached different and even contradictory doctrines about Jesus; and (2) they nevertheless eventually won over the Roman world. It therefore must not have been the doctrinal content that was at the core of the appeal of the message. So what was?" (Pg. 14)
He states, "It is remarkable how narrowly Christianity escaped becoming a rather different religion. Had politics turned out differently in the fourth century, the Church might have defined 'orthodoxy' as Arianism, instead of believing in the Trinity as the Nicenes did and the Church does today. Non-Trinitarian Christianity survived in the East long after the age of the creeds into the time of the Arab conquests in the seventh century and later... One should keep in mind that no one in the first century was a Trinitarian in the sense defined by the fourth-century Church." (Pg. 6-7) He adds, "If the sentence 'Jesus was a Jew' actually meant something like 'Jesus was a Jew like other Jews we [think we] know of and are comfortable with,' then we would not have Christianity today." (Pg. 9)
He observes, "It seems that there never was unanimity of opinion concerning Jesus, and that he himself did little to clear things up... [In Mk 8:27-29] Four different answers are given, and one of the points of the Gospel of Mark is to redefine the correct one, to claim that Jesus is the messiah but not the type of messiah Peter was looking for. Mark, therefore, gives a fifth answer. The confession that Jesus was Messiah... is what made a Jew into a Christian Jew, but immediately there was fundamental diversity of opinion about what that might mean." (Pg. 98)
He concludes, "One aspect of the genius of Christianity, in its solution to the seemingly intractable problem of understanding the nature of Jesus, was that it found a way, in its traditions and stories and liturgy and creeds, to meld what was important, the two categories of heroes and gods, and allow them to serve as means to understand Jesus, the God who had descended from heaven and lived as hero and savior." (Pg. 138)
This book will be of interest to those looking studying the development of Christology, as well as early Christian history.
December 13, 2018
I read this one some years ago. At the time, I thought we have many versions of Jesus as well as many Christs. I still think this. I like this work even more now than I did two generations ago. It might well be misplaced in thinking this. I don't know if thinking about Jesus as a hero within an antique frame holds as well as I once assumed. Professor Riley does rightly place Jesus within the context of a Semitic people dominated by political oppressors who paradoxically assumed ownership of interpretation of Jesus as Christ. The Gentile interpretation of the life of Jesus overlaid any original apperception of Jesus as a human being. (Even the name "Jesus" is an overlay.) A learned commentator Robert Cornwell on Goodreads rated this work much lower than I do. He knows much more than I do. I am limited by my background and lack of learning. This is a substantial, learned work.
March 2, 2019
An exceptionally intelligent analysis of the cultural climate of the Roman Empire that created a fertile soil for the explosion of Christianity. You will find no other author making this highly documented argument, so this is essential reading to any serious student on the development of early Christianity.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews