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Primitive Christianity Revived, Again

Biblical Scholarship (21st Century)

I wonder if any Friends here have seen this National Geographic special, which my friend Glenn Stockton recently viewed and found interesting:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/05/judas-gospel/cockburn-tex...

As a Liberal Friend, I tend to not rub shoulders with seminary students as much as some, though one of my daughters fave professors @ Earlham did end up in their School of Religion (like me, she was a philo major, but unlike me, also majored in physics).

In my collection here at Blue House (large wooden "tent") I have quite a few books labeled "Gnostic" as I'm warehousing (and displaying) a large number of tomes for another friend, Alex Aris, who shares my interests, right down to Wittgenstein and the philosophy of mathematics.

I understand the history of the Bible in rough outline, how it was put together (anthologized). However thanks to archeology, much gets revealed much later in time, so anyone serious about the real history of Christianity (or any religion really) has to be prepared to consult these additional sources, as they make it through a vetting process.

I'd be interested to learn what ancient texts dating from Biblical times, yet not included in the Bible, Friends might recommend as a part of some Quaker canon. I'm especially interested in seeing Friends discuss this question openly on Youtube. Maybe Chuck Fager has something out there already along these lines. He may specialize in more recent sources.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Forrest Curo on 10th mo. 1, 2016 at 7:39pm

A Quaker cannon is an inert piece of wood intended to scare away pirates (if they don't examine it too closely.)

Permalink Reply by Kirby Urner on 10th mo. 1, 2016 at 8:54pm

Of course I meant in this sense:

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

Permalink Reply by Forrest Curo on 10th mo. 2, 2016 at 12:02am

Yes, it was silly of me to react to a silly question with a silly answer.

None of these books are "the Real Story." It is not possible to find a copyright date on any of them and conclude, "This one is Earlier so it must have been more accurate."

Those gospels which made the canon are books that took form over a period of interaction between traditional retellings of their story and various people's written versions. The content was carried in those liturgical retellings; the writings were secondary -- & while a writer might edit his hard-copy, with no one else noticing an alteration -- the retellings were freer in one sense, but more constrained by a common sense of what fit vs what didn't.

The gnostic creations can seem more coherent; that's a dead giveaway that (like John) they're basically didactic fictions. There are a lot of good ideas in them, a lot of bad ideas in them. If any of them happen to inspire you, well good for them!

Construct a new canon based on what? For what reason?

Permalink Reply by Forrest Curo on 10th mo. 2, 2016 at 12:21am

There's the old AA story about the guy hanging from a cliff, can't get up or down -- & calls, "Hey God! Are You up there?" God calls back, "YES."

"Wow! That's amazing! Okay, what do I do?"

"LET GO."

"Is there anybody else up there?"

I think your basic question is, Could we have the tradition say anything but the (somewhat awkward) stuff it does say? No. I'm not saying people got it right; they themselves admitted (in their better moments) that they were only 'seeing through a dark lens.'

I do say there are better ways of understanding what God wants people to get from this... than many of the ways people have so far sorted it out.

But the basic material is what it is.

Permalink Reply by Kirby Urner on 10th mo. 2, 2016 at 1:38am

You're right, a silly question. Never mind.

Forrest Curo said:

Yes, it was silly of me to react to a silly question with a silly answer.

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