The Lost Religion of Jesus, A Collection of Resources

 

The Lost Religion of Jesus, A Collection of Resources 

Christians have inherited a rather anachronistic interpretation of Christianity based on viewing the tradition solely through the "lens" of Paul. It is said or believed by some that Paul became a convert maybe between 34 and 36 A.D., roughly 4 to 7 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. The full canonical corpus of Paul's letters seems to burst upon the scene sometime well into the Second Century A.D., but certain letters are assigned by some dates of composition in the mid 50's and 60's of the First Century. It should be obvious that the Jesus movement doesn't begin with Paul. Paul arrives after the time of Jesus and the establishment of his spiritual successors, the first apostles, and that Jesus along with his disciples never had a "Pauline theology". This begs the question, what is salvation, the spiritual practice, and ethical code to be followed according to Jesus and his actual disciples? This original Jesus movement, sometimes called the Hebrew Christians, Ebionites, Nazoraeans, and by other terms, is the 'Christianity Before Paul'. Have always been quite curious about this Jesus Movement so marginalized in the canonical New Testament and seemingly edited out of the timeline.

Reconstructing an Ebionite or Nazorean Collection of Scriptures; Also What We Can Learn About Their History

Reconstructed Q Gospel found in, The Complete Gospels, by Robert J. Miller: 

https://archive.org/details/complete-gospels-ed.-robert-j.-miller/page/253/mode/2up

The Q Thomas Reader - The best and most readable one-volume introduction available to the Sayings Gospel Q and the Gospel of Thomas-the very earliest collections of the sayings and parables of Jesus: 

https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Reader-English-Coptic/dp/0944344119

https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780944344118

Gospel of the Ebionites: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/gospelebionites-panarion.html

Gospel of the Hebrews:  

        https://othergospels.com/hebrews

Gospel of the Hebrews: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/gospelhebrews-throck.html

Gospel of the Hebrews: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/gospelhebrews.html

The Gospel of the Nazoreans: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/nazoreans-ogg.html

The Gospel of the Nazoreans: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/gospelnazoreans.html

Surviving Quotes from the Jewish-Christian Gospels: Gospel of the Ebionites, Gospel of the Hebrews, and Gospel of the Nazoraeans: https://web.archive.org/web/20210223222109/http://www.textexcavation.com/jewishgospels.html

Hebrew Gospel of Matthew (Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew), George Howard: 

https://archive.org/details/Hebrew.Gospel.of.MatthewEvenBohanIbn.ShaprutHoward.1987/mode/1up

Another Copy:

https://archive.org/details/gospelofmatthewa0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up

Early Christian Psalms: The Book of the Odes (a.k.a. The Odes of "Solomon"): 

https://othergospels.com/odes

https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/odes.html

The Didache [earliest sections: 1, 2, and 3]: 

https://othergospels.com/didache

Letter of James: 

https://othergospels.com/bible/james

Letter of Jude: 

https://othergospels.com/bible/jude

Acts and Teachings of the Ebionites: The Vast Treasure-Trove of the Clementine Literature

Epistle (Letter) of Peter to James:

https://compassionatespirit.com/Books/Homilies/Epistle-Peter-to-James.htm

Epistle (Letter) of Clement to James:

https://compassionatespirit.com/Books/Homilies/Epistle-Clement-to-James.htm

Also See: 

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/080800.htm

Kerygmata Petrou (Preachings of Peter Reconstructed):

https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/kerygmatapetrou.html

The Ascents of James: History and Theology of a Jewish-Christian Community, by Robert E. Van Voorst:  

https://archive.org/details/ascentsofjameshi0000vanv/mode/2up

The Clementine Homilies and The Clementine Recognitions (Ebionite Book of Acts)

Acts and Teachings of the Ebionites: The Recognitions of Clement, from the Greek and Latin Manuscripts: 

https://compassionatespirit.com/Books/Recognitions/Recognitions-TOC.htm

Acts and Teachings of the Ebionites: The Clementine Homilies, from the Greek and Latin Manuscripts:

https://compassionatespirit.com/Books/Homilies/Homilies-TOC.htm

The Clementine Homilies (English translation) Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XVII, T & T Clark, 1852: 

https://archive.org/details/clementinehomil00donagoog/page/n8/mode/2up?view=theater

History

I do agree with the scholar Robert Eisenman that finding the historic James the Just (brother and spiritual successor of Jesus) is the most logical way to locate a historic Jesus. 

The Research of Robert Eisenman

Robert Eisenman @ Amazon: “James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls”; also, “Dead Sea Scrolls & The First Christians”; and, “James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher”: 

https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Eisenman/e/B000APV2U2

James The Brother Of Jesus And The Dead Sea Scrolls, by Robert Eisenman: 

https://archive.org/details/JamesTheBrotherOfJesusAndTheDeadSeaScrollsI/page/n14/mode/1up

The Research of Keith Akers

I highly recommend two books by Keith Akers on the original Jesus Movement (Christianity-Before-Paul), the Ebionites: "Disciples": 

https://www.amazon.com/Disciples-Jewish-Christianity-Shaped-Shattered-ebook/dp/B00J48GAJE/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=keith+akers&qid=1586786123&sr=8-1

And by Keith Akers..."The Lost Religion of Jesus": 

https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Religion-Jesus-Christianity-Non-Violence-ebook/dp/B003KTNBMM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1586786168&refinements=p_27%3AKeith+Akers&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&text=Keith+Akers

Read for free online, The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity, by Keith Akers: 

https://archive.org/details/lostreligionofje0000aker/mode/2up

The Research of James Tabor

Forgotten Christians: Who Were The Ebionites?

https://youtu.be/dBSuapNMQXU?si=6UnXILusW8w2rM6K

How James [Yaaqov] Beloved Brother of Jesus Was Written out of Early Christianity: 

https://youtu.be/2n5Qg_ekQ_E?si=AQz_H68TWVYpj7N8

The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity, by James D. Tabor: 

https://archive.org/details/the-jesus-dynasty-james-d.-tabor_202301/mode/2up

The Fading of the Jesus Family--Phase One: 

https://youtu.be/FquOk6wpPr8?si=Cci8eP2bMMlUPbDj

The Fading of the Jesus Family: Phase Two:   https://youtu.be/FU8gF8VPH2Q?si=qXaeRYobgV5kIDiQ

Reclaiming Primitive Christianity Part 2: Exploring the Historical Jesus with Dr. James Tabor:  

https://youtu.be/WJNACLcWuLE?si=v3zURHTnrm7Dbfii

Were the Ebionites Heretics? Or Our Best Witness to the Jesus Movement? 

https://youtu.be/HLQ97erL1gc?si=eDWHzX0gQjIVVjKf

The Research of John Davidson 

The Gospel of Jesus: In Search of His Original Teachings, by John Davidson: 

https://archive.org/details/gospelofjesusins0000davi/mode/2up

The Research of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen

The Revelation of Elchasai, a scholarly book by Gerard P. Luttikhuizen, exploring the Elkesaites, a Jewish-Christian sect originating in the Transjordan, their connections to the Ebionites, Nazarenes, Gnosticism (Sethians, Mandaeans, Manichaeans and the Prophet Mani);

The Research of Dr. Samuel Zinner

Jewish-Christian Influences in Nascent Islam:  https://vimeo.com/182671329 

Evidence That Jesus and The Original Aramaic Christians Were Vegetarians, By James Bean (Veg Passages, Expanded, Updated): 

@ Medium: 

https://medium.com/sant-mat-meditation-and-spirituality/evidence-that-jesus-and-the-original-aramaic-christians-were-vegetarians-b8784ac42506

@ Blog: 

https://santmatradhasoami.blogspot.com/2019/04/evidence-that-jesus-and-original.html

The Secret Gospel of Mark After All? Solving the Secret Mark Dilemma, By James Bean

 

The Secret Gospel of Mark After All? Solving the Secret Mark Dilemma, By James Bean

Photograph of page two of "Clement's letter to Theodore". Not only Morton Smith but other scholars also saw this now lost, destroyed or hidden Mar Saba library manuscript. See background information about the Secret Gospel of Mark in the Wikipedia entry linked below.

How to reconcile verses of Secret Mark that seem to fit nicely into the regular Gospel of Mark and are rather intriguing, this despite the fact that the story of the now inaccessible Clement document seems rather suspect (according to most scholars)? I wonder if perhaps there could be some middle ground with Secret Mark. It sounds a bit both-sides-ish (a "Marcion" type position that goes half way, unsatisfying to Gnostics and Orthodox alike!), but perhaps there's some ancient origin of the verses of Secret Mark after all, even though Morton Smith placed (or found) them in a problematic document attributed to Clement of Alexandria. I wonder if Smith discovered the verses somewhere, maybe in a "heretical" book and saw them as legitimate, but for whatever reason decided they would never be taken seriously unless given a better venue, so he created a document attributed to an early church father to serve as a more effective means of sharing the verses? 

Another possibility is, that Smith was honest in his reporting about the Clement letter, and it was the work of a scribe copying manuscripts long ago that placed these verses of Secret Mark into a forged letter attributed to Clement. Why would some monk who lived many centuries ago do such a thing? The verses might have originated in a gospel deemed by his tradition to be from a heretical source. I will say this. I have seen Orthodox authors in the Philokalia, a collection of mystical writings, quote saints that fell out of favor, were eventually declared to be heretics. Certain Syriac Christian writers have resorted to this maneuver as well. Some mystics valued these kinds of not-so-orthodox passages and wished to quote them anyway, so they gave the sources new names, invented fake names or attributed the quotes to someone more palatable like "Saint Neilos" as a way to get away with quoting material that otherwise would have been off-limits!

For background on Secret Mark, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Gospel_of_Mark

Just Passing Through: The Meaning of: “Become passers-by.” (Saying 42, Gospel of Thomas)

Just Passing Through: The Meaning of: “Become passers-by.” (Saying 42, Gospel of Thomas) 

Some have wondered what this saying really means. Another translation renders it: “Come into being as you pass away.” (The Gospel of Thomas, Wisdom of the Twin, by Lynn Bowman) In other words, by meditation practice get established in the heavenly realms during this life, finding a permanent home there instead of remaining attached to samsara, the world of changes. And there’s another version this saying found in India: “The world is a bridge. Pass over it, but do not build your dwelling there.” (Arabic inscription at the site of a mosque at Fatehpur Sikri, India attributed to Isa or YesHUa)

More thoughts about the meaning of “Become passers-by” are found here: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas/gospelthomas42.html

— James Bean, https://medium.com/@SantMat/become-passers-by-saying-42-gospel-of-thomas-b4e80b212cb7