My Big Meeting

A full 24 hours since my last post. Sitting in the airport chuckling to myself that I mention to reference the shnat yoval (Jubilee) in the middle of a meeting that had absolutely to do with the topic at hand.

Thank God for the Jewish people though. They keep it 'real' with regards to the living history of the Bible.

If Gentiles had it there way, the whole study of how Christianity developed would be left to imaginary histories like the Acts of the
Apostles.

Yet because of the Jews we know the truth. Christianity developed from the Jewish community in Alexandria. I really do believe Eusebius' legendary story about St Mark and the Therapeutae.

Do you want to know why? The Coptic Church - not in Egypt so much but Ethiopia.

There is a parallel between this Christianity's interest in the Book of Jubilees and the earliest Alexandria (Clement, the Therapeutae).

Of course all of this goes back to that big Palestinian unknown - the community that wrote the Qumran material. But one thing is for sure - the same force which led Jews to put aside TWO Torahs (listen especially to the rabbinic remembrance that thee were two Torahs in Israel at the beginning of the Common Era) also consolidated the exoteric and esoteric gospels written by Mark.

I think the 'force' here is the Roman government. But look at the other spin off of this understanding - Irenaeus ALREADY had his precedent for the multi-form 'gospel.'

I have struggled with this for a decade - what have Irenaeus the license to turn 'the gospel' into four gospels.

I think I found my answer. The gospel was already multi-form. There was truth and its shadow.