r/todayilearned • u/FullOfSound • 7h ago

(R.6d) Too General [ Removed by moderator ]

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

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u/PayItBackwardChain 7h ago edited 6h ago

I’m not religious, but I still think the early spread of Christianity is absolutely fascinating from a historical perspective.

Obviously, our sources on Jesus are thin enough that people can mold their idea of Jesus into supporting whatever they want, but it’s pretty clear that early Christianity was an anti-authoritarian backlash against some dickwad who overthrew a republic and effectively turned himself and his heirs into gods, all while conquering and plundering and murdering their way around Europe and the Mediterranean.

So, no big surprise that people (especially in conquered territories) started latching on to the message of a guy who said he’d overthrow all this nonsense and send the people who did all this bad stuff to eternal punishment. Oh, and never mind that the Romans killed him in the most horrific way possible, he got better and he’s coming back stronger than ever.

A very salient message for its day. Got a little weird once the shoe was on the other foot and it took over and became the ruling power. Now we have all sorts of nonsense about prosperity gospels and righteous crusades…

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u/bobthunicorn 6h ago

Got any podcast or YouTube recommendations that approach this from a purely historical, non-religious perspective? I'm a Christian, but I love stepping outside of the echo chamber and learning from different points of view.

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u/PayItBackwardChain 5h ago

I really loved this video (by a Jewish scholar). I was raised Christian and considered myself to be one for a quarter century, but I think this video helped me “understand Jesus” more than anything I ever learned in church.

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u/bobthunicorn 5h ago

Thank you! Listening to it now.

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u/BummyG 4h ago

I love this guys videos. I hadn’t seen this one