Is the founder of Christianity known? Since the 19th century, modern New Testament studies have emphasized contrasting the figures of Jesus and Paul. According to some authors, Jesus of Nazareth did not possess a divine presumption, but rather derived from the teachings of Paul, thus breaking with Jewish roots. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between pre-Pauline Christianity, the Judaized form, and later Christianity , which came down to us and was in accordance with paganism, of which Paul is said to be the founder.
So if you want to know a little more about who was the founder of Christianity, here we tell you.
Founder of Christianity
At the beginning of the 20th century, W. Wrede, in his book Paul (1904) , pointed out that Paul was a new phenomenon in the Greek world, transforming Jesus into a transcendent, divine, pre-existent being, and how this concept became dominant. For this reason, he is called the founder of Christianity . Wrede's method must first be refuted because it disregards the primary source: the account in the Acts of Luke and the Pauline Epistles themselves. Second, the concept of the divine or deified man in the Greek world (Greek mythology) was incompatible with Paul's Pharisaic rabbis.
In fact, one cannot ignore his education under Gamaliel the Elder , the most prominent rabbi in Jerusalem at that time . He was therefore raised to obey the Law (Torah) and was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. Although born in Tarsus, Silesia, he grew up in Jerusalem and had roots in Palestinian Judaism. In addition to knowing Greek, he also spoke Semitic (Aramaic). During his missionary journey, he initially preached to the Jewish diaspora, tailoring his message to the specific community. Thus, it is true that Paul's separation from Palestinian Judaism and the Judeo-Christian community was nothing more than an invention of modern hermeneutics.
R. Bultmann and M. Hengel
R. Bultmann argued that Paul was of Greek Jewish origin because he was familiar with Greek philosophy and culture, and because he was not a personal disciple of Jesus. Furthermore, due to the apparent lack of historical basis, he insisted that the transition from Palestinian Christianity to Greek Christianity was due to the introduction of a mystical element. He even pointed to Syria as the place where this transformation occurred.
However, M. Hengel draws attention to the fact that little is known about the Hellenization of Syria and religious worship in the province. After all, Antioch is no different from the Holy City in that it was a place where important Christian rites developed. Recently, British and German scholars have stated that in Syria, there is no symbiotic religion (no fusion) with the pagan world. If Jesus were merely a prophet, the Jews would never have accepted his deification, as associating God with an image or a person is abominable.
Who was the founder of Christianity?
Currently, Antonio Piñero, a professor at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), states that "it is unthinkable that Jesus considered himself the Son of God in the fullest sense ," adding that there are only seven passages in the New Testament that clearly affirm that Jesus is God. The Gospel of John, the Epistles of Paul, and the Epistles to the Hebrews point to the deification of someone who is a product of contact with the Greek world.
What can be said about this controversial and sensational claim? Well, it's very important to know that the deification of Jesus requires two conditions:
After the death of Jesus of Nazareth, many years had to pass before anyone could acknowledge that he was God. The book of Acts recounts how Peter's first speech at Pentecost (40 days after the resurrection) refers to the divinity and preexistence of Christ , making it impossible to introduce Greek influence.
Secondly, we must consider the mental framework. The disciples were Jewish and monotheistic, so it was unreasonable for them to believe that man could be God. This is a recurring theme in the Jewish world. For example, in the Middle Ages, King James debated Christianity with a rabbi (at the court of Barcelona) who rejected the religion as it was practiced because it was unreasonable to speak of an artificial God.
Cesar Franco, in this regard, I quote: “The extraordinary event of the resurrection was a creative impulse that opened the minds of the apostles and missionaries, who were born and raised Jewish, learned about their sacred books and sought in them everything that the prophets had proclaimed about Jesus . ”
In the brief period between Jesus' death and Paul's conversion, the Christological foundations that govern the New Testament were formed . During that time, Paul took violent actions (insults, curses, physical attacks, slander, and destruction) against Christians. All of this demonstrates that Paul behaved like a true Jew, zealous for the law, before his conversion on the road to Damascus.
Therefore, the inventor of Christology and the founder of Christianity is Christ himself . Jesus, seemingly defeated by the Pharisees, is in the place reserved for the Torah and even for the Temple at that time. It was in Jerusalem that the Christian community began to realize the divine proclamation of Jesus in his earthly life, and the extraordinary event of the resurrection. Thus, the apostles embraced Christology and were entrusted with delivering the message, perhaps Paul in a more beautiful and mysterious way. As Fray Luis de León says, Paul transformed the Gospel from a simple chant into a polyphonic song.
It can be concluded that Paul was not the founder of Christianity. He transmitted what he had accepted, the faith of the apostles, and thus Antioch and Jerusalem professed the same faith. Finally, to quote an interesting passage from the Catechism of Pope Benedict XVI of August 27, 2008: “Paul, a soul truly captivated by the light of the Gospel, fell in love with Christ, convinced that he was necessary for Christ’s world.”
I hope this information has been useful to you, and has cleared up your doubts about who was the founder of Christianity.
