Hi Ziggy, yes, you are right, Christianity contained certain memetic improvements over Hellenism that made it highly likely to outcompete it over time, and its victory was finalized with Julian's death. This will be discussed in part 2...
I am a Christian, but I will readily say much of what Julian the Apostate is true. Any real Christian will tell you that Maximus was right about the post-Constantine Christians appropriating the pagan saints, rites, feasts, etc.
Spirituality was never meant as a means for worldly power. That's a sad spirituality. Functioning spirituality is the liberating union between a separated egoic individual and god, or the Absolute, and has nothing, totally nothing to do with power or ruling the world. Herein lie the sins and attrocities of all world religions. They stole and manipulated the words of true mystics and prophets to enslave and round up naive people for their selfish ambition of power.
The Old Testament said YHWH was for many peoples, not just the Jews. Samaritans, Persians, Midians, and Jonah was even sent on a conversion mission. The difference for the Samaritans and Jews was that God loved Abraham, so he blessed his descendants. The Jews priesthood was then shut down because they murdered the son of YHWH.
The bible said the God of the Persians was the God of Abraham. The Persians even paid the Jews to sacrifice to the God (YHWH) of Persia and Jews, at the Temple. The Mithra cult was way, way off from the early Zoroastrian Gathas which was very Monotheistic.
Christianity was never meant to rule in the world. After Constantine, the devout Christians complained the official Church became filled with opportunists and crooks looking to live off the treasury.
Christ was killed by the then official priesthood, as if he was a heretic. The bible is a history of prophets warning the authorities, and being persecuted for it.
Christ equally went to the Samaritans, who were the enemies of the Jews, because Samaritans are the Northern House of Israel. Christ got the Jews mad for speaking well of the Samaritans.
The New Testament said there were many gods, such as the Devil being the god of the world.
Julian's argument seems to be the religion of fake Christians is wrong, so Christianity is wrong.
Hi Ziggy, I discuss in the below link Jesus's conflict with the Pharisees for interpreting the Torah via the Oral Law in ways which contradicted its underlying intent, and for opposing usury and paying the ultimate price as a result - an act which, per Rene Girard, overturned the scapegoat mechanism that lies at the heart of human nature: https://neofeudalism.substack.com/p/deeper-societal-trends-predating
I would also highlight footnote 18 in that article, which involves Richard Carrier's discussion of the societal incentives at that time to push Christianity as a weapon of war against Rome (which is not an argument against Jesus, nor is it meant to endorse Carrier's over-arching theory in his book).
I read the article, much of what you say about Christianity can be said about Zoroastrianism. The Persian destroyed pagan statutes, believed in an all-seeing God, good versus evil, and punishment/reward in the afterlife. Paul could not have invented what the Zoroastrians already believed. There is a reason the Magi went to visit the baby Christ.
You said "all the early converts were Jewish", but this is not true. For example, Christ went to Samaria where people converted. And what about the Centurion with great faith? Also, the 12 Tribes in Revelations included the tribes of the Samaritans, the enemy of the Jews.
As far as the accusation that Christians brought equality to Rome and undermined the Emperor, the early Romans of the Republic were very Democratic.
"Are we a dream in the mind of diety, or is each of us a separate dreamer, evoking his own reality?"
Definately the latter, maybe both.
So much wisdom. Fascinating read. All of your work is exceptional guided by the right instincts. I am neither a religous scholar nor a historian but had my awakening experiences. Christianity feels deeply flawed, illogical, manipulative to me. The excessive and compulsive use of the concept of "good and evil" is deeply anti-spiritual and brought unprecedented sufferings to us. I soon will be publishing a substack about that in which I quote some of your work. I don't have the same academic quality. I write from experience, instinct and the heart. But I appreciate very much your historical records confirming much of my instinctive wisdom. It is joyful to see that I am not alone and others share a similar truth and logic thinking. I read Nietzsche aged 17. Hardly understood a word then but loved him nevertheless. I moved on to Eastern wisdom and learned from a line of mystics. Then I found Nisargadatta Maharaj (or did he find me?) and he feels like the final guru. He will release me to my sadguru. The final truth can only be found deep within, in silence. Jesus knew that. The kingdom of heaven is within you. Of course, it was distorted, misunderstood and manipulated like many other of his quotes. Previously I thought it was solely due to the Chinese Whisper going on between his death and when the bible was written. Thanks to your work I was made aware that these were deliberate nefarious manipulations to pursue egoic human power. Both, old and new testament, are severely compromised and almost worthless spiritual sources because they confuse followers and sow self-doubt, guilt and inferiority. It is almost impossible to achieve enlightenment by solely following these two books because they were deliberately altered to not do that. People who strive for power want a submissive fear-inducing spiritual doctrine and Christianity, Judaism and Islam all achieved that. Fortunately, we still have a wide range of true mystics and prophets from all ages and cultures to guide those who seek union with the Absolute.
On a different note. You analysis of the woke movement and comparison to the priestly weak anti-hierachial Christian doctrine is also spot on.
I forgot: Describing Christianity as "Spiritual Bolshevism" is priceless and so very accurate. It is totally useless for bringing spiritual enlightenment to the people - look at the state of the world. Apart from the security of our technological materialism - everything else is in an extremly sad state. Joy and love as the highest spiritual principles has been drowned out by mass inferiority thinking, guilt, madness, depression and passive-aggressive violence. Thanks to the mindles spiritual guidance of our world religions. That is an F in my book.
Christians are called weak, but they ended up ruling the world by 1900, by conquering the Pagans.
Hi Ziggy, yes, you are right, Christianity contained certain memetic improvements over Hellenism that made it highly likely to outcompete it over time, and its victory was finalized with Julian's death. This will be discussed in part 2...
I am a Christian, but I will readily say much of what Julian the Apostate is true. Any real Christian will tell you that Maximus was right about the post-Constantine Christians appropriating the pagan saints, rites, feasts, etc.
Spirituality was never meant as a means for worldly power. That's a sad spirituality. Functioning spirituality is the liberating union between a separated egoic individual and god, or the Absolute, and has nothing, totally nothing to do with power or ruling the world. Herein lie the sins and attrocities of all world religions. They stole and manipulated the words of true mystics and prophets to enslave and round up naive people for their selfish ambition of power.
The Old Testament said YHWH was for many peoples, not just the Jews. Samaritans, Persians, Midians, and Jonah was even sent on a conversion mission. The difference for the Samaritans and Jews was that God loved Abraham, so he blessed his descendants. The Jews priesthood was then shut down because they murdered the son of YHWH.
The bible said the God of the Persians was the God of Abraham. The Persians even paid the Jews to sacrifice to the God (YHWH) of Persia and Jews, at the Temple. The Mithra cult was way, way off from the early Zoroastrian Gathas which was very Monotheistic.
Christianity was never meant to rule in the world. After Constantine, the devout Christians complained the official Church became filled with opportunists and crooks looking to live off the treasury.
Christ was killed by the then official priesthood, as if he was a heretic. The bible is a history of prophets warning the authorities, and being persecuted for it.
Christ equally went to the Samaritans, who were the enemies of the Jews, because Samaritans are the Northern House of Israel. Christ got the Jews mad for speaking well of the Samaritans.
The New Testament said there were many gods, such as the Devil being the god of the world.
Julian's argument seems to be the religion of fake Christians is wrong, so Christianity is wrong.
Hi Ziggy, I discuss in the below link Jesus's conflict with the Pharisees for interpreting the Torah via the Oral Law in ways which contradicted its underlying intent, and for opposing usury and paying the ultimate price as a result - an act which, per Rene Girard, overturned the scapegoat mechanism that lies at the heart of human nature: https://neofeudalism.substack.com/p/deeper-societal-trends-predating
I would also highlight footnote 18 in that article, which involves Richard Carrier's discussion of the societal incentives at that time to push Christianity as a weapon of war against Rome (which is not an argument against Jesus, nor is it meant to endorse Carrier's over-arching theory in his book).
I read the article, much of what you say about Christianity can be said about Zoroastrianism. The Persian destroyed pagan statutes, believed in an all-seeing God, good versus evil, and punishment/reward in the afterlife. Paul could not have invented what the Zoroastrians already believed. There is a reason the Magi went to visit the baby Christ.
You said "all the early converts were Jewish", but this is not true. For example, Christ went to Samaria where people converted. And what about the Centurion with great faith? Also, the 12 Tribes in Revelations included the tribes of the Samaritans, the enemy of the Jews.
As far as the accusation that Christians brought equality to Rome and undermined the Emperor, the early Romans of the Republic were very Democratic.
Excellent essay. The graffiti on the walls of Pompeii in the footnotes made me laugh.
"Are we a dream in the mind of diety, or is each of us a separate dreamer, evoking his own reality?"
Definately the latter, maybe both.
So much wisdom. Fascinating read. All of your work is exceptional guided by the right instincts. I am neither a religous scholar nor a historian but had my awakening experiences. Christianity feels deeply flawed, illogical, manipulative to me. The excessive and compulsive use of the concept of "good and evil" is deeply anti-spiritual and brought unprecedented sufferings to us. I soon will be publishing a substack about that in which I quote some of your work. I don't have the same academic quality. I write from experience, instinct and the heart. But I appreciate very much your historical records confirming much of my instinctive wisdom. It is joyful to see that I am not alone and others share a similar truth and logic thinking. I read Nietzsche aged 17. Hardly understood a word then but loved him nevertheless. I moved on to Eastern wisdom and learned from a line of mystics. Then I found Nisargadatta Maharaj (or did he find me?) and he feels like the final guru. He will release me to my sadguru. The final truth can only be found deep within, in silence. Jesus knew that. The kingdom of heaven is within you. Of course, it was distorted, misunderstood and manipulated like many other of his quotes. Previously I thought it was solely due to the Chinese Whisper going on between his death and when the bible was written. Thanks to your work I was made aware that these were deliberate nefarious manipulations to pursue egoic human power. Both, old and new testament, are severely compromised and almost worthless spiritual sources because they confuse followers and sow self-doubt, guilt and inferiority. It is almost impossible to achieve enlightenment by solely following these two books because they were deliberately altered to not do that. People who strive for power want a submissive fear-inducing spiritual doctrine and Christianity, Judaism and Islam all achieved that. Fortunately, we still have a wide range of true mystics and prophets from all ages and cultures to guide those who seek union with the Absolute.
On a different note. You analysis of the woke movement and comparison to the priestly weak anti-hierachial Christian doctrine is also spot on.
I forgot: Describing Christianity as "Spiritual Bolshevism" is priceless and so very accurate. It is totally useless for bringing spiritual enlightenment to the people - look at the state of the world. Apart from the security of our technological materialism - everything else is in an extremly sad state. Joy and love as the highest spiritual principles has been drowned out by mass inferiority thinking, guilt, madness, depression and passive-aggressive violence. Thanks to the mindles spiritual guidance of our world religions. That is an F in my book.