16 episodes
Christianity, the Backstory Elliott Smith
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- Religion & Spirituality
Looking between the lines of Church history and the New Testament.
The narrative that Christianity is based on includes assumptions that are easy to miss, assumptions that are also fundamental premises.
Like the idea that this religion is well connected with the man we all know as Jesus.
This podcast puts that narrative into straight forward terms, and applies critical thinking to see if it makes sense.
Premise: it’s supposed to make sense.
And if it doesn’t, in behind the Church’s story there might be a cohesive, credible story that does make sense.
Christianity is open for critique
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8e) Acts of the Spotlight Part 5
The stage play
Image: 'What is Truth?', a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890
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8d) Acts of the Spotlight Part 4
James the brother of Jesus, and the elders at Jerusalem, and thousands of Jews there who have believed and are zealous for the law...
How are they regarded by the author of Acts? How are their envoys received at Antioch?
Image: 'What is Truth?', a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890
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8c) Acts of the Spotlight Part 3
Jerusalem and Antioch, culturally and ideologically divergent.
The defining principle of Christianity, and a response to it by James, the brother of Jesus.
Image: 'What is Truth?', a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890
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8b) Acts of the Spotlight Part 2
"They added nothing to my message."
The exclusive gospel of Paul.
Image: 'What is Truth?', a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890
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8) Acts of the Spotlight Part 1
Tracing the belief system of Christianity back in time, how do we get from Antioch to Jerusalem ? It’s about what people were thinking. There’s a group of people in Jerusalem who need to have believed pretty much the same things that people were believing in Antioch.
Image: 'What is Truth?', a painting by Nikolai Nikolaievich, 1890
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CHURCH NOTICE
This is notice of a public challenge to the Christian Church, bringing into question its past conduct.
To the Church of old: The story you passed on to us about a first century Jewish movement…
was it faithfully told?
REFUTE THIS THESIS.
The premise of the thesis is that Christianity began in Antioch, and can't be traced back to Jerusalem.
The disciples of Jesus and their community in Jerusalem could only have been Christians if they changed their belief as a result of Paul's self proclaimed, exclusive, encounters with the risen Jesus. And there is plenty of evidence in the New Testament to say that this didn't happen. They were Jews who followed the teaching of their rabbi. Both these men and their movement disappear from the story in Acts, and from Church history, for a reason.
This thesis is presented as a podcast. It's open to contribution and requires argument for the other side.
Its conclusion is that there is something fundamentally wrong with Christianity.
Can you demonstrate that there’s something wrong with the thesis?
Are the core doctrines of Christianity built on the teaching of the man we call Jesus, or not?
This notice needs to find a learned Christian willing to speak up for listeners who are waiting to hear the Christian response.
If that's you, choose any assertion made in the podcast, or respond to the whole premise,
and send it in as a voice message.
If it's instructive and concise, it will remain as part of the podcast, to provide a more balanced view of things.
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Send in a voice message: anchor.fm/christianitythebackstory Over 1400 subscribers, waiting for an explanation.
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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/christianitythebackstory/message