Baraka_Guru

This is an interesting clip from a documentary entitled The God Who Wasn't There.

It looks at the rise of Christianity on the backdrop of history and myth. It examines, even in this short clip, how there are tenuous historical threads connecting Jesus the man and the writing of the gospels. It also looks at Christianity from the perspective of previously established mythologies.

All together, it looks to be an interesting examination of how religion can come to be. As someone who knows only "the basics" of Christianity, I find this kind of thing fascinating. I particularly enjoy looking at comparative histories and mythologies in terms of the pagan beliefs as cross-referenced to Christian beliefs, "the Hero Pattern" being just one example.

However, the historical incongruities are probably the most interesting.

• What do you think?
• Do you view Christianity as its own internal system of belief, or is it a part of a larger framework that humanity had established long before?
• What do you think of the historical aspects of Christianity when you look at it from a purely academic view?
• Do you think there is a movement towards a new mythological shift? (e.g. new age spirituality, Eckhart Tolle, etc.)
• Do you think that this is, perhaps, not a shift within the same structure, but perhaps a dismantling of it and a creation of something entirely new and personal?
• Is atheism related to this new personal spirituality?

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot