Toto

Guy Stroumsa publications contains links to some articles, including 'The Early Christian Fish Symbol Reconsidered."

Doug Shaver

I could only skim it right now, but it looks fascinating. I'll certainly do a closer read when I have time.

spamandham

It's kind of interesting, but also of interest, is the mosaic at Megiddo of an early Christian church that is the symbol of Pisces. The first century ushered in the new age of Pisces, and that's also when we see the rise of this new fish religion. Coincidence? I doubt it.

avi

Thank you Toto. Great link. Very interesting. Our boy, Strousma, hasn't got much moss growing underneath his feet.

Fluent in at least five languages, and obviously knowledgeable about all the issues of importance to this forum, including Gnosis, Mani, Paul, and of course, the main point of this OP: fish and Jesus.

I found this quote from his article, especially interesting, something I had never thought of:

As Doug noted, above, lots to digest here, I will need to devote some hours to study of it...

Thanks, Toto. much appreciated.

avi

avi

As you know, s&h, I am a nit picker, and "raconteur", hence, most of what I write next, should be ignored:

How do you get a FIRST century origin for this eglise?

It is of THIRD century origin, at the EARLIEST, as best I can determine.......

avi

spamandham

Fair enough. It is merely my assumption that the iconography we see in the 3rd century derives from earlier Christianity, considering that some of the earliest Christian texts are fish obsessed.

aeebee50

Someone said that the fish with feet was a Christian symbol that Christians believe in evolution, but all I found was Darwin or Satan. I was not making a connection between Darwin and Satan, but I did see symbols on the fish symbol site.

Toto

The fish with feet was originally an atheist parody of the Christian fish. (I know an artist who claims to have drawn the first Darwin fish with feet, but he didn't copyright it.) It has evolved into an extensive series of parody fishes. There is no reason a Christian could not use the Darwin fish to indicate a belief in evolution, but that would be a novel use.

The Christian symbol is the astrological symbol for Pisces, and Jack Kilmon claims that in Jewish Astrology, Pisces is the house of the Messiah (as part of an argument that the "star of Bethlehem" was a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in Pisces.)

aeebee50

Thanks. Sorry that you friend did not copywrite it. The Westboro Baptist could use it for their logo with their name in the center of it because they picket.

Toto

Westboro lacks that sort of sense of humor, totally.