cabio

In Galatians 1:2, Paul says he is writing to the churches of Galatia. Who/where/what were these churches?

jeffevnz

Don't know anything about the churches, but Galatia was in Western Turkey.

mountainman

Dear cabio,

The transcendental Paul is writing to transcendental churches and skyscrapers only. We have not found one. IMO they do not exist. The letters of Paul were once fourteen. Most are now regarded as forgeries. It's not good news at all. Whoever called it good news needs to have their head examined. Read all about the forged good news in Paul! Whoever fabricated the Pauline letters had at the time a pressing need to appear authentic, and to have a collection of letters available, written by a highly respected man of letters, exemplary philiosopher and author in the greek language, who wrote to philosophers all over the empire, and especially all the important and Greek Academic cities. A man like Apollonius of Tyana, for example was used to "make Paul".


IMO there was a very tolerant and collegiately coordinated networks of temples and churches at that time, which were additionally related to the great and small libraries, (even Alexandria!!) and the preservation of literature --- but these were certainly NOT christian. The archaeologists tell us that they were statistically (majorly by numbers) temples to the healing god Asclepius since nobody has yet uncovered a pre-Constantininan christian church or indeed a pre-Constantinian church-house. A suspected pre-Constantinian house-church, however, has been taken in for questioning from Dura by the Yale Divinity department, for analysis and tourism.

The basilicas went up in the fourth century, makeovers, many built on the foundations of temples and shrines to Asclepius and Apollo (etc), after they had been rapaciously destroyed by command of the Constantinian christians. So far, without one exception, all churches are either pagan (ie: Hellenic before Constantine) or Jewish/Hebrew or Egyptian or Parthian, etc.

Best wishes,


Pete

aa5874

I think that the author called Paul did not really write to any physical church or converts, whether or not in Galatia.

It may be that "Paul" got the idea to write to seven churches from the Revelations of John somtime in the second century or after.

It would be noted that Justin Martyr did not mention "Paul" at all in any of his writings, but Justin did mention that an apostle of Jesus called John who prophesied in a revelation.See Dialogue with Trypho 81.

This is found in Revelation 1.10-11 It seems that John may have been the originator of the revelations to write to seven churches. And the Revelations of John may have been written in the 2nd century.

Minimalist

FYI, Cabio.

Enjoy.

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/galatians.html

Roger Pearse

Google is your friend, you know.

Few people are aware that the Gauls or Celts were not just found in what is today modern France, but also appeared in the Balkans during the time immediately following the death of Alexander the Great, when his generals were fighting over the division of his empire. They raided a great number of cities in northern Greece, causing panic, and were also able to obtain passage across the Bosphorus into Asia Minor. They settled in Phyrgia, where they hired out as mercenaries to the Successors, and gradually became civilised. By the time that the Romans conquered Asia Minor they were just another ethnic group.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Ben C Smith

Here is a map of Roman Galatia.

Ben.

mountainman

There were approximately 6 million Gallic celts when Rome got moving c.55 BCE and we are informed that the Caesar's armies executed one million of them, and took one million of them into slavery. The Romans thought of themselves as the professional ruling class because they knew how to kill people efficiently using their army. The Roman emperors are best thought of as imperial mafia thugs with personal armies, see Suetonius. There were rare exceptions, such as Marcus Aurelius and Julian, who counterbalanced the attrocities of war with academic pursuits. Antiquity was brutally hard. Life was brutishly short.


Best wishes,


Pete

bacht

If Corinthians was a Catholic response to the gnostic Cerinthus, was there a similar heretical target for Galatians?

andrewcriddle

There is a longstanding debate as to whether Galatians is addressed to churches in North Galatia (in the centre of Asia Minor) or South Galatia (Lystra and Iconium area)

There is a simplified and maybe outdated discussion at Epistle to the Galatians

Andrew Criddle