jkmartin

I always have found it strange that among all the Messiahs wandering around at the time of Jesus, why is it that he emerged to be the "founder" of the religion to eventually alter all of history and rule the west. I ask this question because there might be a piece I am missing, but he wasn't much different than any other "savior" at the time. The claim he is the only one who preached non-violence is not true as well, everything was common back then. So, why him?

I appreciate if someone could clear this up a bit, I might just be missing knowledge of his rise.

P.S. I'm only 14.

Malachi151

I think the anwser to this is pretty simple actually, it all has to do with the written works that were produced.

The writings about "Jesus" are what made "Jesus" popular, just like the Homeric writings about Troy and Achilles made the battle of Troy one of the most popular stories of all time.

And, I recommend by articles on this subject:

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/ar...ospel_mark.htm

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/ar...th_history.htm

I've long contended that if the Gospel of Mark had never been written, no one would have heard of "Jesus" today.

No Robots

Why is that we know the name and work of Mozart, when he lived in a time and place filled with musicians? His genius outshone his contemporaries. Similarly, Christ's genius simply outshone that of his contemporaries.

Ben C Smith

I think there are two separate questions here:

1. Why did Christianity last until and even thrive in the fourth century as an unsanctioned, sporadically persecuted offshoot of Judaism?
2. Why did Christianity become so predominant after the fourth century?

The answer to the second is pretty easy (though even here I am oversimplifying): Constantine converted, bringing the religion into vogue, and later policy made it the official religion of the empire. The answer to the first is not as easy, since we have to account for Christianity becoming big enough to become a political expedient.

Ben.

douglas

To build on this idea, Mozart not only had genius, but he lived in a time that was hungry for his particular brand of genius - sometimes called the "classical" period of history. Henry Ford's genius happened to coincide with the Industrial revolution.

Jesus' (and Paul's) "genius" was in recognizing how attractive the "this world is going to end soon and good people will all get carried into paradise on a golden chariot" message would be to the general population. This could be called the "Dang, this world sucks!" period in human history.

No Robots

Seems rather a common trait of all ages, hence the eternal appeal that Christ has.

gstafleu

Let me add my thoughts. First, Christian Mythology, in a bit of a stroke of genius, posited that its messiah already had done his thing, so you didn't have to wait for the good times to come: they were already here. Instant gratification, so to speak.

Connected to this is a second issue: you didn't really have to do much to become a Christian, you just had to believe. So you didn't have to cut of awkward bits (Judaism) or hand out wads of dough (initiation into the mysteries). You just believed, held hands with your fellows, and bingo: more instant gratification.

Finally, it doesn't seem there was a lot of additional mythology (beyond: he did his thing, just believe) that came with early Christianity. This opened the doors for do-it-yourself mythology, so everybody could adapt the creed to suit their ideas (until Constantin, that is). And after Constantin it was still quite possible to add e.g. a whole raft of saints. The bible didn't say anything about that, except not saying anything about it, that is, so a free-for-all was quite possible. Until Luther and his "if it isn't allowed it is verboten" of course.

Gerard Stafleu

Smullyan-esque

I think a lot of people are missing one very important reason why the message of Jesus flourished:

Paul.

Jesus, himself, doesn't seem to have created any sort of significant following. We can't find any non-Biblical references to him, or any of his major followers.

But Paul did a very good job of spreading the message. As with many, many other things, it was the second person who became the major factor. For example: Apple created the personal computer, but Microsoft got the biggest share of the pie.

Similarly, it was pretty easy for Paul, compared to Jesus. If you can say "Hey, I'm just the messenger. I'm fallible, and wrong sometimes, but my boss, Jesus, HE'S always right, and HE'S all-powerful" then you've got a much easier sale. People were probably a lot less likely to believe Jesus's message straight from him, because they could see that he was just another guy.

Malachi151

Its not at all the same.

Mozart was popular for things that Mozart really did and the people who praised Mozart had personally experienced either the man or his work.

If you look at the writings that we have about Jesus from the 2nd century on, all of them are based on the Gospels.

Origin, Clement, Martyr, Augustine, Tertullean, etc., etc., everything that these people and everyone else "knew" about Jesus comes from the Gospels.

What became popular was the Gospel Jesus, not "Jesus".

What became popular was a mythical figure, not a real person, even if there was a real person.

None of the deeds of any real person are what became popular, what became popular was "walking on water", "healing the lepers", "fulfilling prophecies", "raising from the dead", "the Star of Bethlehem", all stuff that never happened.

"Jesus" never became popular, the "story of Jesus" is what became popular.

As for Paul (what the last poster mentioned), it is certainly true that Paul played a role in spreading the popularity early on, but in that is extremely minor compared to the Gospels. If the Gospels were never written, Christianity would not exist today.

youngalexander

A large part of the answers are to do with:
1. (a) The uneducated Christian masses could easily understand and assimilate the orthodox message, especially since
1. (b) it claimed ancient antecedents (OT) from which simple examples of the salvation creed could readily be adapted; eg. Noah, Abraham & above all the Jonah cycle.
1. (c) They were socially cohesive providing extensive charitable and palliative care for those in need.

2. Constantine was a smart cookie who knew a good thing when he saw it. He needed a socially cohesive theology to bolster the empire & his position at its head.