Much of this is indeed new to me. Mark's gospel as a tragedy is an interesting take. I'd been operating under the assumption that it is a satirical comedy, intended to skewer the Zealots in the aftermath of their catastrophic defeat by the Romans. Which is not to say that it did not also possess a spiritual payl…
Much of this is indeed new to me. Mark's gospel as a tragedy is an interesting take. I'd been operating under the assumption that it is a satirical comedy, intended to skewer the Zealots in the aftermath of their catastrophic defeat by the Romans. Which is not to say that it did not also possess a spiritual payload. Wrapped up in the satire is a religious "off-ramp" that provides Jews with a means of rejoining the civilized world, abandoning their Law, throwing off the rabbis, but doing so while saving face (Jesus fulfilling the Law). It would only make sense for Mark, whoever he was, to have based the Jesus story on the well-known Caesar story, thereby providing the Jews a judaized version of the popular Caesar cult.
But then later the Judaizers come along and subvert the subversion by reifying the satire, obscuring its origins (which may have been far more obvious to everyone originally), and forcibly inserting much of the Jewish stuff back into the new church.
Does coincidences exist? Today Caelano published a post on the Septuaginta (https://librarianofcelaeno.substack.com/p/on-the-septuagint) with many interesting insights - that according my old notes surprisingly I studied at "high school" but never collegate.
I know the Librarian quite well, yes; he's an excellent writer, a very smart guy, and a friend of the blog. Haven't had a chance to read his article on the Septuagint yet, though I did see it posted.
I must confess I belive more in the "demografic" explanation: levantine slave and plebs in I century Rome syncretized the Julianism you described and "post-pharisee" Marcionism in Christianity. The "european" flavor of Julianism conquered the Romans (and then the Europeans) but missing a "Roman" patronage (I doubt the Emperors loved Julianism, if Pliny's letter is to be belived), when the Judizers stroke the semitic virus was permanently ignected in Christianity - Rolo would love that.
Excellent comment. Pinned.
Much of this is indeed new to me. Mark's gospel as a tragedy is an interesting take. I'd been operating under the assumption that it is a satirical comedy, intended to skewer the Zealots in the aftermath of their catastrophic defeat by the Romans. Which is not to say that it did not also possess a spiritual payload. Wrapped up in the satire is a religious "off-ramp" that provides Jews with a means of rejoining the civilized world, abandoning their Law, throwing off the rabbis, but doing so while saving face (Jesus fulfilling the Law). It would only make sense for Mark, whoever he was, to have based the Jesus story on the well-known Caesar story, thereby providing the Jews a judaized version of the popular Caesar cult.
But then later the Judaizers come along and subvert the subversion by reifying the satire, obscuring its origins (which may have been far more obvious to everyone originally), and forcibly inserting much of the Jewish stuff back into the new church.
Does coincidences exist? Today Caelano published a post on the Septuaginta (https://librarianofcelaeno.substack.com/p/on-the-septuagint) with many interesting insights - that according my old notes surprisingly I studied at "high school" but never collegate.
1. the Evangelists knew the greek Septuaginta, not the hebrew Pentateuch (e.g. parthenos instead of "young woman" https://academic.oup.com/book/6258/chapter-abstract/149903383?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false or https://tyndalehouse.com/explore/articles/did-jesus-speak-greek/);
2. Constantine's Bible is Origen's Hexapla, again a Greek compilation from an Alexandrine greek (not Jew).
Imvho those are new clues that Christianity is a Greek-latin cult developed for the Levantine demography: do you know Caelano personally?
I know the Librarian quite well, yes; he's an excellent writer, a very smart guy, and a friend of the blog. Haven't had a chance to read his article on the Septuagint yet, though I did see it posted.
"Mark as a tragedy" is a common trope in gospel critique: e.g. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1561221
I must confess I belive more in the "demografic" explanation: levantine slave and plebs in I century Rome syncretized the Julianism you described and "post-pharisee" Marcionism in Christianity. The "european" flavor of Julianism conquered the Romans (and then the Europeans) but missing a "Roman" patronage (I doubt the Emperors loved Julianism, if Pliny's letter is to be belived), when the Judizers stroke the semitic virus was permanently ignected in Christianity - Rolo would love that.