Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Here is one more passage from Couchoud’s Théophile. What I like about Couchoud’s expressed sentiments is his sympathy, his compassion for humanity, his tolerance (in a positive sense of that word) and understanding. The New Atheists like Richard Dawkins, Chris Hitchens, Sam Harris were angry, bitter, intolerant — and, I had to conclude, fundamentally ignorant … Continue reading “REASONS NOT TO BELIEVE — P-L Couchoud”
Thanks to Frank Zindler the full text of P.L. Couchoud’s Creation of Christ (translated by C. Bradlaugh Bonner, published 1939) is now available online. Back in 2012 I posted outlines of Couchoud’s work here on Vridar. Since then Frank Zindler has digitised both volumes and made them available for public download. For future reference the … Continue reading “Couchoud’s Creation of Christ: Full Text Now Available Online”
[Update 20 Nov 2016: The full text of Couchoud’s Creation of Christ is now available online.] . Here is a complete list of posts in this series listed in the order in which they appear in Couchoud’s book. Volume I Part 1 THE APOCALYPSES (168 B.C. to A.D. 40) 1. Pre-Christian Foundations of Christianity I … Continue reading “Table of Contents for Couchoud’s The Creation of Christ”
This post contains the final chapter of Couchoud’s The Creation of Christ. I began this series with a post designating Paul-Louis Couchoud as Earl Doherty’s forerunner. There are notable differences between the two as anyone who has read Doherty and this series of posts will quickly see. I think those differences are worth serious discussion. … Continue reading “Jesus Formed (Couchoud)”
This continues my series on Paul-Louis Couchoud‘s The Creation of Christ. Full set of posts are archived at Couchoud: Creation of Christ. The previous post was Couchoud’s discussion of view of Christ as a mystical and heavenly being according to early Christian literature, and how in the Epistle of the Hebrews we encounter the first … Continue reading “Christ Descends to Earth: Marcion’s contributions to Christianity (Couchoud continued)”
Continuing here my series of posts from Paul-Louis Couchoud‘s The Creation of Christ. Full set of posts are archived at Couchoud: Creation of Christ. In this chapter Couchoud finds a pivotal place for the Epistle to the Hebrews as a significant stepping stone between Paul’s Jesus, who had nothing more than “an appearance or form” … Continue reading “How Christ Jesus became Flesh – the role of the Celestial High Priest (Couchoud continued)”
I have copied here the entire next chapter (by machine, not hand-typed!) by P.L. Couchoud in The Creation of Christ. My previous post in this series introduced the book section in which he will present his argument for the emergence of the Gospels and the New Testament collection as we know it. (Click Couchoud: Creation … Continue reading “Why early churches chose a Book over living prophets (Couchoud continued)”
Continuing my series of posts from Paul-Louis Couchoud‘s The Creation of Christ. Full set of posts are archived at Couchoud: Creation of Christ. We are now about to come full circle. I began this series of posts by looking at Couchoud’s account of Gospel origins. That led to his arguments for the origins of the … Continue reading “Christianity in the Gap Years: 70 – 120 CE (Couchoud continued)”
This post continues Couchoud’s account of the nature of the Christ found in the Book of Revelation and how he epitomizes the “false Christ” that Paul denounced his apostolic rivals for promoting. Couchoud has been tracing the rise of Christianity from the Enochian community in “pre-Christian” times and the evolution of the Christ idea in … Continue reading “The Christ of John’s Revelation — Nemesis of Paul’s crucified Christ (Couchoud continued)”
Continuing here my series of outlining Paul Louis Couchoud’s work The Creation of Christ (English translation 1939), with all posts in the series archived, in reverse chronological order, here. The previous post in this series presented Couchoud’s argument that Paul’s Christ was a God crucified in heaven, the result of a combination of feverish interpretations … Continue reading “The War of the Heavenly Christs: John’s Sacrificed Lamb versus Paul’s Crucified God (Couchoud continued)”
Continuing the series of Couchoud’s The Crucified Christ — archived here. In this chapter Couchoud attempts first of all to account for the origin of the concept of Christ crucified and then to address what this meant for Paul and his churches, in particular its mystical and timeless character. The greatest gift of Paul to … Continue reading “Crucified God: origin and original meaning of the concept (Couchoud continued)”
Continuing from the previous post, “The Struggles of Paul” . . . . (The full series is archived here.) Troubles in Ephesus Having sent his “terrible letter” to the Corinthian ekklesia Paul was beset by mounting troubles where he was staying in Ephesus. He had been banned from the synagogue so assembled his church in … Continue reading “The sufferings of Paul (Couchoud continued)”
Couchoud follows the main outline of Acts in his account of the missionary career of Paul. Where and why he occasionally deviates from Acts is explained in context below. (All posts in this series, along with a few extras, are archived here.) At first glance it appears that C is merely repeating a well-known set … Continue reading “The struggles of Paul (Couchoud continued)”
If you came to this post by way of an email notice then I can only shuffle with some embarrassment and say that I had only begun to type it up when I fell asleep at my keyboard and when I awoke I saw that a little green goblin had pushed the “publish” button while … Continue reading “False post: Struggles and Sufferings of St. Paul (Couchoud continued)”