The media now has a new meme. Thanks to the Gospel of Judas and The Da Vinci Code, every ancient religious writing discovered, rediscovered, reimagined, etc. is now cause for an attack against Christianity.
An archaeologist in Greece believes new imaging and scanning techniques can add about 10-20 percent of new text to mid-4th century B.C. philosophical treatise on ancient religions called the Derveni papyrus.
The text is said to focus on the Orphesus cult which “raised the notion of a single creator god.”
I’m sure you are wondering how a story on a book that was written at least 300 years before Jesus was even born could possible yield an attack on Christianity. Actually using the new ancient text media meme, it’s not too difficult at all.
First, make some connection to the Gospel of Judas and expand on the document. For this story, the imaging and scanning techniques proposed for Derveni papyrus are the same ones used for the Gospel of Judas. Capitalizing on the moment, the AP reminds us that the writing “portrays Judas not as a sinister betrayer but as Jesus’ confidant.”
Second, work to show Christianity as a fluid religion – changing constantly even from the beginning while being shaped and formed from earlier religions.
The AP quotes the archaeologist, Polyxeni Veleni, about how this writing and the Orphesus cult relates to Christianity. “In a way it was a precursor of Christianity. Orphism believed that man’s salvation depended on his knowledge of the truth.”
For starters, the position of “precursor of Christianity” has already been filled – it’s called Judaism. Secondly, the cult sounds more like gnosticism (here we are at the Gospel of Judas again) than Christianity.
Gnostics were the Christian heretics that taught salvation was obtained by knowledge of a secret truth. Their entire belief system was based on and named for the pursuit of knowledge.
This find has absolutely nothing to do with Christanity, yet somehow the AP manages to attempt to discredit it. I’m waiting on the AP’s story on how some newly discovered ancient documents shed a disturbing light on the prophet Mohammed and the Koran.
This is an amazing find. Imagine, the oldest “book” in existence at 2400 years and from the time of Alexander the Great! I have always been fascinated with the love story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
The book contains a philosophical treatise on a lost poem describing the birth of the gods and other beliefs focusing on Orpheus, the mythical musician who visited the underworld to reclaim his dead love and enjoyed a strong cult following in the ancient world.
Ancient legends tell how Orpheus, who could charm wild beasts with his lyre, met a brutal end at the hands of an outraged band of Thracian women who resented his fidelity to his lost sweetheart, Eurydice, and tore him to shreds and threw the remains into a river.
The Orpheus cult revolved around the soul’s fate after death. It raised the notion of a single creator god — as opposed to the multitude of deities the ancient Greeks believed in — and influenced later monotheistic faiths.
Your 2 points regarding the mere existence of this scroll as an attack against Christianity makes no sense to me.
1. It’s a threat to Christianity because they are going to use the same scanner they used to read the gospel of Judas?
2. It’s a threat to Christianity because its a montheistic cult that pre-dates Christianity?
Doesn’t matter if it predates xianity, judaism is the root of xianity. Now, if it predates judaism, that might be interesting.
It doesn't matter if it predates Judaism either. I am fascinated with the historical significance of this find. It's interesting to find Christian concepts in the cult of Orpheus like monotheism and salvation. It's not a threat to Christianity because of the scanner they used to read it nor is it a threat because it pre-dates christianity.
Apparently I am not clear about things.
I do not think this is a threat to Christianity at all. I also think the find it interesting and noteworthy. I just find the media's use of this story as a weapon against Christianity silly.
Nothing in the story had anything to do with Christianity, yet two of the main points of the story dealt with this book's non existent relationship with Christianity.
My main focus of this post was the media's reaction to the discovery, not the discovery itself.