I think you are referring to Nestorian Christianity. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorianism)
It was declared heretical by both the Western and Eastern churches, but it enjoyed official support in Syria and Persia, and its missionaries were active throughout the Middle East and even the Far East (i.e. India, China). That's probably the type of Christianity that was familiar to Mohammed and many of the Nestorian communities in the Middle East were probably absorbed into Islam later on. The issue of the nature or the natures of Jesus was a highly politicized issue as exemplified by the convening of the Council of Nicea by the Emperor Constantine, who at the time, was not even officially a baptized Christian. But by then, Constantine had thrown his political lot in with the Christians and he realized that if that religion was to become the official religion of the Empire, its basic doctrines had to be sorted out. A basic issue like the issue of the nature of Christ was one that was seen as being fraught with all sorts of political implications which both spiritual and temporal authorities had to wade through very carefully. Jim F. ---------- Original Message ---------- From: CeJ <jann...@gmail.com> To: marxism-thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu Subject: Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Christian Story of Jesus's Birth Is a Myth Born of Politics Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 15:09:50 +0900 One tension that was always there was the nature of Jesus Christ. For some, he was God's gift, a prophet, a messiah, a teacher (rabbi), but not a god nor God. For all the success Christianity then enjoyed, one large dichotomy was between 'trinitarians' and 'non-trinitarians', although this doesn't seem to have been a clear dichotomy in the religion's first century, but later. At any rate, those who could not accept JC as a god, or were born into those traditions, participated in a type of Christianity that co-existed and often largely assimilated to Islam. Jews and Samaritans who could not accept him as a messiah might well have ended up in Palestinian and Mesopotamian forms of Rabbinical Talmudic Judaism. (However, Rabbinical Judaism has periodically been open to other messiahs as well). If you look at how Islam portrays Jesus Christ (and Mary) in their texts and oral traditions you might get a stronger sense of how he was variously perceived in the now remote late classical, early middle ages. You will also note how various forms of 'Abrahamic' religions that the post-mo minds think of as 'ancient' or 'classical' were really the product of the early middle ages (i.e., trinitarian Christianity, rabbinical Judaism, Karaite Judaism, Islam). Which might bring us to all sorts of interesting political questions. CJ _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ____________________________________________________________ Hotel Hotel pics, info and virtual tours. Click here to book a hotel online. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=z_oz-dMTQYIdhJoJwupsTAAAJ1AP8ttsZd_TbiVxkZxsC3mBAAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATRAAAAAA= _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
