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Might be of interest....
federica
Seeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
This is a BBC4 programme on Christianity before - and during - the 'Dark Ages' (which were apparently, anything but), and how the persona of Christ took shape and was moulded by other religions...
I found it very informative.
I hope youz guyz can watch this....
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Comments
I looked unsuccessfully for other ways to watch ... the link provided kept this colonial at bay.
Dammmit......
Found it on YouTube @genkaku Sound quality seems lousy, and it's riddled with advertisements, but it's viewable.
Persist if you can. It's actually very interesting..... For example, Early depictions of Jesus, make him look like a young cherubic androgynous person, with curly hair, young features, no beard - and a magic wand.
He was to all intents and purposes, 'sexless'.
Then when Christianity took hold, and The Emperor Constantine started throwing his weight around, The Goddess Isis (often portrayed with her son, Horus, on her lap as she breast-fed him) was 'borrowed' and transformed into the Virgin Mary - the personification of femininity. Thus, Jesus became more 'masculine' and hirsute.
@federica -- Can't stop myself from thinking of the old joke about the guy who dies on the operating table but then is revived. "You died," his friend tells him. "Yes I did," the man admits. "What was it like?" the friend asks. "Did you see God?" "Yes I did," the man says. "Well," the friend exclaims excitedly, "what was it like?" The man thinks a minute and then says, "Well, first of all, she's black."
It seems to appear that Christianity was, oh, 92.37% borrowed, then changed, metastasized, repackaged, tweaked and foisted upon the empires to make it easier for the kings and emperors to rule.
A late friend of mine (Southern Baptist) used to repeat an ongoing joke: "And on the seventh day, God said, 'Murphy, your in charge'."
Considering the gap between the Buddha's death and the writings and rewriting that evolved into the story's we hear today, Buddhism can't really afford to throw any credibility stones at Christianity.
Not a bad summary. The whole early editing process of the bible was a bit of a mish-mash, with different people in charge and spread out over hundreds of years. The Old Testament was borrowed from the Jews and dates to between 1400 BC and 400 BC. The Christians claim it was divinely inspired, cough cough.
But it does all speak to first the desire of rulers to want to pull all forms of authority towards themselves, even spiritual. Look at numerous god-kings, holy roman emperors, and so on. And second to the desire of priests to also want to establish worldly authority. The later efforts of the popes come to mind.
I think that John Locke's separation of church and state is not such a bad solution. It naturally leads to a plurality of religions, pulls the fangs of religion as an organ of state and thought control, and opens the door for atheism for those who are so inclined.
Why can't a program about the history of a major religion be interesting, in and of itself? What does that have to do with Buddhism throwing stones?
Lol, well in part it is that any program about the origins of the look of Christ or the early formation of the church or the editing history of the bible is going to show some major cracks in the notion of infallibility of the church and the bible as the word of God, which for many Christians is a foundation stone of their belief.
It certainly is interesting though, partly because it shows how banal some of the process is. Religion is a funny beast, often founded on the words of enlightened teachers but then acquiring a priesthood and evolving into something that isn't as spiritual as originally intended.
Christ is one of my heroes. I like the bit where he throws the early credit facilitators (money lenders/bankers) out of the temple. Early Christianity is wonderful: women priests, magic spells, persecution by lion feeders, vanished dead leader, lots of stuff with fish ( always a good sign
). Contrast this with science as a religion, Dharma gone West, Buddha worship etc and we have everything or at least Nothing to feel superior about ... 
Ah, nothing like a little light conversation over hot cocoa.
Have fun kids, but don't break over any of Aunt Mim's china settings.
Peace to all
I found a US friendly version here
http://www.dailymotion.com/us?ff=1&urlback=/video/x1uo6hr_the-dark-ages-an-age-of-light-1of4-the-clash-of-the-gods_creation
Buddhism appears to be undergoing this type of historical deconstruction as well. I hope we can be unattached enough to our views when similar things are found there.
I saw a documentary once which claimed to have evidence that the big J actually travelled to India and learned the teachings of Buddhism while he was learning the whole Son of God way of life. Anyone else seen this or know of any credible sources? I feel like the Sermon on the Mount holds basically true to Buddhist teachings....
^^^ There are no credible sources. There is a myth that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and became a minor guru in India after his failed crucifixtion and absconding.
It is possible that ideas from Buddhism or similar ideas reached the early Christians.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_influences_on_Christianity
Mythology quickly envelops religious start ups ...
Both Buddha and Christ were English gentlemen ( ancestors of Lawrence of Arabia ) so it's not surprising there are some similarities.
Thanks for the article @lobster !