Which religion did Christianity evolve out from?

Answer 1

Paganism is a catchall term that is generally used for non-monotheistic native religions. It helps if you look at religions in cultural and historical context. Judaism, as recorded in the Torah or what Christians call the Old Testament, is the story of the "chosen people" or sometimes translated, those who were "called out" to serve G-d (The Torah prohibits the speaking or writing of the name of the deity.) These people were called out from neighboring pagans. Most Biblical Historians believe there was a real person behind the origins of Christianity. His name wouldn't have been Jesus though, that is a Greek name. His name would be something like "Yeshua" in English. He is generally believed to be a rabbi from a gnostic Jewish sect who taught everyone but had a big following among the poor that were struggling under the political rule of Rome and the religious rule of the Pharisees. He taught about the Kingdom which was a place of reunification with God that was not under the control of Rome or any other politician. That's probably what got him in trouble and crucified. The actual historical details of his ministry are pretty sketchy because the N.T. Gospels as we have them contain details of his life and ministry that are known to be false or that have conflicts between two gospels. For a good understanding of how religions change and evolve read a book or get a DVD from netflix that has some of John Campbell's lectures on mythology. The section on Heroes explains why cultures need them and the process of deification in religions. Around 300 AD the teachings of Yeshua had become blended with local pagan religions. There were probably 80 or more "gospels" giving the teachings of Yeshua teachings in a localized religious context. The pagan Roman emperor Constantine was trying to keep a struggling empire together and he knew that religion was a powerful force for controlling people. He got the local Christian Bishops together at Nicea, and basically told them they couldn't get away until they came up with a religion he could use for all Romans. The Christian Bishops at Nicea took gospels that were already blended with Roman mythology and made them official. Even before that the powerful Roman bishops destroyed competing gospels and martyred their followers. Now it was official and they had the power of the Empire behind them. The sabbath of the Jews and early Christians was moved to "Sunday", which was the day of worship most Romans were used to. Jesus was said to be born on December 25th which was another pagan holiday for the return of the "son" to earth. All of the Christian holidays as we know them now have pagan origins. Holidays aren't of Spiritual importance, but they are very important to religions as a device for unification and control. If you want to learn about the early church, start by looking up the Nag Hammadi texts on the web and get a book or two by Elaine Pagels. The "historic Jesus" movement is also interesting, there are actually Biblical scholars trying to figure out what "Yeshua" said and how much of it is still in the New Testament as we know it. == Christianity stemmed from Judaism. Christ or the Messiah was prophesied to come in the Old Testament. Jesus was the virgin born son of God prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 & 9:6,7. He was, therefore, was a Jew, from the tribe of Judah, actually a descendant of King David.

Paganism crept into the church at large & corrupted certain branches of it. But that was the doings of man. There are churches which are true representatives of Christianity today.