> I've thought a lot about what happens to Christianity if you discard the writings of Paul. Without Paul, Christianity reverts to being a variety of Judaism w

> I've thought a lot about what happens to Christianity if you discard the writings of Paul. Without Paul, Christianity reverts to being a variety of Judaism whose leader from the hinterlands got it right about what really mattered in life, as had his predecessors [0]. But he fatally misjudged the big city's religious oligarchs — vassals to their ruthless Roman occupiers — when he relentlessly attacked them and their cozy little setup; at their behest, he was executed by the Roman overlords. Some [1] of the leader's later followers — his posse, if you will — imagined they'd seen him. But the leader's wealthy and/or well-connected followers are strangely absent from the narrative. Perhaps they had more information about what had really happened [2]. The early postmortem appearance tales eventually mutated into a legend of a warrior-king, raised from the dead — who would return Real Soon Now, to usher in God's reign and establish Israel's rightful place in Creation [3]. Over decades, the tales percolated into Mediterranean Graeco-Roman culture — eventually mutating further still into a tale of a divine being [4] (perhaps hybridized with that culture's myths?). Some self-cites: [0] https://www.questioningchristian.org/2006/06/metanarratives_.html https://www.questioningchristian.org/2006/06/metanarratives_... [1] https://www.questioningchristian.org/2004/10/troubling_incon.html https://www.questioningchristian.org/2004/10/troubling_incon... [2] https://www.questioningchristian.org/2005/10/the_empty_tomb_.html https://www.questioningchristian.org/2005/10/the_empty_tomb_... [3] https://www.questioningchristian.org/2006/04/what_did_messia.html https://www.questioningchristian.org/2006/04/what_did_messia... [4] https://www.questioningchristian.org/2005/11/jesus_is_lord_d.html https://www.questioningchristian.org/2005/11/jesus_is_lord_d...