Oct 24, 2021
We believe there were four distinct early Christian communities:
the gentile clubs of Paul, the Jewish clubs of Peter and James, the
clubs who followed the writings of Thomas, and clubs attached to
the disciple John. In this episode I tackle the first three.
The letter to the Hebrews is the most vigorous exposition of Paul's
views and denigration of his own people, the Jews. But the letter
never claims Paul as its author. And its not even a letter. Various
books try to harmonise Paul and Peter. In Acts, Peter sounds like
Paul of the letters, and Paul sounds like Peter of the gospels.
Acts may conceal a hostility to Paul in its depiction of Simon
Magus. The pastoral letters move Paul closer to Peter’s views. The
two letters of Peter move Peter closer to Paul. The gospel of
Thomas and Acts of Thomas show that some communities were attracted
to early Gnostic views.
Theme music "Inspiring Teaser" by Rafael Krux, https://filmmusic.io/song/5672-inspiring-teaser, license https://filmmusic.io/standard-license.