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The Resistance to Christianity. The Heresies at the Origins of the 18th Century PDF

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Preview The Resistance to Christianity. The Heresies at the Origins of the 18th Century

To the communities long since installed in Egypt and Babylon wereaddedthoseofSyria,AsiaMinor,andsoontheentireGreco- RomanEmpire. ThesecondDiasporaextendedfromtheSecondCenturybefore The Resistance to Christianity. the Christian era to the beginning of 135 [C.E.], when Hadrian’s The Heresies at the Origins of crushing of the revolt of Bar Kochba marked the beginning of a third and dramatic exodus. The flame of persecution, revived by the 18th Century the relapses of Judaism that were embodied by the Greco-Roman Christians of the Second Century and the Catholics of the Fourth Century, would consume the Jews all the way to the Twentieth Century. Raoul Vaneigem In the course of the Second Century before the Christian era, theAsmoneandynastycementeddiplomaticrelationswithRome, wheretheJewishcommunitiesweremultiplying. “Onewouldnoteasilyfind,”wroteStrabon,wholivedfrom58(?) to25(?)B.C.E.,“aspotontheinhabitedworldthathasn’tgivenasy- lumtothesepeopleandthatisn’tmasteredbythem.”AndAgrippa, inalettertoCaligula,wrote:“Jerusalemisthemetropolisnotonly ofthecountryofJudea,butofmanyothersduetothecoloniesthat ithassentout,accordingtotheoccasion,inneighboringcountries, [including] Egypt, Phoenicia, many parts of Asia, as far away as Bythinia,equallyinEurope,Thessaly,BeotiaandMacedonia.”1 AsinthemajorityofthegreattownsofSouthGaul,therewere JewsinLyon,where,mixedwithChristiansoftheNewProphecy, theywerethevictimsofthepogromsof177. ThestatuettesinbakedearththatcaricaturedJewswithcircum- cised phalluses — which attest to the presence in Treves, around 275,ofaquiteancientcommunity—wereintendedtostirupanti- Semitism. TheJewishimplantationsinthetownsexplainstheurbanchar- acter of Judeo-Christianity and the Hellenized and de-judaicized Christianitiesthatsuccededthem.Thustheinsultingqualification 1993 1J.Eisenberg,Histoiredupeuplejuif,Paris,1974,p.174. 56 Chapter 2: Diaspora and Anti-Semitism WhiletheHebrewwordgalout (exile)wasusedinatheological perspective and implied an eschatology of uprooting and return, theGreektermdiasporareferredtoanhistoricalphenomenon:the dispersionoftheJewsacrosstheworld. In the beginning, the Jews of Judea and Samaria were chased from Palestine by a conjuration of violence and political con- straints. In 722 [B.C.E.], Israel, the Kingdom of the North, fell to the power of Babylon; in 586 [B.C.E.], the Kingdom of Judea succumbedinitsturn. Apartofthepopulationsubmittedtodeportation,drawingfrom itsunhappinessthehopeofareturnundertheleadershipofahero chosenbyGodsoastohelphispeople,sanctifiedbyordeals. Therealitiesofthesituation,however,hadtheupperhandover thetortuousdesignsofProvidence.ManyexiledJews—littlecon- cerned with regaining their homeland because they were lodged incomfortableplaces—createdcommunities,practicedtheircult, instaurated among them a politics of mutual assistance in which theaffluentsupportedthepoorest. Thus, the first Diaspora began as a voluntary movement of dis- persion. It accented itself after the conquest by Alexander, when Palestine—insertedintotheGreekworld—participatedinitsin- tense commercial activity. The Jews thus propagated themselves inregionsthatweresubjectedtoPtolemyandtheSeleucideans,of whomtheywerethesubjects. 55 ofMosaiclawandtheshocktroopsoftheMaccabeaninsurrection. TheApocalypsetardilyattributedtoJohnresounds,inparallelfash- ion,withtheechoesoftheZealotprogram;perhapstheragetode- stroyRomewasnotforeigntothefireof64[C.E.],whichhasbeen Contents sounreasonablyimputedtoNero. TheMaccabeanwarsalsodatethePsalms,songsofpraisetoGod by the devoted, the rhythms and repetitions of which are obeyed withcaresoastoimpregnatespiritsandcomfortfaith. Translator’sIntroduction 11 Foreword 21 Chapter1:ANationSacrificedtoHistory 34 Chapter2:DiasporaandAnti-Semitism 55 JewishProselytismandAnti-Semitism . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Chapter3:TheJudeanSects 66 TheSadduceans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 ThePharisians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 TheZealot Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Chapter4:TheMenoftheCommunity,ortheEssenes 83 HistoryoftheSect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 MonachismandEcclesiasticOrganization . . . . . . . . . 88 EssenismistheTrueOriginalChristianity. . . . . . . . . 92 TheMessiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 TheEsseneChurches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 ADualistTendency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 TowardsaJudeo-ChristianSyncretism . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Chapter 5: The Baptist Movement of the Samaritan MessiahDusis/Dosithea 106 ShadowandLightfromSamaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 TheMessiahDusis/Dunstan/Dosithea . . . . . . . . . . . 108 54 3 Chapter6:SimonofSamariaandGnosticRadicality 114 165 [B.C.E.], during the revolt of the Maccabee family and their TheSo-CalledDisciplesofSimon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 partisans,thedefendersoffaith. Obeyingamythicallogic,thusconformingtothestructureofHe- Chapter7:Thephallicandfusionalcults 130 brew—whichhardlyaccordswiththerationalityofGreek,which TheNaassenesorOphites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 sinks to render Hebrew — the recitation transposed the political Perates,Cainites,Nicolaites,Koukeens. . . . . . . . . . . 137 situation to the divine plane. Michael, the chief of the angels and JustintheGnosticandtheBookofBaruch . . . . . . . . . 147 the protector of Israel, used his power to save his people. The vi- TheAdeptsofBarbelo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 sionaryprophesizedtheruinoffourgreatoppressiveempires:the Babylonian,theAssyrian,thePersianandtheGreek.Theeffective Chapter 8: Three Esseno-Christian Christs: Seth, disappearancein165[B.C.E.]ofthefirstthree,ofcourse,augured Melchizedek,andJoshua/Jesus 165 theruinofthefourth,andrevivedtheardorofthecombattantsby TheMessiahSeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 demonstrating that God would never surrender his people to an TheMessiahMelchizedek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 impiousdomination.Thefactthat(onceagain)thecrushingofthe Joshua/Jesus,UnknownProphetandSyncreticMessiah . 176 Jewish insurgents threw a bitter shadow on the anthem “the time ElementsofaForgery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 is near for His power and His justice to restore Israel to its glory” did not exhaust the source of a type of inspiration that, far from Chapter 9: the Messianic sects of Joshua/Jesus: beingdiscouraged,wasstimulatedbyfailure. Nazarenes,Ebionites,Elchasaites 193 The last Jewish apocalypse would also be, under its harshly NazarenesandEbionites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Christianizedform,theonlyonethatwasretainedbytheCatholic Elchasaites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 canon, despite those who flourished up to the Sixth Century. The Chapter 10: Quarrels about Prophets and Apostles: original Jew (lost) no doubt stigmatized the Roman politics of Jochanaan, Theudas/Jude/Thomas, Jacob, Simon- Tiberias, who from the year 19 [C.E.] encouraged the pogroms in Peter,Barnabas,Saul/Paul 199 RomeandprohibitedtheJewishreligioninItaly. Jochanaan,CalledJohnTheBaptist. . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 TheGreekversion,attributedtoJohn,adoptedtheschemaofall Theudas/Jude/Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 of the revelations: evil has perturbed the divine order; the revela- Jacob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 tion means to restore this order so as to propagate on earth the Simon-Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 kingdom of the heavens and the saints. The unleashing of calami- Barnabas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 ties sounds the announced hour of the Days of the Savior, the ex- Saul,CalledPaulofTarse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 termination of the wicked, and the glory of Jerusalem. The era of prosperity, peace and paradisical happiness would coincide with Chapter 11: Marcion and the Hellenization of Chris- thetriumphofthe“communities,”theEssenechurches. tianity 235 ByclaimingthatonlyblindfaithinGodwouldvanquishtheen- emy, the Apocalypse attributed to Daniel dressed up in divine em- anations the manifesto of the Assideans, the fanatical observants 4 53 andomegaofaworldcreatedsoastoannihilateitselfinitsterres- Chapter 12: The Inventors of a Christian Theology: trialformandbereborninacosmicbeyond,theapocalypsedrains Basilides,Valentine,Ptolemy 246 in a sudden rage the multiple reasons for finishing with an exis- BasilidesOfAlexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 tencethatiscondemnedtounhappiness.Itssuicidalresolutionhas ValentineAndTheValentinians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 avengingaccents,becausenoneofthepowerswouldescapefrom Ptolemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 the egalitarian leveling of the death that it announces. Over the ThePistisSophia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 centuries, the oppressed creature would discover in apocalypse a panacea for the malediction of injustice, the end of the centuries, Chapter 13: Marcos and the Hellenization of Jewish which founds the hope for the Great Night and the days after it, Hermeticism 274 whichsing.Itisthesongofanimmobilehistory,fixedinitsglacia- Chapter 14: Carpocratus, Epiphanius and the Tradi- tion,thatcanonlyshake[loose]atotalexplosion.Bornintherup- tionofSimonofSamaria 283 ture of archaic Judaism with history, it reappears every time that hopeless oppression explodes under the blows of a hopeless revo- Chapter 15: The New Prophecy and the Development lution. ofPopularChristianity 290 JudaicandChristianliteraturecontains50apocalypses.Twoof The New Prophecy And The Christian Philosophers Of themtwinklewithaparticularglimmerinthespeculativetorrent TheSecondCentury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 that would furrow the historical landscape in which Christs and JustinTheApologist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 Messiahsproliferated. HermasandThePastor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 UnderthenameofthelegendarypatriarchHenoch,theParables IrenaeusOfLyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 contain an apocalypse, the influence of which marked the myth Tertullian,PhilosopherOfTheNewProphecy . . . . . . . 309 of Jesus among the Christians. At the end of an ascension that leads him to the Kingdom of the Heavens, Henoch sees the Son Chapter16:TatianandtheFabricationoftheNewTes- ofMan,thatistosay,Adam,anddiscovershistruenature:theSon tament 312 ofMancollaboratedinthecreationoftheworldasanintegralpart TheCanonicalGospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314 of YHWH; he then sits at his right hand and, at the end of time, whichisimminent,hereturnstoearthtodelivermankindfromits Chapter 17: Three Local Christianities: Edessa and pitifulcondition. Bardesane, Alexandria and Origen, Antioch and The Apocalypse attributed to Daniel reflects the struggle of PaulofSamosate 328 religious Jews against the political Hellenization of Antiochus IV BardesaneOfEdessa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Epiphane.Byanartificethatbetrayslessofthedeliberateliethan Audi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 a cyclical vision of history, this work aspired to a previous epoch OrigenOfAlexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333 and thus foresaw the future. The author antedated the prediction PaulOfSamosate,BishopOfAntioch . . . . . . . . . . . 336 of events that in fact took place under his own eyes, around 52 5 Chapter 18: Novatian, the Apostate Clergy and the lar, in Alexandria. Flavius Joseph recalls in Judaic Antiquities that Anti-MontanistReaction 338 “God even accorded to him [Solomon] the comprehension of the artagainstdemonsintheserviceoftheusefulnessandhealingof Chapter19:ArianismandtheChurchofRome 344 men. Having composed incantations thanks to which sickness is EusebiusOfCesarea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 relieved,heleftbehindtheexorcismformulasbywhichtheposses- Arius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 sorchasesawaythedemonssothattheymayneverreturn.”8 An extract from the Wisdom attributes to Solomon the knowl- Chapter20:DonatandtheCirconcellions 354 edge “of the power of spirits and the thought of man, varieties of plantsandthevirtuesofroots”(7,20). Chapter 21: The Spirituals, Also Called Messalians or OnehaswantedtodetectheretheideasofanEssenecommunity Euchites 359 oftheMareotisLake,whichPhilonamesTherapeutes,anditistrue Borborites,Coddians,Stratiotics,Phemionites . . . . . . 364 that Judeo-Greek magic is not absent from the texts of Qumran.9 Chapter22:MonophysitesandDyophysites 366 Christian Gnosticism of the First and Second Centuries included thaumaturgicgroupsbywhichthediverseevangelicalnovelscon- Chapter23:PelagiusandAugustine,ortheConception cerningJesuswereinspired,soastodisguisetheirheroesasexor- ofFreeWillandPredestination 374 cists,healersandschemersofmiracles. Rejected by the Pharisaian synod of 80–90, the Wisdom of Chapter24:PriscillianofAvila 381 Solomon would enter into the Catholic canon. The Platonism in which Biblical mythology seemed to melt lets one glimpse the Chapter25:PauliciansandBogomiles 387 supercession of Judaism, for which the Hellenized Christianities ThePaulicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 ofthesecondhalfoftheSecondCenturyworked. TheBogomiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 *** Chapter 26: Christs and Reformers: Popular Resis- tancetotheInstitutionalChurch 400 Ontheotherhand,thehostilitytoJudaismintheencounterwith TheChristOfBourges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 Hellenizationwasexacerbatedthroughamodeoforiginalexpres- Aldebert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 sion:“revelation,”betterknownunderitsGreekform,“apocalypse” Leuthard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403 —atermthatmuchlaterassumedthemeaning“universalcatastro- EudesDeL’etoile,OrEudoDeStella . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 phe.” TwoReformers:PierreDeBruysAndHenriDuMans . . 406 A cyclical thought that curls around in the vivid foreshorten- ing of birth and death, the origin and the end of time, the alpha Chapter27:TheCommunalistProphets 410 ThePatarinMovement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 8FlaviusJoseph,Antiquitiesjudaiques,Paris,1929,VIII,45. TanchelmOfAntwerp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 9C.Puech,“Unritueld’exorcisme(11QPsAp),”RevuedeQumran,XIV,#55, 1989. 6 51 tyranny never puts an end to religious tyranny, but reinvigorates ArnaudOfBrescia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 it with the same authoritarian principles that must destroy it. In- UgoSperoni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 surrectionwouldofferamodelofheroicanddesperateholinessto thestrugglethattheZealots—ontheinitiativeofJudaofGamala Chapter28:PhilosophyagainsttheChurch 419 and his two sons, Jacob and Simeon — would much later conduct JohnScotusErigena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 againsttheRomans. DavidOfDinant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 ByprohibitingtheexerciseofthecultintheTemple,theSeleu- ThomasScoto,HermannDeRijswijck . . . . . . . . . . . 427 cideKingAntiochus IVEpiphane (215–163[B.C.E.])succeededin Chapter29:TheCathars 430 convincingtheJewsofthevanityofterrestrialempiresandthein- TheFirstBogomileMissionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 terest of celestial knowledge, the imminence of which prophetic TheSecondWaveOfBogomilePrediction . . . . . . . . . 435 agitationproclaimed. TheEndOfCatharism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 The author of the Wisdom did not reject Hellenism, but strove DualismAndAsceticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 — like Philo of Alexandria, but much later — to assimilate it into Judaism. His faith in the final victory of the Chosen People was Chapter 30: The Vaudois and the Adepts of Voluntary notrejectedbytheluminariesofGreekthought. Poverty 445 ThetruesonofIsraelwasasage.Wisdom[sagesse]wouldsaveit, because“hewhoseizestheLawreceiveswisdom”(15,1).Crowning Chapter31:TheMovementoftheFree-Spirit 457 messianichope,sophia(wisdom)playedtheroleofgreatmediator TheAmaurians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458 between God and man: “She appears as a mother, like a virginal FinAmor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463 wife she welcomes him, she nourishes him with the bread of pru- TheNewSpiritOfSouabe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464 dence,shegiveshimthewaterofwisdomtodrink.” MargueritePorete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 The Greek word Sophia, which translates the Hebrew word HeilwigeBloemardine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 Hochma and the Aramaic word Achamoth — two feminine terms William Cornelius Of Antwerp: Voluntarily Poor And that also designated the Spirit — assumed a considerable impor- Free-Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 tance in the Esseno-Christian gnosticisms and the hedonistic currents in which figured, under a great variety of names and Chapter32:BeghardsandBeguines 477 forms, that which provides salvation to men. Wife, mother and TheCommunitiesOfCologneAndSchweidnitz. . . . . . 480 virgin, Sophia was at the origin of Myriam-Mary, the virgin WanderingBeghardsAndBeguines . . . . . . . . . . . . 482 mother and her companion Mary of Magdala (as presented in the TheEndOfTheBeghardsAndBeguines . . . . . . . . . . 489 Gospel attributed to Thomas), but also the Holy Spirit descended upontheMessiah. Chapter33:TheMillenarianists 492 Drafted around 50 [B.C.E.], the Wisdom of Solomon allied with JoachimOfFiore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492 Judeo-Greek thought a magical conception that would be known Joachimism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495 intheHermeticcurrentandwouldbecomealltherage,inparticu- GerardoSegarelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 50 7 TheGuillelmites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira or, more precisely, Wise Instruction and DolcinoOfNovara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503 ProverbspolishedbySimeon,sonofJesus,sonofEleazar,sonofSira. AlthoughthePharisiansexcludeditfromtheircanon,theTalmud Chapter34:TheFlagellants 509 cites it nearly 80 times. The Catholics would make it one of their books of predilection under the title that was imposed around Chapter35:TheFraticelles 517 250 [C.E.] by the Bishop of Carthage, Cyprian: the Ecclesiasticus BernardDelicieux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 liber, in French, the Ecclesiastics. (Not to be confused with the ProusBoneta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 Qohelet, “He who speaks in the assemblies,” called Ecclesiastes BentivengaDaGubio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 by the Catholics — in Greek, “assembly” is ekklesia, Church — PaoloZoppo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525 , a text from the Fourth Century before the Christian era that TheExterminationTrialOfTheFraticelles. . . . . . . . . 526 communicated unusable banalities about the bitter destiny of man and the ignominy of woman.) The epistle falsely attributed Chapter 36: The Eastern Reformers: the Hussites and to Jacob borrows from it a great number of expressions; thus the Taborites 528 Logia were attributed to Jesus; Simeon, who become Simon-Peter, Chapter37:TheMenofIntelligenceandthePikartiof alsofiguredinthem. Bohemia 534 An early Hebrew manuscript from the Eighth Century [B.C.E.] ThePikarti,OrTheAdamitesOfBohemia . . . . . . . . . 536 wasexhumedin1896fromthegennizah(areserveinwhichthesa- cred books that were no longer used were stored) in a synagogue Chapter38:TheVictoryoftheReformersandtheBirth inCairo.Theauthenticityofthetextwasconfirmedbythediscov- oftheProtestantChurches 539 ery, in 1964, at Masada — the high place of the Zealot resistance Two Agitators At The Dawn Of The Reformation: Hans to the Romans — of a scroll that contained important fragments BoehmAndJeromeSavonarola . . . . . . . . . . . 541 intheiroriginalHebraicversions.(Yadimsituatestheredactionof JeromeSavonarola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 thetextinthepre-Herodianperiod,around400[B.C.E.],between From Heresy To The Religion Of The State: Luther And EsaieI andtheManualofDiscipline.7)Theworkwasattributedto Calvin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 Rabbi Sira (around 190 [B.C.E.]). His young son Joshua/Jesus had JohnCalvin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 ittranslatedintoGreekaround117[B.C.E.] In the era of Rabbi Sira, the Seleucides — masters of Syria and Chapter 39: The Dissidents from Lutheranism and Palestine—attemptedtobreakthemonotheisticrigoroftheJews Calvinism 553 byforcedHellenization.In165[B.C.E.],therevoltledbyMattathias JohannesDenck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558 Maccabeeandhisson,Juda,demonstratedonemoretimethatState SebastianFranck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 CarlstadtAndSchwenckfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 7Y.Yadim,TheBenSiraScrollfromMasada,Jerusalem,1965;Th.Midden- MichaelServetus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 dorp, Die Stellung Jesu Ben Sira zwischen Judentum und Hellenismus, Leidenn, SebastianCastellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 1973. 8 49 ofthehistorians,theusageofsyllogism,analysisandsynthesis,a Chapter40:TheAlumbradosofSpain 569 realityinwhichtheGodsdrewtheirsplendorfromthecapricious facetsofdestiny. Chapter41:TheSpiritualLibertines 575 TheIndo-EuropeanstructureoftheGreeklanguageveryimper- EloiPruystinckAndTheLoyists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575 fectlyrenderedHebraicidiomatics,withitsatemporalverbs,word JacobGruet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580 play, magical sounds, phonetic equivalences, numerical values QuintinThierryAndHisFriends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 attributed to letters — elements that lent to the pre-evangelical Chapter42:TheAnabaptists 592 midrashim significations that developed the Kabbalistic specu- Storch,PfeifferAndMuntzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593 lations, but that, all things considered, were a dead letter for Hut,HuebmaierAndHutter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 the Greeks and ended in mistranslations. (”Midrash: Jewish (or MelchiorHoffmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 Samaritan)exegesis.TermderivedfromtheHebrewDRS,‘tolook, TheMunsterites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 to search.’ Among all the rabbinical midrashim, commentaries on PacifistsAndTerrorists:MennoSimonszAndBattenburg 605 the Torah, and then the Bible in its entirety, it is fitting to cite TheIconoclasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 the Midrash Rabbah, the Great Midrash, a Hebraic compilation of which certain portions date back to an epoch much before the Chapter 43: The Individualist Messiahs: David Joris, FirstCentury.”6) NicolasFrey,HendrikNiclaes 611 Although it attests to the universal curiosity of the Greeks, the DavidJoris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 translation of the so-called “Septante” (because it was legendarily NicolasFrey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620 attributed to seventy translators) of the Biblical texts appeared to HendrikNiclaesAndTheFamilists . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 theMasoretesandJewishphysiciansasasacrilegeandabetrayal JanTorrentius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625 of the Biblical message. It is here — it is not useless to say — that Joshua found himself, for the very first time, translated by Iesous, Chapter44:IronistsandSceptics 627 Jesus. ValentinWeigel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 628 AftertheAlexandrianepoch,twoliterarygenreswerediametri- DirkVolkertszoonCoornherdt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629 callyopposed,butbothenteredintothefabricationsofthenovels BernardinoOchino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631 about Jesus: the “wisdom” that bore the stamp of Hellenic moral- NoelJournet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632 ity, and the “apocalypses” or “revelations” (prophecies that were GeoffroyVallee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633 hostiletotheGreeksandthentotheRomans)thatwererootedin theHebraicmythoftheall-powerfulGod,forwhompunishments Chapter45:Levellers,DiggersandRanters 636 werethewagesofloveandredemption. LevellersAndDiggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637 Issuing principally from Egypt, “wisdom” Hellenized itself TheRanters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645 in Palestine through two texts headed for a great radiance: The AbiezerCoppe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647 LawrenceClarkson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649 6B.Dubourg,L’InventiondeJesus,Paris,I,p.251–260. 48 9 JacobBauthumley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650 Encouraging the refusal of obedience of Samaria to Judea, the ThomasWebbe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 GreekoccupationallowedtheSamaritanstoerectintheregionof Coppin,PordageAndTany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652 EbalandGarizimatempledistinctfromtheoneinJerusalem.They thus encountered in the north the welcome that Judea refused to Chapter46:TheJansenists 654 give. In Samaria, from the conjunction of Judaism and Greek phi- MichelBaius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655 losophy was thus born a thought oriented around the knowledge CorneliusJansenius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656 ofselfandtheworld—Gnosticthought—thattookrootasmuch TheArnauldFamily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 659 inreligiousspeculationasinafeelingforlifethatrevokedallforms ofreligiontotheprofitofamagichermeticism,nay,asomaticanal- Chapter47:Pietists,VisionariesandQuietists 664 ysis,suchasthatofSimonofSamaria. ThePietists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664 Such a spirit of modernity would easily propagate itself in TheQuietists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677 the communities of the diaspora, in the Jewish colonies of MadameGuyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681 Mesopotamia,Egypt,Syria,AsiaMinor,RomeandtheGauls. From the Samaritan schism derived the sects that opposed Chapter48:TheEndoftheDivineRight 684 differentconceptionsofJudaism:Sadduceans,Pharisaians,Esseno- ThomasWoolston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685 Baptists who would form the original Christianity that spread TheBookoftheThreeImpostors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688 throughouttheNazareanandEbionistgroups. MatthiasKnuetzen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691 The Samaritans did not recognize any sacred texts other than TheFallOfGod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 693 thePentateuchandthebookthatJoshuapromisedtoacertainfu- BibliographicalReferences 696 tureunderthenameofJesus.ThemanuscriptsdiscoveredatQum- rancontainedsimilitudesthataccreditedthecloserelationshipbe- tweentheSamaritansandtheEssenes;theydifferedfromtheMa- soretictexts,whichwereexegeticalenterprisesonthesacredbooks writtenbyMasoretesorJewishphysicians. From 300 to around 165 [B.C.E.], the Hellenization of Palestine impregnatedthereligiousliteratureofathoughtthatwasradically foreigntotheJewishmindset.Twocivilizationsclashed:onebased onanagrarianeconomyandthecommercialactivitiesthatsituated themselvesattheexteriorofthefrontiers,inthebranch-officesand communities based upon an intransigent monotheism; the other, essentially mercantile, propagated its logic and rationality every- wherethatitssystemofexchangepenetrated. Nothing is more antagonistic than the mythic, analogical and ahistorical spirit of the Jews and the Greek Logos, the linear time 10 47

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anations the manifesto of the Assideans, the fanatical observants of Mosaic law and the shock troops of the Maccabean insurrection. The Apocalypse
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