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

374 Pages·2012·1.9 MB·English

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