jesuswordsonly/topicindex/311-schonfeld-on-paul.html

464 lines
24 KiB
HTML
Raw Permalink Normal View History

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en-gb" lang="en-gb" >
<head>
<base href="http://jesuswordsonly.com/topicindex/311-schonfeld-on-paul.html" />
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Jesus Words, Jesus Words Only, Jesus Words on Salvation, Did Calvin Murder Servetus, Flaws of Young Earth Science, Ingenious Design, Apostle Paul, False Apostle Paul" />
<meta name="title" content="Schonfeld on Paul" />
<meta name="author" content="coilone" />
<meta name="description" content="Schonfeld, false apostle paul" />
<meta name="generator" content="Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management" />
<title>Schonfeld on Paul</title>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/system/js/mootools.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/media/system/js/caption.js"></script>
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/images/favicon.ico" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/templates/system/css/system.css" type="text/css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/templates/system/css/general.css" type="text/css" />
<link href="/templates/js_relevant/css/template_css.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<link href="/templates/js_relevant/css/nav.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<link href="/templates/js_relevant/css/style1.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<!--[if IE]>
<link href="/templates/js_relevant/css/ie.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<![endif]-->
<!--[if IE]>
<link href="/templates/js_relevant/css/ie.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<![endif]-->
<!--[if lte IE 6]>
<style type="text/css">
img { behavior: url(/templates/js_relevant/js/iepngfix.htc); }
</style>
<![endif]-->
</head>
<body>
<div id="main-wrapper">
<div id="header_graphic">
<div class="inside">
<div id="newsflash"> <div class="moduletable">
<table class="contentpaneopen">
<tr>
<td valign="top" ><p style="text-align: left;">"Paul [cannot be] both claimant and witness [for himself]." Tertullian<em>, Against Marcion </em>207 A.D<em>. <br /></em></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" >
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<h1><a href="http://jesuswordsonly.com/" title="Relevant">Relevant</a></h1>
<h2>A Joomla! Template for the Rest of Us</h2>
</div>
</div>
<div class="menubar">
<div id="navmenu">
<script type="text/javascript" src="/templates/js_relevant/js/barmenu.js"></script>
<ul class="menu"><li><a href="http://jesuswordsonly.com/"><span>Home</span></a></li><li class="haschild"><a href="/books.html" class="haschild"><span>Books</span></a><ul><li><a href="/books/jesuswordsonly.html"><span>Jesus' Words Only</span></a></li><li><a href="/books/jesuswordssalvation.html"><span>Jesus' Words on Salvation</span></a></li><li class="haschild"><a href="/books/didcalvinmurderservetus.html" class="child"><span>Did Calvin Murder Servetus?</span></a><ul><li><a href="/books/didcalvinmurderservetus/background-material-did-calvin-murder-servetus.html"><span>Background Material</span></a></li></ul></li><li><a href="/books/hownottosudythebible.html"><span>How Not to Study the Bible</span></a></li><li><a href="/books/flawsofyoungearthscience.html"><span>Flaws of Young Earth Science</span></a></li><li><a href="/books/unintended-disservice.html"><span>Unintended Disservice</span></a></li><li><a href="/books/original-gospel-of-matthew.html"><span>Original Gospel of Matthew</span></a></li><li><a href="/books/commands-of-jesus.html"><span>Commands of Jesus</span></a></li><li><a href="/books/gospel-of-john.html"><span>Gospel of John</span></a></li></ul></li><li><a href="/recommendedreading.html"><span>Further Reading</span></a></li><li><a href="/media.html"><span>Media</span></a></li><li class="haschild"><a href="/reviews.html" class="haschild"><span>Reviews</span></a><ul><li><a href="/reviews/jwo-reviews.html"><span>Jesus Words Only</span></a></li><li><a href="/reviews/jwos-reviews.html"><span>Jesus Words on Salvation</span></a></li></ul></li><li><a href="/contactus.html"><span>Contact Us</span></a></li><li><a href="http://astore.amazon.com/jwoogm-20"><span>Book Shop</span></a></li><li id="current" class="active"><a href="/topicindex.html"><span>Topic Index</span></a></li><li><a href="/aboutauthor.html"><span>About Author</span></a></li><li><a href="/newsletters.html"><span>Newsletters</span></a></li></ul>
</div>
</div>
<div id="mainbody">
<div id="showcasetop">&nbsp;</div>
<table width="940" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center">
<tr>
<td id="leftcol" valign="top" width="200">
<div class="inside">
<div class="moduleS1">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<h3>Search</h3>
<form action="index.php" method="post">
<div class="searchS1">
<input name="searchword" id="mod_search_searchword" maxlength="20" alt="Search" class="inputboxS1" type="text" size="20" value="search..." onblur="if(this.value=='') this.value='search...';" onfocus="if(this.value=='search...') this.value='';" /> </div>
<input type="hidden" name="task" value="search" />
<input type="hidden" name="option" value="com_search" />
<input type="hidden" name="Itemid" value="32" />
</form> </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="moduleS1">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<h3>Questions?</h3>
Please enter your questions, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. As an anti-spam measure, we ask that you re-type the code you see in the box below, prior to clicking "Send Message"<br /><br />
<form name="s5_quick_contact" method="post" action="">
<input class="inputbox" id="namebox" onclick="s5_qc_clearname()" onfocus="s5_qc_clearname()" style="font-size:11px; font-family:arial; width:80%" type="text" value="Name..." name="name"></input><br />
<input class="inputbox" id="emailbox" onclick="s5_qc_clearemail()" onfocus="s5_qc_clearemail()" style="font-size:11px; font-family:arial; width:80%" type="text" value="Email..." name="email"></input><br />
<input class="inputbox" id="subjectbox" onclick="s5_qc_clearsubject()" onfocus="s5_qc_clearsubject()" style="font-size:11px; font-family:arial; width:80%" type="text" value="Subject..." name="subject"></input><br />
<textarea id="messagebox" rows="" cols="" class="inputbox textarea" onclick="s5_qc_clearbody()" onfocus="s5_qc_clearbody()" style="font-size:11px; font-family:arial; overflow:auto;width:80%; height:55px" name="message">Your Message...</textarea><br />
<input class="inputbox" id="spambox" onclick="s5_qc_clearspam()" onfocus="s5_qc_clearspam()" style="font-weight:bold; font-size:11px; font-family:arial; width:80%" type="text" value="Enter The Code 3799" name="verif_box"></input><br />
<input id="email_address" type="hidden" value="" name="email_address"></input>
<input class="button" type="button" onclick="s5_qc_submit()" value="Send Message" ></input>
</form>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
// <![CDATA[
var s5_qc_spam_text = document.getElementById("spambox").value;
function s5_qc_clearbody() {
if (document.getElementById("messagebox").value == "Your Message...") {
document.getElementById("messagebox").value="";
}
if (document.getElementById("namebox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("namebox").value = "Name...";
}
if (document.getElementById("emailbox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("emailbox").value = "Email...";
}
if (document.getElementById("subjectbox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("subjectbox").value = "Subject...";
}
if (document.getElementById("spambox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("spambox").value = s5_qc_spam_text;
}
}
function s5_qc_clearname() {
if (document.getElementById("namebox").value == "Name...") {
document.getElementById("namebox").value="";
}
if (document.getElementById("messagebox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("messagebox").value = "Your Message...";
}
if (document.getElementById("emailbox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("emailbox").value = "Email...";
}
if (document.getElementById("subjectbox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("subjectbox").value = "Subject...";
}
if (document.getElementById("spambox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("spambox").value = s5_qc_spam_text;
}
}
function s5_qc_clearemail() {
if (document.getElementById("emailbox").value == "Email...") {
document.getElementById("emailbox").value="";
}
if (document.getElementById("namebox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("namebox").value = "Name...";
}
if (document.getElementById("messagebox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("messagebox").value = "Your Message...";
}
if (document.getElementById("subjectbox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("subjectbox").value = "Subject...";
}
if (document.getElementById("spambox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("spambox").value = s5_qc_spam_text;
}
}
function s5_qc_clearsubject() {
if (document.getElementById("subjectbox").value == "Subject...") {
document.getElementById("subjectbox").value="";
}
if (document.getElementById("namebox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("namebox").value = "Name...";
}
if (document.getElementById("emailbox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("emailbox").value = "Email...";
}
if (document.getElementById("messagebox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("messagebox").value = "Your Message...";
}
if (document.getElementById("spambox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("spambox").value = s5_qc_spam_text;
}
}
function s5_qc_clearspam() {
if (document.getElementById("spambox").value == s5_qc_spam_text) {
document.getElementById("spambox").value="";
}
if (document.getElementById("namebox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("namebox").value = "Name...";
}
if (document.getElementById("emailbox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("emailbox").value = "Email...";
}
if (document.getElementById("messagebox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("messagebox").value = "Your Message...";
}
if (document.getElementById("subjectbox").value.length < 1) {
document.getElementById("subjectbox").value = "Subject...";
}
}
function s5_qc_isValidEmail(str_email) {
if (str_email.indexOf(".") > 2 && str_email.indexOf("@") > 0) {
alert('Your email is now being submitted - Thank you!');
document.s5_quick_contact.submit();
}
else {
alert('Your email address is not valid, please check again - Thank you!');
}
}
function s5_qc_submit() {
if (document.getElementById("spambox").value == s5_qc_spam_text || document.getElementById("subjectbox").value == "Subject..." || document.getElementById("namebox").value == "Name..." || document.getElementById("emailbox").value == "Email..." || document.getElementById("messagebox").value == "Your Message...") {
alert('All fields are required, please complete the form - Thank you!');
return false;
}
if (document.getElementById("spambox").value != "3799") {
alert('Your spam verification answer is incorrect.');
return false;
}
var s5_message_holder = document.getElementById("messagebox").value;
var s5_first_message_char = s5_message_holder.charAt(0);
var s5_second_message_char = s5_message_holder.charAt(1);
var s5_third_message_char = s5_message_holder.charAt(2);
var s5_fourth_message_char = s5_message_holder.charAt(3);
if (s5_first_message_char == "<") {
return false;
}
if (s5_first_message_char == "w" && s5_second_message_char == "w" && s5_third_message_char == "w") {
return false;
}
if (s5_first_message_char == "h" && s5_second_message_char == "t" && s5_third_message_char == "t") {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
if (s5_message_holder.indexOf("s5_qc_null") >= 0) {
return false;
}
else {
document.getElementById("email_address").value = "info@jesuswordsonly.com";
var email_str = document.getElementById("emailbox").value;
s5_qc_isValidEmail(email_str);
}
}
// ]]>
</script>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</td>
<td id="maincol" valign="top">
<div id="breadcrumbs">
<span class="breadcrumbs pathway">
<a href="http://jesuswordsonly.com/" class="pathway">Home</a> <img src="/templates/js_relevant/images/arrow.png" alt="" /> Topic Index</span>
</div>
<table class="contentpaneopen">
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<h1>Schonfeld on Paul</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Schonfeld came to believe Jesus was Messiah. However, he believed Paul was mentally ill and thought he himself was messiah before he had his Damascus experience. (I believe Paul had a huge self-image, which includes that Paul's own sufferings 'completed' the offering of Christ. But Schonfeld sees this as messianic delusions. See our webpage on "<a href="/topicindex/391-did-paul-have-an-enormous-self-image.html">Did Paul have a huge self-image?</a>")</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Schonfeld's work was republished recently. It is entitled:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Hugh J. Schonfield, <em>Proclaiming the Messiah: The Life and Letters of Paul of Tarsus, Envoy to the Nations</em>. London: Open Gate Press, 1997.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1">And in Schonfield's personal opinion, Jesus was indeed the Jewish Messiah, a conviction Schonfield arrived at from within Judiasm which affiliation he retained thereafter, not from seeing himself as converting to becoming a 'Christian' in any traditional sense. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;" data-mce-mark="1"><a href="http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/reviews/schonfield_proclaiming.htm">Robert Price</a> summarizes <em>Proclaiming the Messiah</em>:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Surely the most striking of Schonfield's hypotheses is that Saul of Tarsus first <strong><em>considered himself to be God's Messiah</em></strong>, destined to bring the Light of Judaism to the Gentiles, and that his persecuting fury was ignited by the belief that<strong><em> the apostolic preaching of Jesus was a lie sent to deceive the unwary in the Last Days</em></strong>. Saul had arrived at his messianic consciousness through his precocious studies of the kabbalistic Lore of Creation (which was later to shape his Christology of Jesus as the cosmos-spanning heavenly Adam--see Schonfield's&nbsp;<em>Those Incredible Christians</em>, 1968). Like later kabbalists Abraham Abulafia and Sabbatai Sevi, whose studies had led them to the belief in their own messiahship, <strong><em>Saul decided he was the one</em></strong>. And like Sabbatai Sevi's enlightenment, this revelation was accompanied by a dose of mental aberration (and genuine psychic experience, according to Schonfield).<strong><em> Saul's literally insane fury against the young Jesus sect abated only when he had a second epiphany on the road to Damascus</em></strong>. He had to admit now that<strong><em> Jesus was the Messiah</em></strong>, not he, but then Saul adopted the next best role. He viewed himself as the<strong><em> living image of Christ on earth even as Christ had been the image of God</em></strong>. Specifically, Saul believed that he often acted as<em><strong> "channeler" for the voice and persona of the exalted Christ</strong></em> ("I say to you, not I, but the Lord..."). All this is only hinted at in&nbsp;<em>Proclaiming the Messiah</em>. One may pursue the matter in Schonfield's fascinating&nbsp;<em>The Jew of Tarsus (An Unorthodox Portrait of Paul</em>) (1946).</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">***</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Such a picture of Paul certainly comports with the virtually messianic colors in which Paul and his fans painted him, e.g., as<strong><em> tantamount to a second Moses</em></strong> (2 Corinthians 3:12-13), as completing the remainder of Christ's atonement (Colossians 1:24), of having been crucified for his disciples (1 Corinthians 1:13), even rising from the dead (in the Acts of Paul). Luke, too, is careful to parallel Paul's passion narrative with that of Jesus. Schonfield's picture of Paul as<strong><em> a runner-up messiah</em></strong> is not without history-of-religions parallels, such as the relationship of Jesus and John the Baptist, Simon Magus and Peter, the Bab and Baha'ullah. I think especially of the case of Dr. David C. Kim, first president of the Unification Theological Seminary, who had first believed himself to be the Messiah until he met Sun Myung Moon and deferred to the latter's messiahship instead. </span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Schonfield's quasi-messianic Paul also brings to mind Walter Schmithals's sketch of the Gnostic apostolate appropriated by Paul and other early Christian missioners. Schmithals shows (<em>The Office of Apostle in the Early Church</em>) how the earliest apostles were Gnostic redeemer-mystagogues who preached the gospel of the Cosmic Christ whose light-sparks were scattered among the souls of the elect, to whom they preached. This<strong><em> Christ/Primal Man had never before been incarnated on earth--until now, in the form of the awakened apostolos and his converts, as they together realized their true identity</em></strong>. Schmithals suggested that Paul and others had taken over pretty much the same notion, only on behalf of Jesus of Nazareth, a recent historical figure. On Schonfield's reading, <strong><em>Paul's conception of his mission as an earthly manifestation of a heavenly Christ </em></strong>(albeit one who had lived on earth and returned to heaven) would provide a missing link helping to explain<strong><em> how Paul came to appropriate the Gnostic apostolate.</em></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">It is interesting to note how the<em> Jewish Encyclopedia</em> echoes many of Schonfeld's sentiments, and thus how close Jews would come to accepting Jesus / Yashua if it were not for Paul's identification with what today is called "Christianity." For example, in "<a href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11952-paul-of-tarsus">Paul of Tarsus</a>," <em>Jewish Encyclopedia</em>, we read:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Evidently Paul entertained long before his vision [outside Damascus] those notions of the Son of God which he afterward expressed; but the identification of his Gnostic Christ with the crucified Jesus of the church he had formerly antagonized was possibly the result of a mental paroxysm experienced in the form of visions.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Schonfeld in&nbsp;<em>Those Incredible Christians</em> also commented about Paul, saying that Paul's vision was a delusion. (I believe it was real, but not Jesus), Schonfeld wrote:</span></p>
<div style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"For the Apostolic Church much that Paul taught was grievous error not at all in accord with the mind and message of the Messiah. The original Apostles could urge that the truth was known by them. But Paul had never companied with Jesus or heard what he said day after day, and Paul's visions were the delusions of this own misguided mind....</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"It was not only the teaching and activities of Paul which made him obnoxious to the Christian leaders: but their awareness that<em><strong> he set his revelations above their authority and claimed an intimacy with the mind of Jesus, greater than that of those who had companied with him on earth and had been chosen by him.</strong></em>... It was an abomination, especially as his ideas were so contrary to what they knew of Jesus, that he should pose as the embodiment of the Messiah 's will.... Paul was seen as the <em><strong>demon-driven enemy of the Messiah</strong></em>.... For the legitimate Church, Paul was a dangerous and disruptive influence, bent on enlisting a large following among the Gentiles <em><strong>in order to provide himself with a numerical superiority with the support of which he could set at defiance the Elders at Jerusalem</strong></em>. Paul had been the enemy from the beginning, and because he failed in his former open hostility he had <em><strong>craftily insinuated himself into the fold to destroy it from within</strong></em>."</span></div>
<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">d</span></p> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<span class="article_separator">&nbsp;</span>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="bottom_top"></div>
<div id="bottom">
</div>
</div>
<div id="footer"><strong>Content View Hits</strong> : 8916279<br />
<script type="text/javascript">
var pv = new Array(1,0,0,0,1);
var trdlname = "/downloads";
//<![CDATA[
var regex = /\.(?:doc|eps|jpg|png|svg|xls|ppt|pdf|xls|zip|txt|vsd|vxd|js|css|rar|exe|wma|mov|avi|wmv|mp3)($|\&|\?)/;
//]]>
var trlkname = "/external/";
var trmlname = "/mailto/";
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://jesuswordsonly.com/modules/mod_analytics/gatr.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-3747914");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}
</script>
</div>
<div class="copyright"></div>
</div>
</body>
</html>