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Entry: Christenheit oder Europa? Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/christenheit_oder_europa#24771 Post contents: Mr Ravitch, The fact that the Ebionites survived for a few centuries, and that a few of their literary remains are extant, does not by itself establish that their claim of having preserved the authentic teachings of Jesus via James is valid. Still less does it establish that the Ebionite tradition is independent of the tradition that comes from the Apostles (including Paul). On the contrary, it is much more likely that the Ebionite tradition is entirely derivative of (and a corruption of) the orthodox Apostolic Tradition. It is of no small moment that it was orthodox Christianity, not the Ebionites, that transformed the world. You may not like the results of that transformation, but if the Ebionite Jesus is the "real Jesus" then the real Jesus is a frankly unimportant, and almost unknown, historical figure. The Jesus whom Paul preached, on the other hand, is at the center of human history. If that Jesus was simply Paul's invention, then it has to be said that Paul was quite the prodigious inventor. I have not, BTW, called you a Marxist or engaged in any other sort of <i>ad hominem</i>. Rather, I have engaged your views with respect even though I have challenged them forcefully. If you held your views with confidence and intellectual honesty (rather than simply as an expression of an animus against Christianity), you would have no need to stoop to calling people whom you do not know "fascist." If the shoe fits ... Sent at: 2008 07 04