Jesus versus Paul

In the 90s, I wrote my book on the teachings of Jesus. It is not a book on Christianity in general. I base my writing primarily on the material found in the four gospels. I knew very well that Church teachings often deviate from the teachings of Jesus. But Saint Paul is a towering figure in Christianity. He also wrote many of the books in the New Testament. According to Britannica, “Of the 27 books in the New Testament, 13 or 14 are traditionally attributed to Paul, though only 7 of these Pauline epistles are accepted as being entirely authentic and dictated by St. Paul himself.” Why did I skip over the teachings of Paul? There is a very simple reason — I have been troubled by the character of Paul and the nastiness of his teachings. Paul is known to call himself a “wretched man” and that realization somehow did not stop him from spreading his wretchedness. While I could find glimpses of enlightened joy in the teachings of Jesus, I honestly could not find the same in the teachings of Paul. There has never been any doubt in my mind that it was Paul who distorted Jesus’ message, making it into something monstrous. In the early 90s, I read Hyam Maccoby’s book, The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity. I found myself agreeing totally with Maccoby’s analysis.

About two weeks ago, I posted something on the religions teaching self-hate. To me, Apostle Paul is a leading teacher of the art of self-hate. Some of my Facebook friends challenged my position. I decided to look deeper into the matter. I found that religious scholar, Karen Armstrong, has written two books on Saint Paul. Her first book, titled “The First Christian,” is an outcome of her association with Dr. Michael Goulder, who was an advisor to a TV series produced by the British Channel Four. I find her book tremendously interesting. Here is a quote from the Introduction of her book, The First Christian:

There is in Christianity a morbidity. There is a masochism that exalts pain and suffering, an unhealthy rejection of the body and sensuous pleasure. There is an intolerance which has often expressed itself in violent persecutions and crusades against Jews, infidels and, appallingly, within the Christian ranks against ‘herectics’ or people whose opinions of dogma differ from those of the governing authority. There is a complacency and a smugness which often refuses challenge of any sort, and there is…