Ancient Church Discovered.

[Roadtoad]

In Israel, near the plain of Megiddo, no less...

The discovery of the church in the northern Israeli town of Megiddo, near the biblical Armageddon, was hailed by experts as an important discovery that could reveal details about the development of the early church in the region. Archaeologists said the church dated from the third century, decades before Constantine legalized Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.

"What's clear today is that it's the oldest archaeological remains of a church in Israel, maybe even in the entire region. Whether in the entire world, it's still too early to say," said Yotam Tepper, the excavation's head archaeologist.

Pretty interesting. Still, one of the last paragraphs has me wondering...

Joe Zias, an anthropologist and former curator with the antiquities authority, questioned the dating of the find, saying there is no evidence of churches before the fourth century. The building may have been in use earlier, but most likely not for Christian religious purposes, he said.

"They're going to be hard, hard-pressed to prove it ... because the evidence argues otherwise," Zias said.

 

[Bikewer]

One fellow on another board touted this discovery as "proof" of the existence of Jesus, even though the thing dates to the first inklings of Christian orthodoxy...

 

[davefoc]

I looked around to see if I couldn't find out more about the story, but I didn't find anything.

How the Christian Church got going is an interesting mystery to me and I thought this story might lead to a little insight into that question. But probably not based on what's been published so far.

A question for anybody that feels like answering it:

Suppose you were living some time before the beginning of Christianity and somebody came to you with the basic outline for the Jesus story. Could you imagine thinking in your wildest dreams that this story could be a basis to found the world's largest religion on?

 

[David Swidler]

I don't know that the founders of Christianity had a "world's largest religion" goal in mind when they got going. Taking their faith at face value (it seems reasonable to do so), I would think they foresaw/wanted to achieve the "kingdom of heavon on Earth" or what have you within their lifetimes, as the NT says somehere. Seems to me they didn't have multimillennial world domination ambitions, just some misdirected idealism.

 

[ceo_esq]

Seems to me they didn't have multimillennial world domination ambitions, just some misdirected idealism.

On the other hand - though I don't know about "multimillennial" - one of the last things their guru told them was "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Mt 28:19-20)

 

[Bikewer]

The best book I have read recently on the history of early Christianity is "Lost Christianities"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/01...4?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance

Shows clearly that there was no consensus whatever. Rather, a mess of wildly divergent groups, sects, and cults that took 400 years to winnow down to some sort of orthodoxy.