All of the forgeries in the name of Jesus

[rgprice]

Does anyone have a good listing or reference for all of the forgeries attributed to Jesus?

[lsayre]

I'm only aware of the 'Letter to Abgarus'.

[rgprice]

Yeah, that seems to be the case. For some reason I was under the impression that there were more.

[Secret Alias]

As I've said before 'forgeries' is a loaded term. People say a text is a 'forgery' when they want to discredit the text. I call Acts a forgery but others call it history. My advice is stop using loaded terminology and either try and understand Christianity as a movement like any other - with truth, untruth, exaggeration etc - or stop pretending you are trying to understand it and say you are just out to destroy it. No movement is above these things. To hold Christianity to a higher standard than other collective associations is unfair in my humble opinion.

I am not a Christian but as our country disintegrates into anarchy is there a part of me which says something like 'when our country believed in these lies/ideals/truths/exaggerations only then was a union of a hundred million people possible.' Yes there is a part of me that says that. Is there a part of me that says our country is disintegrating because it is impossible for 360 million people to 'live for themselves/today' as John Lennon in Imagine extolls. Yes a part of me believes that. That doesn't mean you have to believe that. But spare me the loaded terminology.

[rgprice]

The point is, I'm looking for letters attributed to Jesus, or claimed to have been written by Jesus. I was under the impression there were several, but perhaps there is just the one of the Abgar correspondence.

[Secret Alias]

Sorry. Correspondences from Jesus.

1. Jesus spoke through Paul so the gospel and his pronouncements were likely identified in some way as speaking on behalf of Jesus.
2. the same thing might have been true for Mani. See Hegemonius's account of Mani's understanding of Paul.
3. might have carried through to Montanus too.

The Gospel of Jesus as a concept might have been Jesus speaking to Paul and Paul writing 'the gospel' as a vessel for Jesus. Note Hegemonius's assumption that Paul is 'the vessel' in this way. Not Mani, not the heretical community but the 'orthodox' community thought that 'Paul the paraclete' was 'the vessel' of Jesus. As such the New Testament itself (in a Marcionite sense) was a testament of Jesus.

[Secret Alias]

The paradigm was established by Moses. Moses is 'the Man of God' according to the Samaritans (who always use 'Biblical' terminology).

Moses goes up to the mountain after not having sex for 40 days and thus ritually purified encounters God and is refashioned in his likeness. Moses then carries down the tablets ostensibly written by 'the finger of God with fire' but in reality written by Moses himself. 'Oh it's written by Moses, that's not God.' No, Moses is God because his countenance is luminous. He's taken on God's likeness so he is God. That's the paradigm for Jesus speaking through Paul.

Jesus is the God that Moses met on Sinai. Paul's title 'the apostle' is applied by the Samaritans to Moses and in a traditional Israelite community 'THE apostle' can only be Moses 'the sent for' one (owing to the repeated use of this terminology in Exodus). Paul is the new Moses, Jesus is the second God of the Pentateuch, the one - according to Justin Martyr - who met the Patriarchs including Joshua. Marcion also believed in this. There is repeated understanding that Jesus was the leader of the anashim who supped with Abraham.

[Secret Alias]

So as such, the 'forgeries' written in the name of Jesus = the New Testament. The 'Old' Testament was Moses 'the narrator' (of the Pentateuch) as the earliest Karaites call him or 'the apostle' as the Samaritans call him bring the 'testament' (= the 10 commandments) down from Sinai. I can't help but think that the gospel in its original form was a kind of commentary on the 10 commandments. 'This is what I meant' Jesus says explaining (a) how they are to be applied and (b) saying 'no' to Pharisaic (or rabbinic) exegesis which went beyond them.