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Comment by dr_dshiv | Hacker News Reader

If you are interested in early Christianity, I've put together some quotes from Philo of Alexandria (b.25 BC) — he describes the hellenized Jewish scene in Egypt that Jesus would have been connected with.

The core idea in Philo is that god is conceived as an ineffable Oneness — from which emanates the Logos (translated poorly in English as "word", but is much more complicated than that— see Plato). Philo describes the Logos as "the son of god". This is all very esoteric though; it is definitely not referring to personality gods or large persons living in the sky. Seeing this as the root of Christianity may help make sense of why it resonated with some of the philosophical intelligensia of the time. (Because otherwise, Christianity makes is really incomprehensible). See what you think.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JATMRSh4b6wlFlYWw8t1FdrG...

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Esoteric? Maybe his version, but see John 1:1. It's practically the first sentence. Jesus is the Logos incarnate (the "Word").

not OP - agree it's not actually esoteric - but it is esoteric to people who have only been presented with pop christianity or pop strawman revisionist christianity, like the article here...

I know what you mean about pop Christianity, which has been a major issue in America. No desire for any kind of philosophical engagement, past or present.

When I say esoteric, I mean having hidden layers of meaning. See www.shwep.net for the best podcast on esotericism in Christianity

This is actually the thing that most bothers me about Jesus. So much of Christianity -- especially early Christianity -- is about the Word "vs." the Flesh. It's like a meme that wants so badly to colonize you that it will torpedo your biological interests to do it.

But Christianity was also very syncretic in the way it spread, and it took on pagan influences, and my feeling is that those practices helped reconcile the meme a little more to biological reality. Maypoles and marriages worked their way back in...

It seems to me that the Word (or the meme) and the Flesh have to be in harmony, each serving the other. Left unchecked, the Word always seems to want to mutilate the flesh. (Maybe because irreversibility is good for anything that's desperate for an absorbing state.) And I have a real problem with that.

Yeah, it's esoteric because if you think it is just about words and flesh, you aren't getting the meaning.

Did you know that "Dao" or "Tao" is translated as "Logos?" What's interesting in Lao Tzu is that he claims the Dao comes before the One, whereas in Christianity they occur at the same time, whereas in the Arian Heresy, the One came before the Logos.

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