The Forgotten Creed: Christianity's Original Struggle against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism

The Forgotten Creed: Christianity's Original Struggle against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism by Stephen J. Patterson

Primitive Christianity was just a "very inclusive" sect of Judaism. It later morphed into a European state religion that became a key badge of identity to separate Christians from others. This book argues that a lot of the exclusivity came from false interpretations of the works of Paul as well as those creating forged documents in the name of Paul. He also points to early creeds that may have been the base of Paul's teaching. The author also looks at many non-Canonical works to evaluate teachings.

It is an interesting historical approach to putting the Christian teachings in modern ideals. If the church had followed the inclusiveness of Paul's early teachings, the world history would likely have been quite different. However, the difference is most likely that Christianity would have never become the state religion of Rome.   Inclusiveness is often present at the start of a movement, but an identity tends to gradually evolve. Also, why should the teachings of Paul be more important than those of other early church leaders? There have been a number of different writers and editors of the Bible. They each have had their own areas of emphasis. Paul attempted to make the teachings of Jesus more appealing to other groups (in part by not mandating circumcision.) Others made it more appealing to different groups. As a historical exercise, it can be interesting to analyze different viewpoints.