[Anita]

I didn't want to take Kathy's thread off-topic, so started a new thread. You might get some historical answers from Islamic reference sites. Islam is [as I'm sure you already know] the third Abrahamic religion. Starting with the belief in a singular God, Judaism began, followed by Christianity and the idea that the singular God had a son, followed by Islam, which includes the previous two ideas, adding a later prophet. Islamic sites [and Muslims in general] are extremely knowledgeable about the history of Christianity, much more so, IMO, than Christians. Since they believe that Jesus was the son of the one God, and that Jesus will return some day, they spend a lot of time on the historical documents of the era.

[LizardQueen]

Thanks, Anita. I'm always keeping an eye out for same-period non-Biblical source doc (preferably in English).

LQ

[SmartAZ]

Since they believe that Jesus was the son of the one God, and that Jesus will return some day, they spend a lot of time on the historical documents of the era.
All the muslims I have asked about that tell me Jesus is considered a prophet, but not the son of God. They can't explain why they call him a liar and then accept him as a prophet anyway.

[Anita]

I've spent HOURS with Muslims from Jerusalem and they see JC as their savior, Mary as the Virgin Mother [the whole nine yards]. Their beef [as *I* understood it] was with Judaism because THEY didn't accept Jesus the FIRST time, so "why would they accept him when he comes again?" Anyway, they seemed TO ME to be familiar with the history of the area in that era in a way that seems lacking in Western cultures. It was just a suggestion, ya know! :beer:

[Anita]

Muslims DON'T believe that the one God actually had SEX to create a son, don't believe in the Christian concept of a Trinity, don't believe in the Resurrection, yadda, yadda, yadda. So, in THAT sense, prophet may be a better word than SON.

This place (http://www.soundvision.com/info/jesus/inislam.asp) spells out the views more than my poor memory of conversations, I think. They're ALSO very aware of the actions of Constantine at Nicaea, so I think that does a lot to explain their thinking on this.

[Robert]

Anita, you do have some good background knowledge. IMO

[Anita]

If you haven't already seen it, THIS place (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/) discusses some things that might interest you.

Here's another link that takes MONTHS to peruse (http://www.askwhy.co.uk/christianity/) with lots of historical information.

I've no doubt that YOUR research goals are different from MINE, but I've learned a few things from the sites above in my quest to try to understand why humans felt a need for it all.

[Anita]

Anita, you do have some good background knowledge. IMO

As I'm sure I mentioned earlier, I've been studying the religions of the world since childhood. I can't even HOPE to get to ALL of them before I die, but the study has certainly been interesting TO ME. With the Abrahamic religions, I took a front-to-back approach...with the thought that I'd someday understand why humans found the need if I just went further and further back in time. A better approach would have been to start at the back and follow the developments forward, but I was too stupid to FIND the back until I'd gone from front TO back. :beer: I still have a LONG way to go backwards on just the Abrahamic roots. Life interferes with this quest, a situation of which I'm sure you're well aware.