@poemblaze @robfwtx @MLClark I'm just happy to see people sharing what they believe. Believing in something can be a wonderful thing. I'm not of the Judeo-Christian faiths but there is much in common with early Christianity and Buddhism. A similar birth story too, interestingly. Mysticism from early parts of both faiths share much. I'm Theravadin (a tradition of Buddhism) which is one of oldest Buddhist traditions and pretty conservative (small C) and scripture based. xx
Thanks for sharing, Florence!
I'd caution against using the term "Judeo-Christian", which is upheld by a lot of nasty anti-Semitic Christians to erase the thriving existence of Judaism and its peoples. "Abrahamic faiths" covers Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in a much less dangerous manner.
Have you come across the discourse suggesting the figure behind Biblical Christ might have spent his missing years wandering and learning from Indian mystics, among others?
@poemblaze @MLClark @robfwtx Me neither. Sorry.
It's been around for 150 years or so, tied to Western fetishization of Indian mysticism when it first emerged.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41348773
Again, I want to be clear that I don't think the Christ character in the Bible is anything more than a pastiche of street preacher anecdotes and other spiritual ideas added by the gospels' anonymous authors many decades on.
But I see zero reason there wouldn't have been more commingling of mystic thinkers / preachers in the era.