Logos

covered at Qumran,Temple Jews:there is this polemic against theThey pay no heed to the hidden meanings ofthings but divert themselves with all kinds ofiniquitous arcane lore ... All who cling torarefied arcane lore will ceaseto exist. The worldwill be filled with knowledge, and ignorancewill ceaseto exist:The scrolls repeatedly refer to concepts which The Christianbecame the watchwords of the Christian New Testament.Revolutionthe"elect,"Termsandsuchso forthas "theare foundKingdomrepeatedlyof God,"in theQumran Brotherhood'sworks.Of course, the quality of thought that is found inPhilo and in the early Christian writings is much LOGOS MADE FLESH:more sophisticated than that contained in the Qumrandocuments. The message of Jesus as transmitted by the THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITYGospels is far advanced in comparison with the moreritualistic and mystic Essenes. But Philo's praise of the The story of Jesus of Nazareth as recounted in theEssenes as virtuous amid an otherwise barren land- four Gospels is without doubt the best known andscape can only indicate that Philo saw the Essenes as most widely read literature in the history of thean ally in his political fight to defeat the cults and the human race. We do not intend to retell that storyRoman Empire. here. The books of the New Testament should beTherefore, it can be hypothesized that John the read first-hand by everyone, for the Gospels, Acts ofBaptist, perhaps as an Essene or as a leader of a the Aposdes, the Epistles, and The Revelation of St.tendency within or related to the Essenes, was acting John are true poetry. In what follows, however, weas a vehicle for Philo's humanist Jewish message. John will present an essential, highlighted analysis of thethe Baptist was born six months earlier than his cousin political and epistemologicalbattle that was launched byJesus of Nazareth. Both were members of a family that remarkable individual, Jesus Christ.very likely to have had access to some vein of Platonic Perhaps more than any other single individualtradition,period of history, the story of the birth of ChristianityAround the year 28 John began his public minis- proves that great nations and empires are won andtry, and built a mass following, baptizing with water lost not by force of arms, but by ideas. Of lowly birththose who sought forgiveness for their sins. John the and with the aid of no official allies in high places orBaptist's reputation was as an austere man who often legions of cavalry,Jesus nevertheless called together awent into the desert and who dressed in simple camel- force of teachers and intellectuals led by a dozenskin and ate locust-beans and wild honey. Arrested Apostles, ordinary men, who, in the years followingand beheaded by Herod, John's death came very soon the crucifixion, organized a movement of thousandsafter he baptised Jesus. John recognized his role as and then millions that was victorious against incalcumessengerof the movement that Jesus would begin, lable odds.and he put it this way: "He who has the bride is the This alone marks Jesus of Nazareth as possibly thebridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who most powerful and gripping personality in worldstands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bride- history. His achievement is perhaps unparalleled. Butgroom's voice; therefore, this joy of mine is now full. his accomplishments return constantly to the uncom-He must increase, and I must decrease." Jesus' ap- plicated idea that, in a world of terrifying barbarism,praisal of John the Baptist made it clear that, as great the unassailable morality of Jesus, his commitment toasJohn was, he was but the greatest of the prophets of truth, made him a model to be emulated and replitheold order, which must now be replaced with the cated by his followers. And, as described so passionneworder that Christ founded. Said Jesus, "I tell you, ately in the Gospels, Jesus challenged his disciples notamong those born of women none is greater than to succumb to their baser sides, but to struggle toJohn; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of God is maintain their morality amid the hell that surroundedgreater than he." (John 3:2%30)them.40 August 1980 / CAMPAIGNER