How then did the belief arise that Jesus actually rose from the dead in the literal sense and became the dominant narrative? Amidst these difficult circumstances given above, Paul emerged as the originator of a new Jesus movement tailored for the Hellenistic world, outside the homelands of Judaism. He took the wonderful story which had the kernel of truth – Jesus was alive – and created another stream of Christianity distinct from the original stream of Christianity being a Jewish sect abiding by the Mosaic Law. What he created was a religion about Jesus in contra-distinction to the original religion of Jesus. He originated a belief system reminiscent of the Greco-Roman understanding of dying and rising gods straight out of Hellenistic pagan heritage, but fused with Judaic and Gnostic elements.Read Complete Article
