Which early Christian documents do people think are hidden?

zoomtard

A recurring theme on these boards, and one of the very many reasons I don't hang around here much is the idea that someone, either an institutional church in the form of the Vatican or others are somehow involved in a conspiracy to hide certain "dangerous" texts from the ordinary person so as to protect some fragile orthodoxy.

The thread title might appear to be a non sequitur because if the documents are hidden, how would we know they exist!?!

Yet significant archeological discoveries of early Christian or pseudo-Christian texts are always published in scholarly journals that are available to even any undergrad student who knows how to use their college library. The scholarly agreed upon standard compilations of these texts are available freely online or widely published in easily accessed paperback versions.

Can anyone actually tell me what these magical mystical dangerous and hidden texts actually are?

Fanny Cradock

I'm sure the Vatican has been full of smart people throughout the ages. Strange that it never occurred to any of them to destroy these damning documents. Stranger still that they apparently let people read them.

hivizman

Given that Zoomtard has provided a link to the text of the Dead Sea Scrolls (in English translation), it's only fair to note that, even though the scrolls were discovered in 1947, it took over 40 years for general access to be given to the full texts. However, the "villain" wasn't the Vatican in this case.

It seems (my source for this is the introduction to Geza Vermes's selection and translation of The Dead Sea Scrolls, published originally by Penguin - this is the book that Zoomtard links to) that, after an initial flurry of activity, the painstaking work of reconstructing some of the scrolls that had been preserved only as fragments got caught up in the aftermath of the Six Days' War. It appears that there were personal clashes between the archaeologists and palaeographers involved in reconstructing the texts and the Israeli authorities, which led to access to the scroll material being heavily restricted.

Although various universities and museums possessed photographic copies of the scroll material, these depositories were unable to provide access to scholars unless they were approved by the authorities in Jerusalem. However, in a sort of early version of Wikileaks, a couple of US professors obtained a set of photographs, and published them in 1991. This made further restriction pointless, and since then virtually all the Dead Sea Scroll material has been published in scholarly editions.

alex73

Threads like this should be moved to a conspiracy forum.. Its got nothing to do with Christianity ((( ROLL EYES FOR 100Th time)

Fanny Cradock

Yes, but this way we can have it out once and for all. I really would be interested in hearing something a little more specific than "my friend saw something in a vault". So if people can give us specific details, or if Old Hippy can convince his mate to come on board and tell us, perhaps we can get to the root of these claims.

Put up or shut up, in other words.

PDN

One problem with this idea is that it goes against just about everything we know about the history of the early Church.

The Church in Rome did not become powerful enough to flex its muscles until the 4th Century. By that time there were church movements already spreading across Asia that had no allegiance to Rome whatsoever.

So the idea that the Church in Rome somehow had the ability to suppress original Christian documents, destroying them and keeping a few copies in 'secret vaults', and replacing them heavily edited versions of the Gospels is sheer bunk. We know this because the churches in Asia used the same Four Gospels as we do today.

Yet this conspiracy theory about an all-powerful Rome still persists in some people's fevered imaginations. So we have a thread about some metal plates discovered in Jordan, but now in the possession of Israeli authorities - and people start wittering on about secret vaults in the Vatican. How do they suppose the Vatican is going to get their hands on them? Are the Pope's Swiss Guards going to parachute into Israel with machine guns and stun grenades and pinch the metal plates from under the noses of the Mossad? :pac:

Fanny Cradock

PDN wrote: »

How do they suppose the Vatican is going to get their hands on them? Are the Pope's Swiss Guards going to parachute into Israel with machine guns and stun grenades and pinch the metal plates from under the noses of the Mossad? :pac:

With those pantaloons it is entirely possible

Donatello

Cardinal Ratzinger said there were no big secrets in the Vatican vaults.

You can watch the programme here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIsyhCdJgg

JimiTime

Donatello wrote: »

Cardinal Ratzinger said there were no big secrets in the Vatican vaults.

he WOULD say that wouldn't he.;):)

georgieporgy

I have heard that opus dei members, disguised as swiss guards, have infiltrated mossad.

himnextdoor

I think that the most significant document yet to be published is the one that says:

"Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental."*









*this is a joke.