Edwin Johnson (historian)

Edwin Johnson (1842-1901), English historian, is best known for his radical criticisms of Christian historiography, continuing scholarship in the vein of Bruno Bauer, S.A. Naber, and A. Pierson. Among his known works are "Antiqua Mater: A Study of Christian Origins" (1887, published in London anonymously) and "The Pauline Epistles: Re-studied and Explained" (1894).

In "Antiqua Mater" Johnson examines a great variety of sources related to early Christianity "from outside scripture", [ [http://www.egodeath.com/drewshistorymythiconlyjesus.htm#_Toc51777081 Radicalism in England: Johnson from "The Denial of the Historicity of Jesus in Past and Present"] by Arthur Drews] coming to the conclusion that there was no reliable documental evidence to prove the existence of Jesus Christ or the Apostles. He asserts that Christianity had evolved from a Jewish Diaspora movement, he provisionally called the "Hagioi". They adhered to a liberal interpretation of the Torah with simpler rites and a more spiritualized outlook. "Hagioi" is a Greek word meaning "saints", "holy ones", "believers", "loyal followers", or "God's people", and was usually used in reference to members of the early Christian communities. It is a term that was frequently used by Paul in the New Testament, and in a few places in Acts of the Apostles in reference to Paul's activities [ [http://home.ca.inter.net/~oblio/BkrvEll.htm "Jesus — One Hundred Years Before Christ by Alvar Ellegard"] ]

Both Gnosticism as well as certain Bacchic pagan cults are also mentioned as likely precursors of Christianity.

In "The Pauline Epistles" and "The Rise of English Culture" Johnson made the radical claim that the whole of the so-called Dark Ages between 700 and 1400 A. D. had never occurred, but had been invented by Christian writers who created imaginary characters and events. The Church Fathers, the Gospels, St. Paul, the early Christian texts as well as Christianity in general are identified as mere literary creations and attributed to monks (chiefly Benedictines) who drew up the entire Christian mythos in the early 16th century. As one reviewer said, Johnson "undertakes to abolish all English history before the end of the fifteenth century." [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9504E1DE1F3AE733A25757C1A9639C946597D6CF "The Abolition of History," "The New York Times", May 14, 1904, Page BR328."] ]

Johnson’s critical stance toward Christianity is not unlike the views voiced by Sir Isaac Newton, Wilhelm Kammeier, Jean Hardouin, Robert Baldauf and Christoph Marx; similar calls for a radical revision of historical chronology have been made by various modern researchers, among them the German scholars Hermann Detering, Eugen Gabowitsch, Heribert Illig and Uwe Topper, as well as the Russian mathematicians Anatoly Fomenko and Gleb Nosovsky.

References

See also

* [http://www.radikalkritik.de/AntiquaMater1.pdf "Antiqua Mater" in PDF format]
* [http://www.radikalkritik.de/antiqua_mater.htm Antiqua Mater: A Study of Christian Origins]
* [http://www.radikalkritik.de/pauline_epistles.htm Edwin Johnson's "The Pauline Epistles - Re-Studied and Explained", 1894]
* [http://www.radikalkritik.de/PaulEpistles.pdf Edwin Johnson's "The Pauline Epistles - Re-Studied and Explained", 1894 in PDF Format]
* [http://www.egodeath.com/edwinjohnsonpaulineepistles.htm Study Version of Edwin Johnson's "The Pauline Epistles - Re-Studied and Explained", 1894]
* [http://www.radikalkritik.de/in_engl.htm Hermann Detering's Radical Critics site]
*cite book
title=The Rise of English Culture
author=Edwin Johnson, Edward Augustus Petherick
year=1904
publisher=G. P. Putnam's sons
isbn=
url=http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=pS8IAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22The+Rise+of+English+Culture%22+Johnson&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=eJbPn5dds-&sig=-v-FTB0yx7_J2M6PAWxsw8vW_I4 * [http://mdp.lib.umich.edu/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015057147798 Electronic copy at University of Michigan Library]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/riseofchristendo00johniala Rise of Christendom]
* Also translated The Prolegomena of Jean Hardouin. [http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/F/YE41JKYYJFD5DAK9BTHQBD3P96HFG3X65UTKFTTTVKTQD6FI4K-24403?func=find-b&find_code=WRD&request=hardouin+johnson Catalog listing at University of Michigan Library.] [http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/F/?func=direct&doc_number=001934268&local_base=MIU01_PUB Alternate link.]