The first two programmes of the Channel Four series Christianity — A History, screened in January, were odd. Neither presenter — Harold Jacobson and Michael Portillo — professed an active Christian faith, nor were they academic scholars in the fields of New Testament and Church History studies.
The programmes presented two canards often found in anti-Christian polemics (I frequently encounter their use by Islamic polemicists against Christianity) — that Paul was responsible for changing the pristine religion preached by Jesus, and that Constantine completed the process, notably by establishing the canon of Scripture.
Prior tradition
What polemicists ignore is the Apostle’s stated use of pre-Pauline tradition. If Paul did divert canonical Christianity from what Jesus and His immediate disciples actually taught, we should not find him utilising early — and thus prior — Christian tradition in his writings, since this would undermine his supposed goal. Yet he does indeed cite such earlier Christian tradition! Various scholars have pointed to 1 Corinthians 15.1-3, where Paul’s use of the terms paredoka (‘tradition’) and parelabon (‘receive’) definitely indicate prior tradition. Paul ‘delivered’ (paradidymi) what those who were Christians before him imparted. The employment of terms such as ‘received’, ‘deliver’ and ‘confess’ are indications that Paul is citing early Christian material.
