/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17353392]

Is reading The Bible enough to understand Christianity? Or do I have to read other texts in order to understand its beliefs and theology?

[Anonymous No.17353427]

You have to read the Church Fathers also, it's mostly commentaries of the Bible.

[Anonymous No.17353441]

Which sect of Christianity? Even though they all go on about sola scriptura you're not going to understand Calvinism or Lutheranism from reading the Bible, you'll have to read their interpretations of it. The Catholic Church is trickier because you have thousands of years of theological and philosophical texts but most of what they believe can be found in a book called The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[Anonymous No.17353444]

The Bible is not even close enough to understand Christianity. You should be familiar with history, all the surrounding Mediterranean mythologies, Greco-Roman philosophy (including Plato, Aristotle, Stoics, Epicureans, ect. And yes, all of these form the metaphysics, epistemology and ethics of Christianity) the church fathers, Augustine, Aquinas, and finally the catechism.

[Anonymous No.17353467]

>>17353427
What works of the Fathers do you recommend to read? Wich ones are essential?

[Anonymous No.17353502]

>>17353467
Basically, all that are commentaries of the Bible, also homelies.

[Anonymous No.17353512]

>>17353444
>and finally the catechism
so this is your mind on /lit/

[Anonymous No.17353739]

>>17353441
>you're not going to understand Calvinism or from reading the Bible

[Anonymous No.17353750]

>>17353739
You won't, there has to be something deeply wrong with your brain to come up with the same insane, vile conclusions that Calvin did.

[Anonymous No.17353865]

>>17353739
If you read carefully enough, mon ami, you'll discover Romanism in Romans.

[Anonymous No.17353895]

>>17353392
These threads never have any actual information or advice. I just see a bunch of people positioning themselves as more Christian, or more Christ-woke for having read some extra bullshit. You can’t take it with you faggots. I suggest you start learning how to die.

[Anonymous No.17353930]

>>17353895
Christlarpers just try to up the ante to hide behind their reading recommendations. Faggot couldn't even name the church fathers because anyone who read up on them would know how insane the idea is that the church fathers are important for biblical exegesis.

[Anonymous No.17353962]

Why ask here?
The "Christians" here are confused chantards. Go ask an actual Christian.

[Anonymous No.17354151]

>>17353392
Does the Oxford Classics edition give good historical context?

[Anonymous No.17354192]

>>17353865
>you'll discover Romanism in Romans.
Quite the opposite. You will find that the letter to the Romans is the best book for refuting the Roman "Catholic" Church.

[Anonymous No.17354286]

Yes it is OP. Just make sure you read it with an open heart.

[Anonymous No.17354298]

>>17354192
>The Practice of Piety
Acts 8:31

Not to defend Roman Catholicism, but Protestants to me seem just as, if not more arrogant when it comes to understanding scripture. It is as if they, writing from the 16 century onwards, know better than the Church Fathers. Not to mention that they are, whether they like it or not, theologically similar to Rome in several ways (as Latin Theology forms the basis for all Protestant sects, since the former tradition was that which influenced the Reformers to begin with). Instead of having a Pope, the Protestant becomes his own Pope and makes his own interpretations ex cathedra.

[Anonymous No.17354301]

Reading the bible is all that’s required to see what a sham Christianity has. If you want to actually be convinced you’ll need to read people like St Augustine

[Anonymous No.17354310]

reading the bible gives you a real clear picture why jews have such a special relationship with europeans.

[Anonymous No.17354416]

>>17353392
Read Girard for a really good analysis

[Anonymous No.17354646]

>>17354298
Ah yes.

[Anonymous No.17354694]

You can understand Christianity without ever having read a single word in your life. Just ask a minister to preach the gospel to you. Reading the Gospels is the next step. Then the Bible. Then the creeds and catechisms. Then the Fathers. Then the non-canon texts. Then the Medieval literature. Then the modern literature. Everything after hearing the gospel is gravy. Christianity is not a mystery religion. It has mysteries but no secrets. It's very simple and presented plainly.

[Anonymous No.17354705]

>>17354646
I'm not Catholic, also I understand that most Protestants derive their theology from the writers of the Reformers (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc, but sola scripture leads to any man making his own interpretation, hence the 2000+ denominations). But I cannot believe that these men had the authority to interpret scripture, especially since their conclusions are heretical and at times in conflict with the Church Fathers.

[Anonymous No.17354735]

christianity = following the teachings of christ, the only source of which are the gospels. anything more than this is deception, or not christianity

[Anonymous No.17354742]

>the perfect word of the creator of everything
>needs supplementary texts to properly explain it
This is your brain on Abrahamism

[Anonymous No.17354760]

>>17354192
>You will find that the letter to the Romans is the best book for refuting the Roman "Catholic" Church.

Yeah, that's the standard Protestant line, but it doesn't withstand close scrutiny.

https://stpaulcenter.com/product/romanism-in-romans-a-bible-study-on-the-book-of-romans/

[Anonymous No.17354807]

>>17353392
"Every sacred text, such as the Bible and the Egyptian Book of the Dead, may be read in one of the following ways:

The literal and intellectual—corresponding to the physical plane and lower self.

The symbolical and intuitional—corresponding to the astral planes and Higher Self.

The purely Divine and Spiritual—corresponding to the spiritual realms and the Soul.

It is for this reason that no sacred text, myth or legend can be understood from a purely intellectual point of view. Its hidden meaning can only be unlocked by using certain keys. These include symbolism, allegory, numerology, astrology and logograms, also called ideograms.
http://www.occult-mysteries.org/symbolism.html

Heres an another article on symbolism :
The Mystery Language : An investigation of the universal language of Occult Science and the keys to it
http://www.occult-mysteries.org/mystery-language.html

The Mystery Language An investigation of the universal language of Occult Science and the keys to it

Heres an example of the myth of Persephone read in 3 different ways :
The Rape and Redemption of Persephone

https://www.reddit.com/r/occult/comments/amwke2/the_rape_and_redemption_of_persephone/

Esoteric meaning of the Behemoth and the Leviathan from the Old Testament
https://sacred-texts.com/eso/cdg/cdg43.htm

"Every time you find in our books a tale, the reality of which seems impossible, a story which repugnant both to reason and common sense, then be sure that tale contains a profound allegory veiling a deeply mysterious truth; and the greater the absurdity of the letter the deeper the wisdom of the spirit." RABBI MOSES MAIMONIDES.

Hope this helps you find the Truth and seek out the not so obvious meanings found in all sacred texts.

[Anonymous No.17355403]

>>17353895
no u

[Anonymous No.17355441]

>>17354705
Yknow, augustine didn't believe in hell. That's pretty different from the catholic church

[Anonymous No.17355483]

>>17353392
I love the Old Testament but hate the New. What does this mean?

[Anonymous No.17355794]

>>17355483
It means you're a jew