Paul-Embryonic Christianity
Paul arrives on the scene in Jerusalem intermittently after the death of Jesus.
Paul ultimately unilaterally de–links his followers from the Torah–observance of Jesus. The overwhelming bulk of the 613 Torah Precepts of Judaism are basically brushed–aside.
The key ritual of Christianity for males to enter Paul’s new faith becomes baptism, in contradistinction to ritual circumcision in Judaism. A debate within Christendom will then follow revolving around the extent of baptism, meaning, whether full–body or lesser mode.
The self–styled Apostle to the Gentiles is actually crafting a new religion – for the Gentiles. Thus, while he uses the Jewish Jesus for his Jewish Martyr iconography front–and–center, Paul then
totally marginalizes the Observant Jew aspect of Jesus. That which was central to the actual Jesus, namely traditional Judaism and Jewish theology and practice, is essentially dispensed with totally by Paul.
