(urth) traveling north

[Matthew Weber]

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 7:23 PM, Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com> wrote:

> On 6/3/2010 8:58 PM, John Watkins wrote:
>
>> I agree with this.  Actually, Mormonism has significant Arian elements
>> too, and Mormonism and Islam have a lot in common.
>>
>
> I still have a problem calling anything non-trinitarian Christianity. It
> would be like calling the Nation of Islam the same as Islam, despite it
> maintianing the divinity of its founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad.
>
>
I completely agree--however, my agreement is coming from within orthodox
Christianity, so it's far from academically disinterested!  Many students of
religion solve the problem of who is and who isn't a Christian by simply
considering everyone who claims the name to be one.  I understand why, but
to stretch terms so far makes them nearly meaningless, in my opinion.

In response to an earlier post on Arianism, I have always thought that the
Jehovah's Witnesses were the closest modern equivalent.  The creators and
subcreators of Mormonism always call to mind, for me, the demiurges, aeons
and emanations of Gnosticism.

Islam is a more complicated case, I think.  It's very likely that Muhammad
considered himself a sort of Christian.  I have always thought that the
Iconoclastic movement, and later the Swiss Reformers, partook somewhat of
the Islamic ethos.  Certainly Calvin has more in common with Muhammad than
with most of the Fathers...

-- 
Matt +

Each of us bears his own Hell.
Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70-19 B.C.), Aeneid, bk. VI, l. 743
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