Reincarnation in Early Christianity

Praise the coffee and pass the doughnuts! Hey, how're you this fine day, eh? Hangin' in there? You know me, right. I'm a total bookworm. Always have my nose buried in a book and have been known to have several on the go at any one time.

I just finished a book called The Judas Script. It was about the finding of a scroll not unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls only this one (in the story) was authenticated as having actually been written by Jesus. What was written, if released to the world, would have had disasterous effects on the Catholic Church. Whoa, eh! That aside, one thing mentioned in the book was that Jesus was a member of the Essenes. The Essenes were (originally) a Jewish sect that shunned city life, preferring to live in small villages or even way out in the harsh desert with only palm trees for companions.

With all due respect to what was said yesterday in my 'Chinese Whispers' post about not always remembering things accurately, I do remember reading that the Essenes believed in reincarnation and that reincarnation was, in fact, a part of early Christian beliefs. Therefore, if Jesus was an Essene, then by extrapolation, he would have believed in reincarnation. Which makes sense.

It was the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century who finally had reincarnation removed from Christian beliefs (some say it was his wife who disagreed with the concept). He had a disagreement with Pope Vigilius and ended up having the Pope thrown in jail. The fact that the doctrine of reincarnation had been a part of Christian theology for over 500 years did not sway the Emperor.

Recently, I also read that the Catholic Church has come out saying that (Vol.11,p.311 under “Origen”, and Vol.4, p.308-309 under “Councils of Constantinople”) at least on technical grounds, that there is no barrier to belief in reincarnation nor pre-existence for Catholic Christians..."

So next time you say, "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!" think again. You very well may be... next time around! Meanwhile, have another banana...I mean muffin! See ya, eh!

Bob