Edwin Johnson

Who was Edwin Johnson?

Edwin Johnson, English historian, is best known for his radical criticisms of Christian historiography, continuing scholarship in the vein of Bruno Bauer, S.A. Naber, and Allard Pierson. Among his works are "Antiqua Mater: A Study of Christian Origins" and "The Pauline Epistles: Re-studied and Explained".

In Antiqua Mater Johnson examines a great variety of sources related to early Christianity "from outside scripture", coming to the conclusion that there was no reliable documental evidence to prove the existence of Jesus Christ or the Apostles. He asserts that Christianity had evolved from a Jewish Diaspora movement, he provisionally called the Hagioi. They adhered to a liberal interpretation of the Torah with simpler rites and a more spiritualized outlook. Hagioi is a Greek word meaning "saints", "holy ones", "believers", "loyal followers", or "God's people", and was usually used in reference to members of the early Christian communities. It is a term that was frequently used by Paul in the New Testament, and in a few places in Acts of the Apostles in reference to Paul's activities