Ebionites

The Ebionites (from Hebrew; Ebionim, "the poor ones") were a sect of Judean followers of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth who existed in Iudaea Province (later Syria-Palestine) during the early centuries of the Common Era. The "Pauline Christians", those who were the spiritual antecedents of those who were ultimately successful in establishing a state-sanctioned church, did not consider Ebionites "real" Christians: the terms "Pauline Christians" and "Ebionites" are used in this article to distinguish these two threads in early Christianity. "Pauline Christians" not only included the orthodox, but also heretical gnostics such as Marcion, who considered Paul to be the true apostle and Peter to be a false apostle (Tertullian, "Against Marcion" 1.20, 4.3, 5.3). While the Ebionites undoubtedly drew their doctrines from ideas circulating in the first century, Robert Eisenman (Eisenman 1996) argues in great detail the extent to which they existed as a distinct group from the rest of "gentile" Christianity before the destruction of Jerusalem.

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Several modern scholars, including Hyam Maccoby, Robert Graves, Joshua Podro, Hugh J. Schonfield, Keith Akers, Benjamin Urrutia, and others, believe that the Ebionites, being led by the relatives of Jesus, probably were more faithful to the original and authentic teachings of Jesus than Paul was.

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Hebrew: The word Hebrew can variously mean:...

John the Baptist: John the Baptist (also called John the Baptizer) is regarded as a prophet by at least three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Mandaeanism. According to the Gospel of Luke, he was a relative of Jesus, a cousin. That he was a prophet is asserted by the Synoptic Gospels of the Christian Bible and th...

Jesus of Nazareth: REDIRECT Jesus...