Highly recommend Time is the Ally of Deceit [1] to get a better understanding of how paganism influenced and was weaved into what we know as modern Christianity. Much of what people identify as Christianity today (Catholicism and Protestantism) is antithetical to what's proposed/commanded by God and Christ in the Bible (and what was observed by early Christians).
>Much of what people identify as Christianity today (Catholicism and Protestantism) is antithetical to what's proposed/commanded by God and Christ in the Bible
Interestingly that's also a claim made in the Quran, that Christianity had changed and become corrupted by pagan practices over time. Like the whole idea of Trinity; there's much more scriptural support for God being greater than Jesus than there is for God and Jesus being equals.
> Interestingly that's also a claim made in the Quran, that Christianity had changed and become corrupted by pagan practices over time.
The most basic evidence is ignorance of the 4th commandment (all counter-arguments toward Christ "nailing Mosaic law to the cross" are eliminated by Matthew 5:17-18). There is no Biblical evidence for the Sabbath being moved to Sunday and recognized as "The Lord's Day" or a commemoration of Christ's resurrection. That "move" was an edict of the Roman Emperor Constantine.
> There is no Biblical evidence for the Sabbath being moved to Sunday and recognized as "The Lord's Day" or a commemoration of Christ's resurrection. That "move" was an edict of the Roman Emperor Constantine.
Fist: just because it is not in Bible does not make it an invalid practice. The canonical form of the (Christian) Bible wasn't 'officially' established until some time into the history of Christianity (Council of Rome), and to a certain extent it was formalizing what was already accepted practice since the beginning of the faith (as mentioned in the Didache). And if you want to argue sola scriptura, good luck.
Second: we have records for Sunday worship from First Apology of Justin Martyr (100-165 AD), amongst others. A few centuries before Constantine.
> Fist: just because it is not in Bible does not make it an invalid practice.
In terms of it being a part of Christianity as devised by God and Christ, yes, it does.
People rationalize away the contortions of the last 2000+ years to fit their cognitive biases and that truth makes them deeply uncomfortable. Sola scriptura isn't some radical idea—it's quite dumb: "what did God say in the Bible? Okay, do that." Everything man has added beyond that is, by definition, unbiblical [1].
> A theologian and historian committed to discovering the original practices of Christianity, Richard Rives wrote the book “Time Is the Ally of Deceit.”
Unfortunately not a particularly unbiased author. I’d recommend reading the writings from the earliest Christians, and Roman references:
https://www.ccel.org/fathers
The bias here is that the sources were largely preserved by traditional Christianity. It excludes gnostics, manicheans, arians or the like. However even for topics like the divinity of Jesus the Romans noted the Christians “worshipped him like a God”. They also thought they were cannibalism seemingly due to the sacrament of communion.
Perhaps his work is unbiased as you say. However having read many books with similar claims, presentation, and general background like this book I'd say it's rather more likely that he's interpreting the Bible according to a modern American evangelical context.
It's also probable he's from a less mainstream American religious strain like Seventh Day Adventists as they eschew many mainstream Christian practices as pagan.
So yes, without further other indicators of academic rigor, I would decline. Though I did initially check the link curious to see if it had indicators of any academic rigor as I do find the topic interesting.
> It's also probable he's from a less mainstream American religious strain like Seventh Day Adventists
He's not. He identifies as a Christian, as prescribed in the Bible—not of any denomination. Seventh Day Adventists believe in recognizing the Sabbath, but they also believe (and are baptized swearing in that belief) in the prophetess Ellen G. White.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Time-Ally-Deceit-Richard-Rives/dp/098...