>>21368>the church fathers twisted the original semitic cult into a vessel for their platonic philosophyplatonic philosophy arrived in Judea through the Hasmonean dynasty, and their is no "original" semitic cult. Judaism itself evolved out of Yahwism, which evolved out of Canaanite polytheism, which evolved out of various forms of Mesopotamian polytheism. By the end of the Babylonian captivity, Judaism had become monotheistic, began incorporating angels and demons from Zoroastrianism into their theology, and had begun incorporating platonic philosophy into their understanding of God. Judaism split into Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Pharisees, and Early Christians. Only Pharisees and Early Christians survived the Second Temple period. Pharisees became Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christians split between Jewish Christians and Pauline Christians. Pauline Christians evolved into Nicean Christians, which became the basis for Roman Catholicism, and Jewish Christians who still abided by dietary restrictions, etc. possibly became the basis for Islam later on. The idea that there is an "original" forgets that religions, just like languages, are fluid, evolving social constructs and not eternal doctrines that have "Fallen" from their original state. They split. They merge. They change. They grow. They shrink. They sometimes go extinct. But there is no "original" we can point to because if you go far back enough they evolve out of poorly documented pre-historical traditions like ancestor worship, ceremonial burial, oral myths and legends, etc. Before written history you have ~200,000 years of unwritten religious practice by the human species.