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How Jesus Became Christian
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Average Rating:  out of 20 Reviews
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Price: $25.95
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Sale: $6.71
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Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
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EAN (European Article Number): 9780312362782
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Number of Items: 1
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Binding: Hardcover
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Author: Barrie Wilson
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Publisher: St. Martin's Press
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Dewey Decimal Number: 270.1
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Publication Date: 2008-03-04
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Reading Level: 304
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Description: In How Jesus Became Christian, Barrie Wilson asks “How did a young rabbi become the god of a religion he wouldn’t recognize, one which was established through the use of calculated anti-Semitism?”
Colourfully recreating the world of Jesus Christ, Wilson brings the answer to life by looking at the rivalry between the “Jesus movement,” informed by the teachings of Matthew and adhering to Torah worship, and the “Christ movement,” headed by Paul, which shunned Torah. Wilson suggests that Paul’s movement was not rooted in the teachings and sayings of the historical Jesus, but solely in Paul’s mystical vision of Christ, a man Paul actually never met. He then shows how Paul established the new religion through anti-Semitic propaganda, which ultimately crushed the Jesus Movement. Sure to be controversial, this is an exciting, well-written popular religious history that cuts to the heart of the differences between Christianity and Judaism, to the origins of one of the world’s great religions and, ultimately, to the question of who Jesus Christ really was–a Jew or a Christian.
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Customer Reviews
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Review Summary: Answers Questions |
Date: 2008-11-29 |
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Details: As one who has read all of the many recent books challenging the existence of Jesus*, this book settles the issue for me. Jesus did exist but Christ did not. Jesus was a totally Jewish leader who was considered the messiah who would return to establish the kingdon of God on Earth. Christ was an invention of Paul derrived from a vision after falling. Paul never knew Jesus or his teachings. His writings and preaching about Christ were similiar to the virgin born man-god myths of the day and as such appealed to the gentiles. To make his case, Wilson stresses the real order of the New Testament writings: Paul then the gospels. The Gospels were written to conform to Paul's ideas and then selected from competing ideas later on by the Christ movement. He considers Acts the key to blending the Christ mythology with the Jewish Jesus movement headed by James. He proposes that the meeting of Paul with James reported in Acts never took place but was written to give the Christ movement historical veracity. Paul's movement was anti Jewish from the start to discredit the people who knew what really went on. The anti Jewish attitudes were continued by the Gospel writters and later church fathers.
I think the book would be better if Wilson brought in the thinking of the many authors who believe Jesus did not exist at all. And he might have brought in the finding of the Jesus Family Tomb. It would be consistent with the presence of an influential Jesus family. This book answered my doubts about Jesus never existing and I feel I understand how it all happened that we got this religion.
*Did Jesus Exist; The Christ Conspiracy; Deconstructing Jesus; The Jesus Mysteries; The Jesus Puzzle |
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Review Summary: "Christ, What a Good Book!" |
Date: 2008-11-12 |
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Details: Unless you're a monk scribing away at some candle-lit desk in a cold monastery or an end-of-days disciple of Sarah Palin, a book on the birth of Christianity is probably not going to be one of your fave reads. Unless you stumble on to "How Jesus Became Christian."
This book takes academic subject matter and very old history and absolutely brings it to life. Exceptionally well-written for a lay audience, the book reads like a carefully crafted thriller without in any way compromising its scholarship. If you are in interested in the birth of Christianity and are receptive to the historical/secular approach, this is a must read.
I started highlighting "the good parts" and ended up with solid yellow pages.
My only disappointment was that it was not available for my Kindle E-reader. |
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Review Summary: Another nail in the coffin |
Date: 2008-10-12 |
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Details: For 25 years the Ebionite Jewish Movement has been teaching that Christianity is not the religion of 'Jesus' nor has it represented him in any way; that Paul of Tarsus was, to put it nicely, a liar--in fact, The Liar and very possibly the anti-christ referred to in the Christian canonical book Revelation. We have taught that Jesus was not divine or a savior and that blood atonement is a pagan belief. Jesus was Jewish in every way and that the so-called 'New Testament' is a heavily redacted corpus to support the later pagan church of the gentiles. If this offends you, then so might _How Jesus Became Christian_. The book makes many of the same points with a little less dogmatism.
Mr. Wilson speaks constantly of the real Jesus Movement, later known as the Ebionites. Unlike many modern scholars and some ancient who distort the record from Epiphanius to Schoeps to vegetarian-Essene new age authors of recent books, Wilson's book truly reflects Jesus, his Jewish movement and the Evyonim, and some very good points on how this was undermined and ruined by the Hellenistic Paul and his followers of the nations creating a new mystery religion. It tells how Jesus' movement toward the Reign of God was murdered, and why Jews have been murdered by Christians since.
As for his approach to the subject, his skills as a teacher shine through as he gives many current illustrations and examples that the reader or student can relate to in order to see into history. He lays out the points clearly without getting lost in the facts. And in the attention deficit world he does it in a relatively short volume.
My only problem with his conclusions is his trust in certain texts as reliable--perhaps overlooking some obvious redactions in the CW (Christian Writings), assuming that the Didache is Yeshuine-Ebionite, and referring to alleged Ebionite writings without enough specification, such as the Ps-Clementines.
Christians could learn from this little book and realize that more is required than saying, 'How interesting.' Yeshua's message was repentance (not mythology); Christians should heed it and head to the synagogue or ebionite.org.
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Review Summary: when the legend becomes fact, print the legend |
Date: 2008-09-24 |
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Details: This is a fascinating look at the historical Jesus and how the historical Jesus was transmogrified into a symbol of something that in many ways was almost the direct opposite of what Jesus taught. There is also, of course, the dichotomy of facts and faith, and the nature of faith itself. In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, there's the famous line "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend", and so it has become with Jesus.
Wilson presents the historical Jesus as someone who practiced and taught strict Torah observance, someone who did not establish a church or a new religion, but rather announced a coming Kingdom of God. He was not a supernatural or supranatural figure. But Jesus' time was a time of turmoil: Wilson lists the various groups (Pharisees, Essenes, etc) and the conflicts that were all too prevalent. How, then, did Jesus and His teachings get transmuted into Christianity? Ehrman and others have documented the early history of Christianity: there were disparate groups, beliefs that would seem radical indeed today. Paul and his followers won the ensuing struggle: it was a take-no-prisoners kind of struggle, no accomodation, no "the lion shall lie down with the lamb". There are people who insist that this was unlikely, that ideas cannot be destroyed: for any such person who says this I reply "Tell me where the nearest Cathar church is located". The Cathars, who flourished in the 13th century, were wiped out, and that religion is as currently nonexistant as any of the early Christian sects who competed with Paulist views are today. The other major aspect of the power struggle which Wilson covers extensively is how the Jesus movement which transformed into Christianity came to oppose most of the traditional Jewish laws which Jesus espoused--dietary laws, circumcision, Sabbath, etc.
You get a wealth of detail from Wilson--sometimes an almost overwhelming amount of detail. Ehrman has a fine companion book--Misquoting Jesus--which shows that there have been a great many attempts through translations to change the meaning and spirit of much of the Bible: deliberate attempts to promote particular views. Wilson echoes many of these same themes: as Paul twisted parts of the Bible, so did Paul's followers twist parts of Paul. The larger question at the end of the book may be one of faith: for most people, do these facts realy matter? Do we just accept the legend? Wilson has written a fascinating book indeed--provocative and insightful. I do have one small quibble--the author is listed as Barrie Wilson, PhD. I have found that many authors like to have PhD after their names--perhaps with the idea that it gives more weight to their arguments (which it doesn't).
david straight, phd |
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Review Summary: How Jesus Became Christian |
Date: 2008-08-27 |
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Details: Barrie Wilson has provided just the right level of analysis and historical account to keep the reader involved yet not overwhelmed with information. This is a good start for people who have unanswered questions about religions and their authencity. There are points which will raise some christian eye brows. Highly recommended.
Wilson however repeats similar points over and over. He could have made this book a lot thinner if he had avoided doing that. |
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