The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-up in History. Michael Baigent

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СКАЧАТЬ Judaism. The faith was instead centered upon the rabbinical school at Jabneh. At the same time began the manipulation of Jesus’s story that ultimately created a tradition centered upon Jesus rather than upon God. This was a point upon which many early chroniclers did not agree but one that would eventually take over all alternative explanations. The Jewish origins of Jesus became subsumed within an increasingly influential pagan context introduced by converts to Christianity from among the Greeks and Romans. This pagan influence drew Christianity and its view of Jesus a long way from Judaism in the succeeding centuries.

      The audience for the Christian message had clearly changed: it was no longer intended for Jews but rather addressed pagans—believers in gods and goddesses like Mithras, Dionysius, Isis, and Demeter—and as such it needed to be presented in a new package, one laced with an anti-Jewish flavor. The field was ripe for the reinterpretation of history and the beginning of the triumph of the artificial “Jesus of faith” over the true “Jesus of history”—a man who spoke of God, who expressed a divine message, but who did not himself claim to be God.

      In what is probably a true miracle, one of the Gospels, while creating a distance between Jesus and his Jewish context, still maintains elements of the Jesus of history and the inclusiveness of his teaching on divinity:

      The Jews fetched stones to stone him, so Jesus said to them, “I have done many good works for you to see…for which of these are you stoning me?” The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for blasphemy: you are only a man and you claim to be God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are gods? So the Law uses the word gods of those to whom the word of God was addressed.” (John 10:31-35)

      Between the time these words were spoken and committed to writing, perhaps near the end of the first century A.D., Jesus had been made a Christian. And to be a Christian meant to follow teachings far removed from those of Judaism. This is clearly evident in a recorded dialogue between the second-century church father Justin Martyr and a Jewish teacher named Trypho. The latter makes the very reasonable point that “those who affirm [Jesus] to have been a man, and to have been anointed by election, and then to have become Christ, appear to me to speak more plausibly.”³⁶ To further his point he poses a challenge to Justin: “Answer me then, first, how you can show that there is another God besides the Maker of all things; and then you will show, [further,] that He submitted to be born of the Virgin.”³⁷

      Leaving aside the particulars of the debate and Justin’s responses—ambiguous and weak, according to Trypho—what is clear is that a distance had evolved between the two religions that was now unbridgeable. There was little point of compromise left among those who were marching resolutely into that horizon that would become Christian orthodoxy. For Justin, only belief in Christ mattered, and such belief could bring salvation to anyone, “even although they neither keep the Sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe the feasts.”³⁸

      As we can see, the Jewish law had been left far behind—along with the true history of Jesus.

      JUDAEA, JESUS, AND CHRISTIANITY

Before 4 B.C.	Birth of Jesus, according to Matthew’s Gospel (2:1).
4 B.C.	Death of Herod the Great.
A.D. 6	Birth of Jesus, according to Luke’s Gospel (2:1-7). Census of Quirinius, Governor of Syria.
A.D. 27-28	Baptism of Jesus (traditional date) in the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius (Luke 3:1-23).
A.D. 30	Crucifixion of Jesus, according to Catholic scholarship.
c. A.D. 35	Following the marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias in c. A.D. 34, John the Baptist is executed, following the evidence in Josephus.
A.D. 36	Passover—crucifixion of Jesus, according to Matthew’s timetable.
A.D. 36-37	Conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus.
c. A.D. 44	Execution of James, the brother of Jesus.
A.D. 50-52	Paul in Corinth. Writes his first letter (to the Thessalonians).
A.D. 61	Paul in Rome under house arrest.
c. A.D. 65	Paul supposedly executed.
A.D. 66-73	War in Judaea. The Roman army under Vespasian invades Judaea.
c. A.D. 55-120	Life of Tacitus, Roman historian and senator, who mentions Christ.
c. A.D. 61-c. 114	Life of Pliny the Younger, who mentions Christ.
c. A.D. 115	Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, quotes from letters of Paul.
c. A.D. 117-138	Suetonius, Roman historian, mentions “Chrestus.”
c. A.D. 125	Earliest known example of a Christian gospel, John 18: 31-33, Rylands Papyrus, found in Egypt.
c. A.D. 200	Oldest known fragment of Paul’s letters, Chester Beatty Papyrus, found in Egypt.
c. A.D. 200	Oldest virtually complete gospel (John’s), Bodmer Papyrus, found in Egypt.
A.D. 325	Council of Nicaea is convened by the Roman emperor Constantine. The divinity of Jesus is made official dogma by a vote of 217 to 3.
A.D. 393-397	Council of Hippo, formalizing the New Testament, is finalized at Council of Carthage.

      THE SECOND CENTURY

СКАЧАТЬ

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c. A.D. 55-120	Life of Tacitus, Roman historian and senator, who mentions Christ.
c. A.D. 61-c. 114	Life of Pliny the Younger, who mentions Christ.
c. A.D. 115	Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, quotes from letters of Paul.
A.D. 115	Revolt in Alexandria is led by Lucuas, the “King of the Jews.” The Jewish community in Egypt is destroyed.
c. A.D. 117-138	Writing years of Suetonius, Roman historian, who mentions “Chrestus.”
c. A.D. 120	The Gnostic teacher Valentinus is educated in Alexandria.
A.D. 131-135	Simon Bar Kochba leads revolt in Judaea.
A.D. 133	Nine to twelve Roman legions invade Judaea from the north.
A.D. 135	Jewish forces are defeated. The Roman emperor Hadrian changes the name of Judaea to Palaestina (now Palestine).
c. A.D. 135	The Christian theologian Justin Martyr argues with the Jewish intellectual Trypho.