04-05-2007, 11:58 PM
Book Review, Pioneer, 5 April 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He was Jesus, not Christ
In this book, Michael Baigent makes some startling observations against the conventional account of Jesus' death, shaking the very roots of Christianity, says MV Kamath
The Jesus Papers, Michael Baigent, Harper Element; £16.99
When Salman Rushdie wrote his controversial Satanic Verses and reviews started coming in, the Government of India had no hesitation in banning it, thus preventing its sale in the country. Perhaps a similar ban should have been imposed on The Jesus Papers considering the controversial subjects it has raised, except that the book was written by a Christian and was published no doubt by a Christian publishing house and reviewed by Christians working for British or American newspapers. The subject matter dealt with in this book has also been turned into a documentary by film director James Cameron (who made Titanic), a Christian, surely, all of which gives one sufficient elbow room to review it in India.
Cameron and his Israeli-born colleague Simcha Jacobovici maintain that their research suggests that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene who bore him a sun, Judah. Agence France Presses, a French news agency, has quoted Cameron as saying, "I am not an archaeologist or a Bible scholar, but as a documentary film maker I should not be afraid of pursuing the truth."
The Jesus Papers goes beyond that and states that Jesus was not born to a virgin and that he did not resurrect and go to heaven but lived till 45 AD and that his burial site has been found where 10 discovered boxes picked up were inscribed with names believed to be associated with key figures in the New Testament. A sixth inscription, written in Aramaic, has been translated as "Judah, son of Jesus".
What this book does, in plain words, is to challenge the very basis on which Christianity is built. The book has been the subject of much controversy but no violence. Author Michael Baigent is very critical of the Vatican which, in his words, follows "a path centred upon a mythical figure of Jesus Christ that bears little relationship to the historical messiah Jesus who was crucified as a political agitator by Pontius Pilate". Nor has he much respect for the Catholic Establishment which, in 1209 AD launched a crusade against the Cathars (a group of holy men and women who embraced a life of renunciation, spirituality and simplicity not approved by the Church), whose homes were destroyed along with the towns and cities in which they lived and burnt "thousands of Cathars alive, sometimes hundreds at once in huge conflagrations". Then came the inquisition resorted to by the order of Dominicans who burned thousands of those whom they condemned as 'heretics'. The inquisitors, writes Baigent, became the Church's "killers", its army of secret informers, ruthless interrogations and cold judges, all acting in the name of Christ.
According to Baigent, "The Inquisition boasted that over the course of 150 years it burned approximately 30,000 women, all innocent victims of a Church-sanctioned pathological fantasy." As regards Virgin Birth which is fundamental to the faith of the Catholic Church, the author refers to the earliest New Testament writings of Paul in which, according to him, "there is no trace of the Virgin Birth". In fact, remarks the author, "Paul explicitly states that Jesus "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh".
There are a whole lot of assertions in this book that orthodox Christianity surely will challenge:
Christianity is not based on a unique event in history but was part of an existing movement that even used the term "son of god", formerly thought to be known in Judaism and so not a particular mark of Christianity.
The gospels do not make the claim (of Christ's divinity) and the Dead Sea Scrolls prove that you cannot disentangle Christianity from messianic Judaism which had no concept of a divine messiah.
There is a vast gulf between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. The strict custodians of Christian theology insist that the two are identical but any historian who looks honestly at the data can easily discover that they are not.
According to the author, Jesus spent his early years in Egypt which is why so little is known of his early years. Again, goes the argument, he was not dead when he was crucified but survived the crucification with the collusion of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate", taken down from the cross, revived and taken away to safety to a place where the could recuperate.
What happened then? He went "somewhere". The somewhere reportedly was in Egypt, though mention has been made in the text to Kashmir.
The Jesus Papers indulges in the theological discussion as to what is meant by the 'kingdom of god' though Jesus himself has been quoted saying, "The kingdom of god is within you."
One can dismiss this book as an attack on the Church because the author says, "The Church scholars are holding back material detrimental to the uniqueness of Jesus?" The author among things says, "There is no evidence to suggest that Jesus intended to be worshiped as a god" and that he wanted each person to have the opportunity to travel to the far world to find the divine in himself." There is a also a sense of anti-Christianity as one knows it when the author adds: "We have seen that there is no evidence that he died on the cross; in fact, what evidence survives suggests otherwise. And if he didn't die on the cross where does that leave the (possibility of) resurrection? His divinity? His equality in the Holy Trinity? These claims all disintegrate once the spin stops". But that is just an opinion.
Faith is a very personal matter which should be respected. It is not for others to question it. The greatness of Jesus will survive, as has that of Buddha. Questions have been raised by the author to which suitable answers will no doubt be given in the course of time. But nothing said or written can possibly diminish the relevance of Jesus Christ.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He was Jesus, not Christ
In this book, Michael Baigent makes some startling observations against the conventional account of Jesus' death, shaking the very roots of Christianity, says MV Kamath
The Jesus Papers, Michael Baigent, Harper Element; £16.99
When Salman Rushdie wrote his controversial Satanic Verses and reviews started coming in, the Government of India had no hesitation in banning it, thus preventing its sale in the country. Perhaps a similar ban should have been imposed on The Jesus Papers considering the controversial subjects it has raised, except that the book was written by a Christian and was published no doubt by a Christian publishing house and reviewed by Christians working for British or American newspapers. The subject matter dealt with in this book has also been turned into a documentary by film director James Cameron (who made Titanic), a Christian, surely, all of which gives one sufficient elbow room to review it in India.
Cameron and his Israeli-born colleague Simcha Jacobovici maintain that their research suggests that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene who bore him a sun, Judah. Agence France Presses, a French news agency, has quoted Cameron as saying, "I am not an archaeologist or a Bible scholar, but as a documentary film maker I should not be afraid of pursuing the truth."
The Jesus Papers goes beyond that and states that Jesus was not born to a virgin and that he did not resurrect and go to heaven but lived till 45 AD and that his burial site has been found where 10 discovered boxes picked up were inscribed with names believed to be associated with key figures in the New Testament. A sixth inscription, written in Aramaic, has been translated as "Judah, son of Jesus".
What this book does, in plain words, is to challenge the very basis on which Christianity is built. The book has been the subject of much controversy but no violence. Author Michael Baigent is very critical of the Vatican which, in his words, follows "a path centred upon a mythical figure of Jesus Christ that bears little relationship to the historical messiah Jesus who was crucified as a political agitator by Pontius Pilate". Nor has he much respect for the Catholic Establishment which, in 1209 AD launched a crusade against the Cathars (a group of holy men and women who embraced a life of renunciation, spirituality and simplicity not approved by the Church), whose homes were destroyed along with the towns and cities in which they lived and burnt "thousands of Cathars alive, sometimes hundreds at once in huge conflagrations". Then came the inquisition resorted to by the order of Dominicans who burned thousands of those whom they condemned as 'heretics'. The inquisitors, writes Baigent, became the Church's "killers", its army of secret informers, ruthless interrogations and cold judges, all acting in the name of Christ.
According to Baigent, "The Inquisition boasted that over the course of 150 years it burned approximately 30,000 women, all innocent victims of a Church-sanctioned pathological fantasy." As regards Virgin Birth which is fundamental to the faith of the Catholic Church, the author refers to the earliest New Testament writings of Paul in which, according to him, "there is no trace of the Virgin Birth". In fact, remarks the author, "Paul explicitly states that Jesus "was made of the seed of David according to the flesh".
There are a whole lot of assertions in this book that orthodox Christianity surely will challenge:
Christianity is not based on a unique event in history but was part of an existing movement that even used the term "son of god", formerly thought to be known in Judaism and so not a particular mark of Christianity.
The gospels do not make the claim (of Christ's divinity) and the Dead Sea Scrolls prove that you cannot disentangle Christianity from messianic Judaism which had no concept of a divine messiah.
There is a vast gulf between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. The strict custodians of Christian theology insist that the two are identical but any historian who looks honestly at the data can easily discover that they are not.
According to the author, Jesus spent his early years in Egypt which is why so little is known of his early years. Again, goes the argument, he was not dead when he was crucified but survived the crucification with the collusion of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate", taken down from the cross, revived and taken away to safety to a place where the could recuperate.
What happened then? He went "somewhere". The somewhere reportedly was in Egypt, though mention has been made in the text to Kashmir.
The Jesus Papers indulges in the theological discussion as to what is meant by the 'kingdom of god' though Jesus himself has been quoted saying, "The kingdom of god is within you."
One can dismiss this book as an attack on the Church because the author says, "The Church scholars are holding back material detrimental to the uniqueness of Jesus?" The author among things says, "There is no evidence to suggest that Jesus intended to be worshiped as a god" and that he wanted each person to have the opportunity to travel to the far world to find the divine in himself." There is a also a sense of anti-Christianity as one knows it when the author adds: "We have seen that there is no evidence that he died on the cross; in fact, what evidence survives suggests otherwise. And if he didn't die on the cross where does that leave the (possibility of) resurrection? His divinity? His equality in the Holy Trinity? These claims all disintegrate once the spin stops". But that is just an opinion.
Faith is a very personal matter which should be respected. It is not for others to question it. The greatness of Jesus will survive, as has that of Buddha. Questions have been raised by the author to which suitable answers will no doubt be given in the course of time. But nothing said or written can possibly diminish the relevance of Jesus Christ.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->