Judas of Nazareth

by Unterbrink, Daniel T.; Wilson, Barrie

• ISBN13: 9781591431824
• ISBN10: 1591431824
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-03-24
• Publisher: Bear & Co

Summary

An investigation into the historical Jesus and the veracity of the Gospels

• Reveals the biblical Jesus as a composite figure, a blend of the political revolutionary Judas the Galilean and Paul’s divine-human Christ figure

• Matches the events depicted in the New Testament with historically verifiable events in Josephus’ history, pushing Jesus’ life back more than a decade

• Demonstrates how each New Testament Gospel is dependent upon Paul’s mythologized Christ theology, designed to promote Paul’s Christianity and serve the interests of the fledgling Gentile Christian communities

Scholars have spent years questioning aspects of the historical Jesus. How can we know what Jesus said and did when Jesus himself wrote nothing? Can we trust the Gospels, written by unknown authors 40 to 70 years after Jesus’ death? And why do other sources from the time not speak of this messianic figure known as Christ?

Drawing on the histories of Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, and Pliny as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Daniel Unterbrink contends that the “Jesus” of the Bible was actually a composite figure, a clever blend of the Jewish freedom-fighter Judas the Galilean and Paul’s divine-human Christ figure created in the middle of the first century CE. Revealing why Paul was known as a liar, enemy, and traitor in other Jewish literature, he shows that the New Testament Gospels are not transcripts of actual history but creative works of historical fiction designed to promote Paul’s Christianity and serve the interests of the fledgling Gentile Christian communities. He demonstrates how each Gospel is written in light of the success of Paul’s religion and dependent upon his later perspective.

Matching the events depicted in the New Testament with the historically verifiable events in Josephus’ history, Unterbrink pushes the dating of Jesus’ life back nearly a generation to a revolutionary time in ancient Judea. He shows that the real historical Jesus--the physical man behind the fictional stories in Paul’s Gospels--was Judas the Galilean: a messianic pretender and Torah-observant revolutionary bent on overthrowing the Roman government and galvanizing the Jewish people behind his vision of the coming Kingdom of God. In the greatest cover-up of history, this teacher of first-century Israel was replaced by the literary creation known as Jesus of Nazareth.

Author Biography

Daniel T. Unterbrink is the author of Judas the Galilean, New Testament Lies, and The Three Messiahs. A retired forensic auditor, he has turned his analytical prowess to the historical origins of Christianity. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Barrie Wilson

Acknowledgments
A Brief Explanation of the Major Political-Religious Movements

Introduction: The Scholarly Mistake
About the Sources
The Controversy Surrounding the Slavonic Josephus
Building on Previous Scholarship

Part One
The Life and Times of Judas the Galilean and Jesus of Nazareth
The Road to the Fourth Philosophy

1 Hellenistic and Roman Influences
A Short History of Hellenism
Romans, Herodians, and the Fourth Philosophy
The Fourth Philosophy’s Plan of Action

2 Primary Text References to Jesus
Josephus
Suetonius and Tacitus
The Letter of Pliny the Younger to Trajan
The Dead Sea Scrolls

Part Two
Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles
The Making of a Messiah

3 Traditional versus Historical Paul
The Traditional Paul
Questions Concerning the Traditional Paul
A More Historical Paul
Is Paul a Herodian?
Is Paul a Pharisee?

4 James the Just and Paul the Liar
Rich and Poor
Faith and Deeds
Taming the Tongue
Wisdom
The Law
The Liar, the Enemy, and the Traitor

5 Paul’s Family Ties
All in the Family
Differing Paths
The Making of a Messiah
Paul’s Revelations
Two Messiahs in Jerusalem
Questionable Family Ties--Paul’s Sister and Nephew
Paul’s Escape from Jerusalem

6 Paul’s Motivation
Paul and Jerusalem
Paul and Fund-Raising
Financial Exploitation Using the Jesus Movement
Simon the Magician
Paul’s Dilemma

Part Three
The Creation of Jesus of Nazareth
Paul’s Hand in the Gospels

7 Foundation Legends
The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul
The Author of the Gospel of Mark
The Flight of Jerusalem Christians to Pella

8 The Gospel of Mark
Problems with the Composition of Mark
Paul’s Involvement with the Gospel of Mark
Language of the Dead Sea Scrolls

9 The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew’s Use of Mark
Examining the M Material
The M Source and the Slavonic Josephus (SJ)
To the Gentiles
Who? Why? Where? and When?

10 The Gospel of Luke
Luke’s Sources
Paul’s Adaptation of Mithraism
John the Baptist
The Time Lines in Luke
The Problem of Q
Luke’s Agenda Concerning Historical Data

11 The Acts of the Apostles
Reliance on Josephus
The Agenda of Acts
Is Paul of Tarsus Invented?
The New Jesus and the New Paul

12 The Gospel of John
Dionysus
The Word Becomes Flesh
Demonization of the Jews
What Is Truth?

Conclusion: The Real Jesus of Nazareth
Forty-Two Similarities Shared by Judas the Galilean and Jesus

Appendix A. The Messianic Time Lines
The Jewish Jesus Movement and The Fourth Philosophy
The Christ Movement (Paul’s Gentile Mission)
The Jesus of Nazareth Movement

Appendix B. John the Baptist
The Traditional Viewpoint
What Really Happened
The Real History of the Jewish Jesus Movement

Appendix C. Pontius Pilate

Appendix D. The Slavonic Josephus
Thirteen Passages
The Slavonic Josephus versus Antiquities
The Slavonic Josephus versus the Gospels
Other Opinions on the Slavonic Josephus
Author’s Opinion on the Slavonic Josephus

Notes

Bibliography

Index