Wednesday, February 21, 2018

The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity




The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity by James D. Tabor, explores the very logically and historically sound thesis the early Christianity (and that word is anachronistic in this work) was a family enterprise.  After the death of Jesus, and for nearly a century afterward, the Jesus movement was run by members of his immediate family as heirs to the Davidic throne.

A particular standout in this chain of command is a brother of Jesus, James the Just.  We have records related to him in early Christian sources, and he was widely admired. Yet, he is largely written out of the record of the early Church. His teachings no longer remain.

Tabor shows, through archaeology and textual analysis, that the early Jesus movement had two core pillars.  The movement as led by James and the brothers and relatives of Jesus, in and around Judea and the Galilee.  And the one led by Paul, to non-Jews, in Greek speaking lands.  Paul’s version was hostile to Judaism and on the ascent when the gospels were written.  Stories of James and the family of Jesus are found in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, but in truncated form.  The Jesus movement was breaking away from Judaism into a new religion when the Gospels were written.

The Jewish context of its birth and early days, although evident, were downplayed for centuries. This books reclaims that, and it is really firm and indisputable evidence, unless one is clouded by theological concerns.

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