|
Article Excerpt
How Jesus Became Christian, by Barrie Wilson, New York: St Martin's Press, 2008. 315 pp., $25.95, ISBN: 0312362781.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
IN RECENT YEARS, SEVERAL BOOKS by scholars in the field of Christian origins have focused on the fact that the original followers of Jesus were Jews who believed that he was the mashiach, Hebrew for "anointed one," or in Aramaic, meshihah, a word we anglicize as "messiah." The Greek equivalent of this word is christos, the source of our word "Christ." These Jewish followers of Jesus, led by his brother, James, had no intention of creating a new religion. That is to say, Jesus was Jewish, not Christian. Barrie Wilson's book, while it is one of many dealing with the creation of a new religion by Paul, focuses on the pivotal role of the Book of Acts in wedding the Jesus of the gospels to the "Christ Jesus" of the Pauline epistles by way of a false history.
Starting out as Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee, one zealous for maintaining strict adherence to the specific observance of the Law, Paul, according to his own words, persecuted the followers of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:9, Gal. 1:13)....
|
|
More articles from Skeptic (Altadena, CA)
The art of cold reading: adapted from Ian Rowland's The Full Facts of ..., January 01, 2009
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
|
