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The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity Paperback – Illustrated, April 24, 2007
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In The Jesus Dynasty, biblical scholar James Tabor brings us closer than ever to the historical Jesus. He explains the crucial relationship between Jesus, a royal descendant of David, and his relative John the Baptizer, a priestly descendant of Aaron and Jesus' teacher. When John was killed, several of his followers -- including Jesus' four brothers -- joined with Jesus, who continued John's mission, preaching the same apocalyptic message. After Jesus confronted the Roman authorities in Jerusalem and was crucified, his brother James succeeded him as the leader of the Jesus dynasty.
James Tabor has studied the earliest surviving documents of Christianity for more than thirty years and has participated in important archaeological excavations in Israel. His reconstruction of the life of Jesus and his followers, and of the early years of Christianity, will change our understanding of one of the most crucial moments in history.
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateApril 24, 2007
- Dimensions6.13 x 1.2 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-10074328724X
- ISBN-13978-0743287241
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Provocative. . . . Takes the search for the historical Jesus to a bold . . . new level." -- Jay Tolson, U.S. News & World Report
"James Tabor stands out among his generation of biblical scholars for his thorough familiarity with the full range of textual evidence from the first centuries, his extensive experience with archaeological excavations, and his imagination and creativity. Tabor has a remarkable ability to discern the contours of vital religious movements from the scattered bits and pieces of evidence that survive from antiquity. Anyone who takes the career of Jesus seriously will have to reckon with his bold, new synthesis."
-- Professor Eugene V. Gallagher, Rosemary Park Professor of Religious Studies, Connecticut College
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface
DISCOVERING THE JESUS DYNASTY
It is a rare book that is forty years in the making. In some sense this is the case with The Jesus Dynasty. Over forty years ago, as a teenager, I made my first visit to the Holy Land with my parents and my sister. It was that experience that set me on my own lifelong "quest for the historical Jesus." This is the phrase scholars use to describe historical research over the past two hundred years related to Jesus and the origins of early Christianity.
What do we really know about Jesus and how do we know it? Forty years ago I had not even formulated the question with any sophistication. I knew nothing of archaeology, the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient texts, or historical research. But I had begun to read the Bible, particularly the New Testament, and had become fascinated with the figure of Jesus. On that Holy Land trip this interest began to develop into a more intense desire to know what could be known about him and to somehow touch that past.
I vividly remember walking around the Old City of Jerusalem. The city was thick with tourists, all Christians, no Jews or Israelis. This was before the 1967 Six Day War when the Old City of east Jerusalem was still ruled by Jordan. We were shown around by one of the hundreds of would-be resident guides who could be hired on the spot pressing upon anyone who looked like a tourist. We saw all the sites typically shown to Christian pilgrims -- the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Upper Room of the Last Supper, and the Dome of the Rock, where the ancient Jewish Temple once stood. On such a tour one enters dozens of churches, all built centuries after the time of Jesus but supposedly at the precise place where this or that event took place.
Over the three days we were there I began to experience a growing sense of disappointment. I was having difficulty connecting, even in my imagination, 20th-century Jerusalem with the city in the time of Jesus as described in the New Testament. Even if the names and places were the same, and correctly identified, what I saw before me were Turkish, Crusader, and Byzantine remains, with little if anything from the 1st century a.d. visible. Even the modern street level, I learned, was twelve to fifteen feet above that of Roman times. I had purchased a tourist guidebook entitled Walking Where Jesus Walked, and somehow, in my naiveté, I wanted to do just that.
We stayed in a small hotel on top of the Mount of Olives just to the east of the Old City. About midnight, restless, I got out of bed, Bible in hand, and decided to walk to the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the mountain. The steep path down is now paved, but I could see bedrock cut or worn along the way on both sides, indicating this was the narrow road from ancient times. I imagined Jesus riding the donkey down that very path into the Old City, hailed by the crowds as Messiah, a week before he was crucified. In those days, unlike today, you could enter the Garden of Gethsemane at any hour, day or night, as the gate was always open. Visitors were also allowed to walk among the centuries-old olive trees. I was the only one there that night, at that hour. My reading had convinced me that this was the spot where Jesus spent the last night of his life in prayer. For the first time on our tour, on that path and in the garden, I felt that I was able to reach back and connect with the past that I sought. I stayed there for the longest time, trying to imagine it all. I kept thinking to myself -- this is the place. It happened here. The "historian" in me was awakening and I think a bit of the "archaeologist" as well. In some way I had begun what would become a lifelong quest to discover and to understand the life of Jesus as he lived it.
There is something in all of us that thrills to this experience of touching the past. It could be an old letter, a genealogical record, a battlefield, a cemetery, or fragments of an ancient text. Today in Israel you can visit the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum and view the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date to around the time of Jesus. I think many visitors experience the same feeling I did the first time I saw the displays. There, under glass, just a few inches away, are the actual ancient documents written over two thousand years ago. I remember pausing for long minutes before each exhibit, trying to take in the reality of what I was viewing. There one is looking at the very parchment or papyrus from that long-ago time, with words in Hebrew and Aramaic that could have been read by Jesus or his followers.
Many other sites in Jerusalem have now been excavated. You can walk or sit on the very steps that led up to the Jewish Temple built in the time of Herod the Great. When I first visited Jerusalem in 1962 these steps were twenty-five feet below the present surface, completely lost to modern eyes. In various places the paving stones of the streets of the Roman city have been exposed. Twelve feet below the modern street level, in the Jewish Quarter, you can walk in the ruins of a wealthy mansion, one that likely belonged to the family of high priests who presided over the trial of Jesus. In the summer of 2004 the pool of Siloam, mentioned in the New Testament, was uncovered, after being forgotten and hidden from view for centuries. All over the country the past is being exposed to the present by the spade of the archaeologist and equally by the deciphering of ancient texts by the historian.
I have since been back to Israel and Jordan dozens of times as a researcher and scholar. Whether I am digging an archaeological site, researching in a library, or studying firsthand a given area or location, my focus remains the same -- to recreate a past that has important relevance to our present. The Jesus Dynasty is a new historical investigation of Jesus, his royal family, and the birth of Christianity. At the same time it is a reflection of my own personal quest, integrating the results of my own discoveries and insights over the course of my professional career.
The Jesus Dynasty presents the Jesus story in an entirely new light. It is history, not fiction. And yet it differs considerably, sometimes radically, from the standard portrait of Jesus informed by theological dogma. The Jesus Dynasty proposes an original version of Christianity, long lost and forgotten, but one that can be reliably traced back to the founder, Jesus himself. The impact and implications of this book are far-reaching and potentially revolutionary. There is a sense in which one might call it "the greatest story never told." It will thrill and excite many, upset and anger others, but also challenge its readers, of whatever persuasion, to honestly weigh evidence and consider new possibilities.
The Jesus Dynasty has no connection to the recently popularized notions that Jesus married and fathered children through Mary Magdalene. While gripping fiction, this idea is long on speculation and short on evidence. But as is so often the case, the truth is even stranger than fiction -- and every bit as intriguing.
In The Jesus Dynasty you will discover that Jesus was the firstborn son of a royal family -- a descendant of King David of ancient Israel. He really was proclaimed "King of the Jews," and was executed by the Romans for this claim. Rather than a church, or a new religion, as commonly understood, he established a royal dynasty drawn from his own brothers and immediate family. Rather than being the founder of a church, Jesus was claimant to a throne. According to the Hebrew Prophets, the Messiah, the scion of David, who would lead the nation of Israel in the last days, was to spring from this specific lineage. Recently released portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls have shed further light on the concrete nature of this expectation. This coveted royal bloodline, the family of David, with its radical revolutionary potential, was well known to the Herod family, the native rulers of Palestine at the time, but also to the Roman officials who ruled the country, including the emperors themselves. These "royals" were not only watched, but also at critical times even hunted down and executed.
Shortly before he died, Jesus set up a provisional government with twelve regional officials, one over each of the twelve tribes or districts of Israel, and he left his brother James at the head of this fledgling government. James became the uncontested leader of the early Christian movement. This significant fact of history has been largely forgotten, or as likely, hidden. Properly understood, it changes everything we thought we knew about Jesus, his mission, and his message. Everyone has heard of Peter, Paul, and John -- but the pivotal place of James, the beloved disciple and younger brother of Jesus, has been effectively blotted from Christian memory.
The Jesus Dynasty explores how and why Christians gradually lost the recognition that Jesus was part of a large family, the members of which exercised dynastic leadership among his followers. This critical, alternative, story, which survives even in our New Testament records and in bits and pieces of later Christian tradition, can be effectively recovered. A combination of recent archaeological discoveries and the surfacing of texts long forgotten has given us a new perspective from which to view the birth of Christianity. Understanding the origins of this largest global religion not only offers us insights about the past, it also opens up whole new ways of seeing Christianity in our own day. We now have a sharper and more historically reliable understanding of Jesus as he was in his own time and place.
THE AMERICAN COLONY HOTEL, JERUSALEM
JUNE 7, 2005
Copyright © 2006 by James D.Tabor
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; Illustrated edition (April 24, 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 074328724X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0743287241
- Item Weight : 1.12 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.13 x 1.2 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #133,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #175 in History of Religions
- #493 in History of Christianity (Books)
- #653 in Christian Church History (Books)
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About the author
James D. Tabor is retired as Professor of Christian Origins and Ancient Judaism in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he taught since 1989, serving a decade as Dept Chair (2004-2014). Previously he held posts at Notre Dame and William and Mary. He holds a Ph.D. in biblical studies and early Christianity from the University of Chicago and is an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls, late 2nd Temple Judaism, and Christian origins. The author of ten previous books, he is frequently consulted by the media on these topics and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs. For a complete Bio see jamestabor.com.
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From a hard scientist's viewpoint, there are two worthwhile aspects to the content conveyed by the book. First, Tabor is evidently familiar with the historical and religious period covered, conveying a reasoned sense of the times and customs during which Jesus of Nazareth was active. He provides interesting context for the messianic movement during Jesus' time, including insights into Jewish customs that most who are not Jewish (one suspects even many who are) will not know. Because the information provided is in snippets, aimed at supporting the advanced storyline of a historical Jesus, they are necessarily incomplete. Other scholars with relevant historical expertise must examine the arguments to check for factual correctness and consistency.
Second, Tabor directs attention to readers of the New Testament to less emphasized material that may have historical relevance, some supported by auxiliary evidence from historians and Biblical scholars in 1-4 century A.D. As these are textual material from the New Testament itself -- not philosophical discussions based on non-canonical gospels such as Thomas and the recently decoded Judas (overhyped by National Geographic, in my opinion, given the material conveyed by the translation) -- attention to their on-the-surface ambiguities and inconsistencies, never mind their full meaning, may be welcomed by (some) readers of the Bible.
The speculative component concerns the weaving of all the cited information into a bold conjecture that is stated unabashedly: that Jesus of Nazareth was an extraordinary human being who fought against Roman occupation and corruption by a minority of Jews, the beneficiaries/facilitators of Roman rule; at the core, nothing more and nothing less; that all the religious interpretations were added by Paul, a religous fanatic who hijacked the historical Jesus for his own vision of a new "monotheistic" religion, centered on a mythical Jesus, targeted at a non-Jewish audience, in particular, Romans.
The verdict is not in. But the claim, supported by circumstantial evidence, has been laid out for the general public to see. It is an easy-to-understand and, on the surface, plausible claim. It will require years of hard work by a new generation of scholars to establish the merits of the case.
A personal remark. If, what Tabor claims is in broad strokes correct, then Christianity as practiced today is in trouble. Tabor (uncharacteristically?) hedges a little bit in the conclusion chapter by rosary feel-good language that uncovering the historical Jesus (in the image of Tabor's version) will benefit Christians, Jews, and Muslims through better understanding. It will benefit Jews and Muslims. Not Christians though.
Basically, if Tabor's version is correct, then Christianity, as practiced today, is in trouble because it is founded on an essential lie. It is not that Paul's version of a monotheistic religion derived from Judaism is not brilliant/impressive. It is. The focus of Paul on the afterlife, as opposed to the more pragmatic heaven-on-earth espoused by Jesus et al., is perhaps theologically more satisfying and sustainable. Certainly, the ultra-practical messianic movement of which Jesus seems to have been part has faltered miserably. The God espoused by Jews has not intervened, throwing the Romans out, and changing the corrupt Jewish leadership in Jerusalem as was expected. In contrast, Paul's afterlife-centric monotheistic version of Judaism is more resistant to real-world events (it has survived, after all, Roman persecution and prospered thereafter for nearly 2000 years). Nonetheless, Paul's central tenet is that Jesus was God-incarnate-on-earth. Resurrection (or its belief) has been key for authenticating (through its belief, i.e., trust that is has happened) the Jesus-centric tenet. If Jesus was a regular person (albeit an extraordinary revolutionary), then Paul ends up being a cheat. It doesn't matter so much that his monotheistic religion is pretty darn impressive. The problem is: he didn't earn it square-and-fair. He didn't go out and propose a new Judaism that escapes the narrow confines of tribalism, advancing a new interpretation of God focused on the afterlife, winning the discussion on its own merits. No, if Tabor is right, he cheated. Paul hijacked the historical Jesus by injecting a story about resurrection with claims of eye witness accounts, that, if trusted, helped authenticate that Jesus was indeed God-incarnate. He basically said (paraphrased): Pay attention to what I say because it comes from God-incarnate. How do I know? Because (reliable) eye witness accounts prove that Jesus was resurrected which can only be possible if he was God (or Satan but Jesus' message obviously was contradictory to that of Satan). Paul wants to have the cake and eat it too. On the one hand, he deemphasizes the physical realm in favor of the spiritual; but his starting point is the physical realm, the resurrected Jesus, not metaphorically but physically. Somewhat reminiscent of recent nonfictional writers who play fast-and-lose with the facts, while still wishing to claim nonfiction status.
He does however propose some very controversial claims, such as Jesus had a paternal father in Roman soldier Pantera who was given mention by Celsus as he presents he learnt from Jesus' youngest brother Juda's descendents. I personally was not won over with this claim from this ancient antagonist to Christianity but regardless your position on these subjects this book cannot be passed by. It is just too powerful and wonderful to learn of Jesus' family especially His brother James who the New Testament describes as the elected head over Christ's First Church. Much like his contemporary Robert Eisenmann who is James' biographer, Tabor highlights the distinguishing differences between the Christianity of James to that of Paul who of course the Church has taken after for 2000 yrs of her History.
Tabors usage of 'Q' or Quell document asserting its existence I found to be a bit bothersome considering this has never been substantiated. This book is highly antagonistic toward the dogmatic Romanized religion and should prove to be quite a challenge to her divine magesterium...
One of Tabors thoeries which I have long suspected myself, is that the two double named Mary's at the Cross were in fact one Mother Mary the Mother of Christ and the Mother of at least five other children named in Scriptures as Jesus's brothers and sisters. He brings forth the issue of the addition made to the Gospel of Mark which we all have today in our Canon's inclusion despite there were translations which removed this 2nd c ending and it doesn't really take much stretch of the imagination to see how this could have very easily have been done by the copyists splitting mother Mary into two Marys, one being herself and the other being her sister who is curiously also named Mary and just so happens to have the same named children as those named in Scripture being Jesus' siblings. To my knowledge Salome is the only sister of Jesus that we know the name of from historical tests, and the one Gospel account has her named with these two Mary's. Historical writings reveal that Clopas was the brother of Joseph and according to Moshe Law the surviving brother is impelled to marry his brothers widow if there is no male child. This is called a Yibbum marriage and there is example of it in Scripture. One of the brothers of Jesus is named Joses which is short like Josy for Joseph. The naming a male heir after the deceased brother is required.
Another tug at the concious when reading the Gospels are the two lineages of Jesus. They never really made sense and we know that Christ Himself claims Davidic bloodline as recipient of the Promise to David. Tabor does do a very good job making his case in this regard.
His highlighting what the remaining Gospels record on who the women were at the Crucifiction is compelling and highly evocative work that draws the conciousness right back to the time of Christ in His authentic Jewish setting. Any and all students of religion need to read this work.
He also spotlights the mission of Jesus in His historical efforts in contrast to some highly mythologized beliefs that have crept into the Church and even become Dogma's of Rome.
Unlike DaVinci Code, some of these conspiracy theories-are not fiction.
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Even if you don't necessarily agree with his personal conclusion of a 'Jesus Dynasty' and thus the reason why Jesus was crucified by the Romans, this is still fascinating historically concerning the various possibilities of how Jesus lived, his family, including his brothers and sisters, and importantly, the nature of life in those days. Highly recommended for historical religious enthusiasts.
He fills us in with the Roman occupation occupation, of king Herod, of the political unrest from the Jews. The Romans would not tolerate usurping of their power - hence Herod's behaviour at even the thought of another 'king' of the Jews. The question is sometimes posed about who killed
Jesus? The Romans? Pontious Pilate, the Jews?
The author examines the part St Paul played in spreading this religion - and it is a huge part. He seems to do it almost single handedly.. He investigates Jesus' brother James and narrates the part he played - but it is Paul who gives the religion its theology.
There's another mystery - what happened to the body?
This is a riveting book about a charismatic holy man who changed the course of history. The question of the body remains unanswered. Jesus' body has never been found
This is an exciting and absorbing book which makes the reader want to learn more. Read it..
The author also considers the part Paul played in masterminding the spread of the new religion, later called 'Christinaity' - he examines James the Just, the brother of Jesus and informs us of the part he played. We note that James is not mentioned much in the New Testament. But of course it was Paul who opened the door to the Gentiles and so to all of humanity.
This is a riveting account of a charismatic individual who was brutally murdered and whose body has never been found. .