Category Archives: Natsarene

The term Natsarene refers to the early Semitic root n‑ṣ‑r, a linguistic and sectarian tradition distinct from the later Greek-Christian term “Nazarene.” This category gathers research on the Semitic origins of the Jesus movement, including the Natsarim/Notsrim of Jewish tradition and the Natsuraiia of the Mandaeans. Posts here explore how these groups, names, and concepts relate to the earliest strata of Christian origins, and how their meanings diverged from the later ecclesiastical usage preserved in Greek.

This category clarifies the crucial distinction between Gnostic Natsarene (Semitic, sectarian, often esoteric) and the Catholic Nazarene (Greek, Christian, later interpretive), and examines the historical, linguistic, and textual evidence behind the original Semitic term.

Blog returning to sleep mode…

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I will be taking a break from regular blogging once again, the last time having been a little over two years ago. I hope to return to blogging in the future, but the essentials of my case regarding Yeshu haNotsri have been pretty much set out in the many posts on this site, together with chapter 14 of NazarethGate. Essentially, I am proposing not only a new (i.e. ‘virtually unknown’) figure at the incipience of Christianity, but also an entirely new chronology, one that moves the chronological goal posts back a whole century. I propose also that intimate connections existed between original (gnostic) Christianity and Buddhism. These novel theories will take time to be heard, understood, and digested. The radical … Continue reading →

The demise of the Natsarenes: From Christians to heretics

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The First Christians / pt. 14 I bring this series of posts to a close with the migration out of the land of Palestine of the Natsarenes/Naṣarenes—the word derives from Semitic naṣar, with tsade, and is critically not to be confused with the later Greek (Catholic) Nazarene (Ναζωραῖος / Ναζαρηνός) as found in the New Testament. This was the watershed event that began the gradual decline of the first Christians, for after the so-called “flight to Pella” the early community no longer had a central authority—cf. the early reputation of James the Just in Jerusalem, referenced in GTh 12, Gal 1-2 and also by the Church Fathers. The flight to Pella It is unfortunate that we do not have precise details as … Continue reading →

The earliest “Christian” sects

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The First Christians / pt. 4 The purposes of this post are to situate the reader in a relatively unfamiliar time (the first century BCE) and political situation (the Hasmonean Kingdom giving way to Roman hegemony); as well as to introduce religious sects that go by various names and later petered out. Such sects include the Therapeutae, the Essenes, and the gnostic, pre-Catholic Christians known to history as the Naṣarenes (from Semitic n-ṣ-r, with tsade)—who later morphed into numerous gnostic sects including the Mandeans, the Manichaeans, and other baptizing sects. The Roman general Pompey conquered Palestine in 63 BCE and subordinated it to the province of Syria. The conquest marked the end of the Hasmonean kingdom and was the last time Jews … Continue reading →

A note on the Toldoth Yeshu

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A New Account of Christian Origins / pt. 21 I have been studying the Toldoth Yeshu (Hebrew: “Generations of Yeshu,” also: Toledoth Yeshu, Toldoth Jeschu, etc.) for several weeks in the hope that this unusual work might shed some light on Christian origins. However, I have been disappointed and conclude that the TY is a rather poorly-written, scurrilous, and late anti-gospel composed, I suspect, by a disenchanted rabbi in distant Babylonia. Here is some of what the insightful Robert M. Price writes concerning the work: The Toledoth Jeshu (Generations of Jesus) is the title of several variants of an anti-gospel text portraying Jesus as a false prophet and magician… The wide distribution of various language versions and manuscript fragments, together with the … Continue reading →

Nazareth, Capernaum, and Tabor

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The issue of Jesus’ hometown in early Christian literature is revealing. In the Gospel of Marcion (Mcn) the hometown of Jesus is Capernaum, as it is also in the Gospel of Mark. “Nazara” is only briefly mentioned in Mcn (corresponding to Lk 4:16–30). But the place does not really fit Marcion’s gospel, which locates Jesus in Capernaum both before and after a brief ‘visit’ to Nazara. Now, we know from the Gospel of Philip (Nag Hammadi) that in gnostic tradition Nazara meant “truth” (GPh 62). This interpretation fits the earlier spirit-Jesus christology, but not the new theios aner Jesus of Marcion, for which Jesus also requires a physical ‘hometown.’ Marcion’s gospel thus was apparently trying to fuse two different christologies … Continue reading →

“Jesus has a Nazareth problem” (interview transcript)—Pt. 3

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The Natsarene is “the enlightened one” (See also here.) René: …Everything is showing that Marcion’s was in fact the first gospel and that Capernaum was the original hometown of Jesus.      The reason “Nazareth” was invented—that would be by Matthew, now, and taken up by Luke—is to change “the Natsarene,” because “Natsarene” was objectionable to the Catholic Church. “Natsarene” had some strong religious and theological meanings at the time, and it would be very valuable if scholarship looked seriously at this question, because this brings us to the heart of the issue: What does “Nazarene” [Natsarene] mean? René: Jesus in the earliest gospels is called “Jesus the Nazarene.” But nobody seems to know what that meant. Now, “Natsarene” [in Semitic] means … Continue reading →

The Natsarene and Hidden Gnosis – Pt. 6

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Priests vs. Levites   We concluded the last section with an observation of Ellis Rivkin: “We must, therefore, conclude that the Aaronides come to power with the finalized Pentateuch and, as such, are their own creation” (IDB). The priestly Aaronides, centered in Jerusalem, are the post-exilic religious hegemonists who took authority away from the pre- and concurrently-existing (gnostic) Levites. By “their own creation,” Rivkin means that the Aaronides invented their own pedigree, invented their status as Levites (for Aaron was supposedly himself a Levite), and in this way they took over from the ancient and ʻtrueʼ Levites the rights to administer the Temple. Essentially, they arrogated to themselves the religion which became known as “Judaism.” With the rise of the … Continue reading →

The Natsarene and Hidden Gnosis – Pt. 5

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The demise of gnosticism   Scant elements of the gnostic worldview remain in the Jewish scriptures. They are hidden, to be ferreted out from among the obloquy heaped upon gnosticism by the later scribes. The meaning of old gnostic symbols was lost, perhaps unknown even to many in later antiquity. When the Jewish religion turned against its gnostic roots, the Aaronide priests of Jerusalem jettisoned the old goal of ‘acquisition of gnosis’ (which was still practiced at Dan in the north) and fashioned an impassable chasm between man and god, one not to be crossed. Thus Judaism made an about-face, from a people who at first celebrated ʻcrossing overʼ from the material to the transcendent, to a people who forbade … Continue reading →

The Natsarene and Hidden Gnosis – Pt. 4

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Ephrathah and ʻcrossing overʼ   In Jewish scripture, Bethlehem is sometimes equated with Ephrath/Ephrathah (Gen 35:19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11; Mic 5:2). Elsewhere, the latter is the “father” of Bethlehem (1 Chr 4:4). Both ʻplacesʼ were not material settlements in Judah, Benjamin, or Ephraim, but mythical locales in pre-Israelite religion. Beit-Lahmu (Bethlehem) was the home of the Lahmu divinities, servants of the great god of hidden wisdom who guarded the ʻgateʼ of his house. Hidden wisdom (gnosis) had long been symbolized by fresh water emerging from within and under the earth. Thus, it is no surprise that the Bethlehem known to Jewish scribes was noted for a well with special water sought out by David himself, as already cited (2 Sam … Continue reading →

The Natsarene and Hidden Gnosis – Pt. 3

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David, Bethlehem, and the scribes   To this day, archaeologists cannot be certain where the settlement of Bethlehem was located. The scribes who penned the Jewish scriptures were also in doubt, for in several cases they found it necessary to identify Bethlehem with another unlocated settlement called Ephrath/Ephrathah: “So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar at her grave; it is the pillar of Rachelʼs tomb, which is there to this day” (Gen 35:19–20; cf. 48:7). However, Jewish scripture clearly locates Rachelʼs tomb to the north of Jerusalem (1 Sam 10:2; Jer 31:15), while Bethlehem lies to the south of the city. This anomaly has long caused … Continue reading →