Tag Archives: Natsarene

An early Christian poem

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The First Christians / pt. 11 A remarkable poem from the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P) invites commentary. I give the passage in full below, which comes from the Testament of Levi. We have seen that the author of T12P singled out Levi and Judah for special recognition. Among the Jews, these two tribes held religious power and royal power respectively. Yeshu haNotsri was a Levite (as were all males in the Hasmonean line) and thus was a priest by birth. Historically, the poem below has been routinely interpreted through Catholic lenses. Today, conservative scholarship assumes it (and much of T12P) refers to Jesus of Nazareth and accordingly dates the entire work to late I CE+. However, the consensus of scholarship … Continue reading →

The Parables of Enoch—Pt. 2

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The First Christians / pt. 6 In the previous post I introduced the Parables (also called “Similitudes”) of Enoch, which forms a major part (chps. 37–71) of the book known as 1 Enoch. Scholars date these chapters to around the turn of the era, which happens also to be the critical period of the first followers of Yeshu haNotsri (d. ca. 65 BCE). I identify those early followers with Epiphanius’ Nasarenes (Panarion 18)—not to be confused with his invented sect of Nazoraeans (Pan 29). Except for the “nazirite” (in Judaism, a person consecrated to God, generally temporarily), all cognates with the “z” sound betray Catholic inventions: Nazarene (Mk 1:24), Nazareth and Nazoraean (Mt 2:23), as well as variations of these words found … Continue reading →

“New eyes” on the first century BCE

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The First Christians / pt. 3 The tradition dates Jesus of Nazareth’s birth to about 4 BCE. That was a full sixty years after the death of Yeshu haNotsri, whose given name was apparently Yochanan ben Abshalom in Hebrew, that is, John the son of Absalom. As we have seen, this prophet was a member of the Hasmonean royal family. Two of his uncles were kings (Aristobulus I and Janneus), his grandfather was John Hyrcanus I (r. 134–104), his own sister was married to Judas Aristobulus II—the king during whose reign John was executed—and his maternal uncle was none other than Joshua ben Perachiah, the head of the Sanhedrin (nasi) and the most powerful religious figure in the land. Despite all these … Continue reading →

The Natsarene (“Nazarene”) Religion – Pt. 8

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Early Buddhist influence on the West It is hardly acknowledged by Christian scholarship that Buddhism potentially exercised considerable influence in the Western world as early as the third century BCE. In the middle of that century, Ashoka (r. 269-232 BCE)—the Mauryan “Emperor of Emperors” who conquered most of the Indian subcontinent—sent a Buddhist missionary contingent to Alexandria at the official request of the curious and enterprising emperor Ptolemy II of Egypt (r. 283-246 BCE)—the same emperor who founded the great Library of Alexandria (eventually destroyed, probably by Christians in 391 or 415 CE).   Both Ashoka and Ptolemy II were extraordinary figures. After a particularly bloody victory against the Kalingas, Ashoka Maurya converted to Buddhism and became a pacifist. Surrounded … Continue reading →

The Natsarene (“Nazarene”) Religion – Pt. 6

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In the fourth post of this series I looked at the Parable of the Ten Maidens (Mt 25:1-13) and concluded that it was an allegory—certainly not the ipsissima verba from the mouth of the human prophet who lies at the origins of Christianity. The incipient Great Church needed to erase that flesh and blood prophet to make room for its invented and grandiose “Jesus of Nazareth.” It needed to do this because the gnostic doctrine of the “Nazarene” (Natsarene) prophet was diametrically opposed to its doctrine of faith that lay at the heart of the new Pauline kerygma (“proclamation”). Erasing the prophet from history was a fairly easy task, for that prophet has—as we can see—left few if any traces. … Continue reading →

The Natsarene (“Nazarene”) Religion – Pt. 5

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What’s in a name? In the preceding post I suggested that a number of “core” sayings found in the Christian scriptures were already extensively redacted by the time the evangelist penned his gospel. These core saying are not the ipsissima verba of the ‘lost’ prophet whom I propose existed in history (who certainly was not Jesus of Nazareth). Rather, those sayings are often themselves the product of a fairly complex and sophisticated religious tradition. For convenience I may sometimes call that tradition “Nazoreanism” and the movement to which it refers the “Nazarene” movement. This terminology is somewhat incorrect, however, for the movement that these posts describe was never Hellenist but existed purely in the Semitic realm. Hence, it should not … Continue reading →

The Natsarene (“Nazarene”) Religion – Pt. 4

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The highly redacted nature of Christian scripture In the preceding post of this series I listed a number of “themes” which provide a contour of Nazarene (i.e., pre-Christian) theology. Those themes can be deduced from sayings attributed to “Jesus” in Christian scripture, both orthodox and heterodox, according to the criteria of dissimilarity, coherence, and impracticality. They betray a gnostic outlook wherein the goal of life is to seek and find hidden wisdom (gnosis). They delimit a body of teaching that endorses separation from “the world” and the adoption of a rigorous ethical code including humility, renunciation, and chastity. This, I would suggest, is the contour of the pre-Christian Nazarene theology as evidenced by the surviving scriptural record.   The scriptural … Continue reading →

The Natsarene (“Nazarene”) Religion – Pt. 3

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The background In the first two posts in this series I argued that a human prophet lay at the root of the Christian religion—certainly not ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ This prophet taught a rigorous code of personal fulfillment out of step with both Hellenism and Judaism, yet conforming in fundamental ways with the uncompromising ethics and search for enlightenment (gnosis) found in Buddhism. The proof of these statements lies in a body of sayings preserved in the Christian scriptures themselves. Those sayings—which I have numbered at about 150—comprise a coherent body of material in tension with both the Jewish worship of Yahweh and with the Hellenist ethos of man’s domination over the material world. These “core” sayings are inward-looking and socially … Continue reading →

The Natsarene (“Nazarene”) Religion – Pt. 2

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A human prophet In the first post of this series I surmised that if three criteria are applied to the sayings in Christian scripture, then the contours of a revolutionary teaching emerge. The three criteria are dissimilarity, coherence, and impracticality. For various reasons as discussed below, these criteria show that the teaching could not have been invented. They derived from a historical figure. It was also noted that most of the material in the canonical gospels is, in fact, invented. How then, can we know which sayings attributed to “Jesus” are authentic? Precisely on the basis of the three above-mentioned criteria. Let me explain… When it comes to the Jesus tradition, there are numerous “sayings” (parables and aphorisms) which scholars … Continue reading →

My journey as a “spiritual atheist”—Pt. 3

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Motive, means, and opportunity Reflecting upon Jesus’ virgin birth, resurrection, and everything in between, I was now convinced that his various biographies as presented in the gospels are pure fiction. Liberal scholarship has amply confirmed this and shown, for example, that the birth stories in Matthew and Luke are incompatible and preposterous as history. King Herod did not murder the babies of Bethlehem—no Roman writer noted such an atrocious act. No star stood still over the village. No census required people to return to their birthplace—a prescription for social chaos, otherwise unknown, that the practical Romans would never have mandated. In other words, Christianity is founded on an invented story—indeed, upon a “lie.” That is a harsh word, but no … Continue reading →