DiscountDelight - The Jesus Papers : Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History

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Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco

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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780060827137
ISBN: 0060827130
Label: HarperSanFrancisco
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2006-04-01
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
Release Date: 2006-03-28
Studio: HarperSanFrancisco

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Summary: The Jesus Papers
Comment: Finally a book I can sink my teeth into! I could not put this book down. It is about time someone writes about the historical Jesus without the distorted lense of a religous agenda. This is a scholarly book with heart and looks at the documented evidence of the historical Jesus verses the manipulated vision of Jesus by power hunger politicians religious leaders in the early church of the 3rd and 4th century Roman church. This is scholarship but not a cold clinical sort of scholarship, Michael Baigent has the heart of a shaman and can sense the spirit of the archeological sites he has visited personally. Spirituality and science co-mingle without the politics this book is a breath of fresh air. Thank you Michael!

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Summary: Unmasking the Obvious
Comment: An inherent problem associated with any cult trying to become a mass movement religion in historic times is the inconvenient and persistent presence of data that contradicts the essential 'facts' surrounding the religion when it tries to go mainstream. This is the flaw in 'canonical' Christianity that will never disappear despite a concerted effort to keep the public in the dark. Michael Baigent has devoted the better part of his professional life to exposing the origins of Christianity to the light of historical experience and takes us on a rather remarkable adventure grounded not in unsupported hearsay and readily disprovable observations but in real events and real history. The witnesses are gone but their testimony stands. Contradictions abound in the Christian 'telling' of what happened just over 2,000 years ago that even Christian theologians have long recognized that it defies credulity. As Tertullian put it: "Credo quia absurdum", "I believe because it is absurd or ridiculous."
In exposing the 'how' and the 'why' of this particular enterprise, Baigent counters that it is ridiculous to believe what is absurd. Not for nothing, for example, do the Dead Sea Scrolls identify Paul as the "Teacher of Lies." This is a great addition to any library. If 12 guys emerge from a room and tell you that they have just been in the presence of G-d, I assume that you, like me, will keep walking.

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Summary: Misquoting the Gospels of Mark and John
Comment: Mr. Baigent will most likely ignore this comment as he strolls happily to the bank, but I felt that the Amazon readers are entitled to know. In his effort to support his theory that there was a conspiracy by Pilate to keep Jesus alive, Mr. Baigent, on page 130 of his book, writes that there is 'an odity that we need to note in the Gospel of Mark." He proceeds to say that Joseph of Arimathea, in asking Pilate for the body of Jesus, used the Greek word "soma" which, Baigent explains, "denotes a living body" while Pilate used the word "ptoma" which, he writes, "means a fallen body, a corpse, or carcass." Using this "clue,", Mr. Baigent asserts that "Joseph is asking for the living body of Jesus." Well, I am sorry to say that Mark (15 : 43-45) uses the word "soma" in both instances in the original Greek. "Soma" is the word used in Greek not only referring to a living body but also to a dead person, especially when referring to beloved dead. "Ptoma" is used when referring to a cadaver.

There is a second misrepresentation on p. 129. He writes: "Then, in a very curious addition, [John] reports that Joseph of Arimathea and a colleague, Nicodemus, visited the tomb, during the night, (Baigent has the last three words in italics for emphasis) and brought with them a very large amount of spices: myrrh and aloes" (John 19:39). For Baigent this is the smoking gun. They went to use the spices "as an aid to stop the bleeding." Well, the Gospel of John writes: [After Pilate allowed Joseph of Arimathea to take the body, together with Joseph] "came also Nicodemus, who had visited Jesus at night earlier," [and they brought the mixture of spices]. John is simply identifiying Nicodemus as a man who had visited Jesus at an earlier time "at night." The two men came to the tomb to bury Jesus. The mysterious visit to the tomb during the night by Joseph and Nicodemus is only in Mr. Baigent's imagination. For the readers who are interested in valid history, not fiction, there is a new book "Myths We Live By: From the Life and Times of Jesus and Paul" by Prof. Andrew C. Delos. It is provocative and it is no fiction.

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Summary: Right up my alley
Comment: A previous observation is probably correct: Those solidly embedded in the faux faith of Catholicism, Televangelism and those who want to be led by the blind - or was that the corrupt? - will have difficulty digesting this book. Personally, I'm tired of the entire history of those in pompous places, who feel a need to "guide" us. I'm tired of stories involving men of the cloth who rape little kids. I'm ashamed of a history of wholesale-murders and wars on behalf of a god and son team which demands such atrocities. The idea of "that" is easier to believe than the contents of this book? Who are some of you kidding?

Give me the shepherd in sandals any day. Reasonably serious seekers will find something in this book to contemplate and inspire as long as one realizes, that no book has ALL the answers. You'll have to look elsewhere too and there are many out there: Stephen Mitchell's "Gospel according to Jesus", John Dominic Crosson's "Jesus, a Revolutionary Biography", Kersten's "Jesus lived in India" and many more, including some mentioned in this book. While no book alone may make one more faithful, as a variety, they may give us a chance at better judgement. We will find, that there is no one vehicle, which takes us to some guilded heaven where little angels play harps. It's a foot march involving a lot of steps and this book is a pleasant stretch along the way.

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Summary: A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing...
Comment: Martin Luther King Jr. used to say: "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." And that's exactly the problem with this book. Michael Baigent tries to expose "the greatest cover up in history" by revealing the following "secrets" about Jesus:

-- He wasn't divine and never really claimed to be
-- During his formative years along the Nile, Jesus was educated in various Egyptian mystery cults
-- Nazareth (probably) didn't even exist during his lifetime
-- Jesus was almost certainly married to Mary Magdalene, who wasn't really from the town of Magdala
-- Later, Jesus became part of a political movement to usurp Roman power but was later betrayed by his own supporters because he didn't toe the party line on taxes and other matters
-- Jesus didn't actually die on the cross
-- The bloodline of Mr. and Mrs. Christ continued in southern France and heavily influenced the Cathar movement of the Middle Ages.

And just to top it off, all of these claims can all be proven by secret documents that Baigent has seen WITH HIS OWN EYES, but which are now either missing, destroyed or inaccessible. Let's not forget that the Catholic Church has brutally suppressed all of the above for centuries.

So, what does he stand for? Let's say that Baigent stands for historical truth and honesty in the face of religious superstition. If that's so, we'd expect him to use credible and verifiable historical evidence to support his claims. We'd also expect him to put that evidence in its historical context and cite opposing opinions on each major count. That's what trained historians do.

Unfortunately, "The Jesus Papers" is a complete failure as a work of objective history. There's just enough truth in it to lend an air of credibility for gullible readers, not unlike his previous fantasy book, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." But most of the claims are little more than rank conjecture based on the flimsiest of evidence and distortions of the record. Serious scholars of ancient history will enjoy reading this book for the laugh value. Others please beware...A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

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What if everything you think you know about Jesus is wrong? In The Jesus Papers, Michael Baigent reveals the truth about Jesus's life and crucifixion. Despite -- or rather because of -- all the celebration and veneration that have surrounded the figure of Jesus for centuries, Baigent asserts that Jesus and the circumstances leading to his death have been heavily mythologized.

As a religious historian and a leading expert in the field of arcane knowledge, Baigent has unequaled access to hidden archives, secret societies, Masonic records, and the private collections of antiquities traders and their moneyed clients. Using that access to full advantage, Baigent explores the religious and political climate in which Jesus was born and raised, examining not only the conflicts between the Romans and the Jews, but the strife within the different factions of the Jewish Zealot movement. He chronicles the migrations of Jesus's family, his subsequent exposure to other cultures, and the events, teachings, and influences that were most likely to have shaped his early years. Baigent also uncovers the inconsistencies and biases in the accounts of the major historians of Jesus's time, including Josephus, Pliny, and Tacitus. The enduring influence of these accounts in forming our most common conceptions of Jesus reveals that spin is not a new phenomenon.

Taking us back to sites that over the last twenty years he has meticulously explored, studied, and in some instances excavated for the first time, Baigent provides a detailed account of his groundbreaking discoveries, including many never-before-seen photos. The evidence he has uncovered has lead him to make shocking new assertions that threaten the conventional account of Jesus's life and death and shake the very foundation of Western thought, based as it is upon the assumption of Jesus's divinity. Ultimately, his investigation raises the hope that we may gain a new understanding of Jesus.