There would also be a monumental challenge from within: a breakaway form of Judaism called Christianity. Empires Special: Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites: The Gifts of the Jews, PBS 2003
In the centuries ahead, this new prejudice of Christians towards Jews would lead to anti-Jewish laws, violent attacks and mass evictions. ibid.
It is wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what was done in his. Tony Benn
From the very beginning of our quest to unravel the Christ conspiracy, we encounter suspicious territory, as we look back in time and discover that the real foundation of Christianity appears nothing like the image provided by the clergy and mainstream authorities. Indeed, far more rosy and cheerful than the reality is the picture painted by the vested interests as to the origins of the Christian religion: to wit, a miracle-making founder and pious, inspired apostles who faithfully and infallibly recorded his words and deeds shortly after his advent, and then went about promulgating the faith with great gusto and success in ‘saving souls’. Contrary to this popular delusion, the reality is that, in addition to the enormous amount of bloodshed which accompanies its foundation, Christianity’s history is rife with forgery and fraud. So rampant is this treachery and chicanery that any serious researcher must immediately begin to wonder about the story itself. In truth, the Christian tale has always been as difficult to swallow as the myths and fables of other cultures; yet countless people have been able to overlook the rational mind and to willingly believe it, even though they may equally as easily dismiss the nearly identical stories of these other cultures.
… We have seen that there is no evidence for the historicity of the Christian founder, that the earliest Christian proponents were as a whole either utterly credulous or astoundingly deceitful, and that said ‘defenders of the faith’ were compelled under incessant charges of fraud to admit that Christianity was a rehash of older religions. It has also been demonstrated that the world into which Christianity was born was filled with assorted gods and goddesses, as opposed to a monotheistic vacuum. In fact, in their fabulous exploits and wondrous powers many of these gods and goddesses are virtually the same as the Christ character, as attested to by the Christian apologists themselves. In further inspecting this issue we discover that ‘Jesus Christ’ is in fact a compilation of these various gods, who were worshipped and whose dramas were regularly played out by ancient people long before the Christian era. Acharya S aka D M Murdock: The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold
The Jesus of Nazareth who came forward publicly as the Messiah, who preached the ethic of the kingdom of God, who founded the kingdom of heaven upon earth and died to give his work its final consecration never existed ... He will be a Jesus, who was Messiah, and lived as such, either on the ground of a literary fiction of the earliest Evangelist, or on the ground of a purely eschatological Messianic conception. In either case, He will not be a Jesus Christ to whom the religion of the present can ascribe, according to its long-cherished custom, its own thoughts and ideas, as it did with the Jesus of its own making ... It is not given to history to disengage that which is abiding and eternal in the being of Jesus from the historical forms in which it worked itself out, and to introduce it into our world as a living influence. Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus ch20 results
Even supposing some Greeks are so foolish as to think that the gods dwell in the statues, even that would be a much purer concept (of religion) than to admit that the Divine Power should descend into the womb of the Virgin Mary, that it became an embryo, and after birth was wrapped in rags, soiled with blood and bile, and even worse. Porphyry of Tyre, Against the Christians
Christians do not really believe in the Bible ... A great deal of Leviticus and Corinthians is full of the most poisonous murderous intolerance, and clearly the Archbishop of Canterbury doesn’t believe a word of it. Ian McEwan, interview with Professor Richard Dawkins
Several of these lost Gospels have actually been found. And they paint an unexpected portrait of Christ. The writers of these ancient manuscripts were unknown scribes working in the three centuries after Jesus’ death. Possibly looking to promote their own versions of Christianity. Their Gospels were deemed heretical but someone thought they were worth saving. Jesus: The Secret Life
In the second and third centuries there were many different interpretations of the story of Jesus of Nazareth. These alternative stories whether fact or fiction may have been ways to come to terms with Jesus Christ. The man, the prophet, the son of God. Opinions ranged from the traditional to the extreme. ibid.
Another of the lost texts is the Gospel according to Judas, the betrayer of Christ. In this stunning document Judas is portrayed as a hero for handing Christ over to the authorities. This Gospel says Jesus told Judas to do it, and that Judas would be favoured for doing the dead. ibid.
One apocryphal text doesn’t stop at Jesus’ childhood; it actually attempts to fill in the blanks of his life between the ages of twelve and thirty. This unusual modern account tells a truly incredible tale: a tale of Jesus’ journey out of Galilee and into the Himalayas. ibid.
At Christ’s side during much of his final years is Mary Magdalene. And her story has recently sparked heated controversy. The Bible mentions Mary Magdalene eighteen times, and she’s clearly one of the Holy Book’s most important and provocative characters. And two of the alternative Gospels – The Gospel of Mary found in the late nineteenth century in a monk’s tomb, and the Gospel of Philip, which is part of the Nag Hammadi library – may hint at a surprising intimate relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. ibid.
‘Let his blood be upon us and on our children’: the words have resounded through the ages and shaped Jewish/Christian relations for the last two-thousand years. Who Killed Jesus?
The Resurrection of Jesus ... is absolutely fundamental to the faith. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor
In the years 325 A.D. Constantine summoned his new Bishops to the city of Nicea ... Their version of the resurrection story was made official. Jesus: The Lost 40 Days, History 2011
The most famous human being in all of history was a first century Jewish revolutionary. His name was Jesus. Christians believe Jesus was crucified, died and on the third day, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. But for 2,000 years there have been those who’ve challenged the truth of this Biblical story. And some have died for expressing those doubts. Jesus Was a Buddhist Monk, BBC 2011
Only Christians believe he rose from the dead. ibid.
An extraordinary psychological tool to bring in new converts. ibid.
Some people find it hard to believe in the literal truth of the miracles, let alone the miracle of the Resurrection. ibid.
Week in after week after congregations gather in Christian churches. ibid.
All Christians affirm their belief in the Resurrection. ibid.
Islam and Christianity have been portrayed as mortal enemies for 1,400 years. Melvyn Bragg, The Muslim Jesus, ITV 2007
Both Muslims and Christians agree that Jesus will return to defeat the Anti-Christ. But whereas the Bible used metaphorical language to describe the event, Islamic tradition gives a blow by blow account of exactly what will happen when Jesus comes back. ibid.
The Reformation in Germany in 1517 led by Martin Luther. It was an emotional and intellectual earthquake throughout Europe. It undermined the seemingly all-powerful Roman Catholic Church and demanded that everyone should have the right to read the Bible in their own language. Melvyn Bragg, The King James Bible: The Book that Changed the World, 2001
In 325 A.D. Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea to decide the basic tenets of Christianity. He brings together the most powerful church leaders from around the world to discuss legalising a formal Christian religion ... Constantine also unified the Christian Gospels and limited the Gospels he considered ‘fit for the State religion’. ibid.
Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue with that. I’m right and I will be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first – rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me. John Lennon
He [Constantine] summoned the Bishops because bitter theological disputes about Jesus and the extent to which he was God were unsettling the hard-won stability of his empire. Ian Wilson, Jesus: The Evidence I; viz also book, Channel 4 1984
Did the Church get its historical facts about Jesus right? Were the doctrines voted on in the highly charged atmosphere of Nicaea and later councils an accurate reflection of the historical Jesus? ibid.
For some reason Jesus seems preoccupied with secrecy. ibid.
The lack of conclusive evidence about Jesus. ibid.
The Scrolls make no reference to Jesus or early Christianity. Ian Wilson, Jesus: The Evidence II
Why was Jesus crucified? There’s no clear answer. ibid.
He was not the messiah most of his compatriots were expecting but he may have sought to change those expectations. Ian Wilson, Jesus: The Evidence III
There’s no evidence that he ever intended to establish a new religion or that anyone saw him in his lifetime as divine. ibid.
Nowhere does he [Paul] mention the empty tomb. ibid.
Right from the beginning Christianity was split between different factions vying for supremacy. ibid.
James was the brother of Jesus. The cult of the virgin grew at the same time as the first Christian histories were written, hence their tendency to suppress the role played by James and other member of Jesus’ family. ibid.
There once existed a third major strand of Christianity. They were called Gnostic Christians. ibid.
Three main strands had emerged: Jewish Christianity centred on Jerusalem, Gentile Christianity in Asia Minor and Greece, and Gnostic Christianity in Egypt and parts of Syria. ibid.
Somehow, Gnosticism lost the battle. ibid.