The composite 'Jesus Christ' character god, man, king, carpenter, conqueror, peace-maker, dispenser of justice, advocate of love was assembled to try and unify a fragmented and fractious messianic religious movement.
Ken Humphreys Interviewed in Audio below..
Listen to mp3 here on Stereo DSLor Listen here on 56k Dialup
"The Next Level" Internet Radio Show
Dateline: Tuesday 25th October 2005
There are actually some 200 gospels, epistles and other books concerning the life of Jesus Christ. Writing such material was a popular literary form, particularly in the 2nd century. The pious fantasies competed with Greek romantic fiction. Political considerations in the late 2nd century led to the selection of just four approved gospels and the rejection of others.After three centuries of wrangling 23 other books were accepted by the Church as divinely inspired. The rest were declared 'pious frauds'.
In truth, the whole lot belongs to a genre of literary FICTION.
The Israelites did not come from Egypt but emerged from the local population.
There was no ancient 'Jewish Empire'. Jerusalem in 10th century BC was barely a village of mud and brick huts and cave dwellings.
Kings David and Solomon are purely mythical characters warrior/priest heroes, invented in the 6th century BC.
Herod the Great was a real king but he did not massacre any babies.
Fintan Dunn