Customer Reviews

The Jesus Papers

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Apparently I need to qualify this review: I am NOT a Christian. I started out that way and studied many decades, but now I'm a Buddhist. So I am critiquing this book as it is, not ranting about an imaginary "Jesus". When I first finished reading this book - when it was hot off the presses - I threw it across the room. THE JESUS PAPERS promised something it never, ever delivered: the true story of this myth called "Jesus".

Baigent, famously disliked by his elder colleague going all the way back to Henry Lincoln and HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL, tosses out a bunch of "spec" about Jesus' mortality and the game is afoot. Jesus survived the crucifixion (so what, I'd heard for decades that Jesus got an impostor crucified in his place). Jesus was alive in 45 (A.D. otherwise known as CE).

There is certainly more, but it is Baigent, Baigent and more Baigent - a pageant of Baigent yet I see no serious scholarship in this. I never saw any, not even when I wanted to pretend there might be some there.

How I've waited, and tossed aside three unpromising books of my own without publication, hoping someone would tell the true story of how thirteen different myths got rolled into one "Jesus". If ever there was a Jesus, he's long gone except in people's imaginations.

And I'm still waiting: Baigent with his "I've-got-a-secret" pseudointellectualism isn't going to put me out of my misery. Let's put Baigent out of his misery and NOT buy his cruddy book.

Read THE INVENTION OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE by Professor Sand (vid. my review). You'll get more out of it and you may just learn who this "Jesus" character is supposed to be. If you can get your hands on Nicolas Notovitch's THE LOST YEARS OF JESUS, jump at it!

So I have to re-qualify myself now and say I am indeed a PROUD descendant of Jews. As to HOLY BLOOD, can you for a moment imagine how many millions of us Jews may or may not be descended from King David? - or belong to the so-called "House of David"? No one knows!

And in the words of Isaac Asimov, "Who cares?"

This book is just excellent. Michael B is correcting history as we know it (as told by the Roman tyrrants). Exciting and very enlightening at the same time. Quite good to have the Oxford dict. on the Kindle since many words can be difficult for non-english citizens. I Loved it! The Book can be considered a sequal to "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" . Give us more Micheal ! Don't you ever stop your research!