Jesus the Terrorist [Paperback]

Peter Cresswell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Cresswell develops the theme of name plays and inversions used by early Christian authors to transform a Jewish messianic resistance movement into a religious cult obedient to Rome. He shows how the character of zealots and sicarii assassins was altered and how one of the movement's messiahs, Jesus, was converted into a resurrected pagan god. -- Professor Robert Eisenman, Author of James the Brother of Jesus and The New Testament Code

This book brings to life revolutionary ideas about the origins of Christianity. It's gripping, fascinating, hard to put down. -- Manda Scott, Crime writer and author of the Boudica series of historical novels

A comparison of the images of Jesus Christ as nurtured by religious organisations with the evidence available from His times. -- Ray Thomas, Open University

Product Description

This is the shocking truth: Jesus was a zealot who wanted to be King of Israel. The apostles and disciples were members of his family, by blood and by marriage, and they went on to wage a war against Rome. Far from converting, Saul, the false apostle, remained malicious and vindictive to the end. Saul invented Christianity, borrowing the rituals of a pagan religion, Mithraism. The gospels are a deliberately scrambled version of Jewish zealot propaganda with characters, who were Jewish warriors, stolen and subverted by Christian writers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: O Books (February 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846942748
• ISBN-13: 978-1846942747
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,874,849 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jesus; a rational view, March 3, 2010

By	John L. Lowe "J" (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Jesus the Terrorist (Paperback)

Peter Cresswell offers a rare book; an attempt at an objective view of a history more usually approached from the point of view of faith. He opens by contextualising the story, comparing it to current politics and terminology, as well as its own historical context and the politics of the time. He later goes on to examine the various contexts and standpoints of his sources. An intriguing further link the author makes is that with pagan myth.
The author quickly uncovers inconsistencies and uncertainties in the various accounts of the history of the person we now know as Christ, clarifying his role and the role of many of the people associated with him as belonging to groups of resistance fighters, terrorists or freedom fighters according to one's point of view. He is able to theorise lucidly on the rationale of those who may have re-interpreted the stories since, to suit the political and ecumenical purposes of churches established since the events he studies. Examples of this include a convincing case for the `air brushing out' of the real family and for the obscuring of Yeshua's Jewish origins. The comparative abundance of material on Paul is also credibly explained and enlisted to support the author's thesis that much of the story as currently received has been altered to suit the purposes of intermediate writers and of others, including Paul himself, who were alive at the time.
The relevance of this work to our times is clearly shown by the use of some passages, for example libellously suggesting it was Jews rather than Romans who brought about Yeshua's execution, since exploited to justify the persecution of the former.
The author succeeds in producing a book that combines academic rigour with readability, the reader being helped by a flowing style, logical progression as well as clear sub-headings, signposting crucial points in the author's argument. There are some points in the book where more thorough proof reading would have eliminated grammatical errors, but these are infrequent and therefore a minor irritation in an original and important contribution to our understanding of this part of the history of our culture.
This book will be valued equally, both by those who appreciate an evidence-based account, honest in acknowledging the necessary limitations to certainty permitted by the subjective nature of the data available, and by those whose convictions are sufficiently strong to permit them to contemplate a different point of view.

Earlier books by this author include The Censored Messiah