Jesus the Wicked Priest: How Christianity Was Born of an Essene Schism (Paperback)

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Review
“Marvin Vining has produced a fascinating and engaging book with a provocative thesis--namely that the Dead Sea Scrolls refer directly to Jesus of Nazareth and that the Essene movement that they represent opposed him as the character they called ‘The Wicked Priest.’ This sort of connection between Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, both in terms of chronology and history, has been dismissed by almost all scholars in the field. Vining skillfully puts the case back on the table. He deserves a careful reading by non-specialists and those in the academy alike.”
(James D. Tabor, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Religious Studies, UNC Charlotte, and author of The Jesus Dynasty
)

“Vining’s work is remarkable Christian scholarship. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Essenes, Jesus, and the early Christian Church.”
(Clayton Sullivan, Ph.D., author of Rescuing Jesus from the Christians )

" . . . an attention-getting and provocative title. Appropriate, too, for the inevitably controversial ideas put forth in Vining's book. . . . The premise for this interesting interpretation comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls, which speak of the Teacher and the Wicked Priest." (
Curled Up with a Good Book
)

" . . . Vining stuck with standard resources and presented the theories in a well thought manner." (
Gesigewigu, Spiralnature.com, Jan 2009
)

" . . . takes a hard look at the historical Jesus . . . a startling new look at Christianity." (
The Midwest Book Review, Jul 2008 )

"[Vining] makes no excuses for his leaps of faith, but instead documents them as the insights they are. While this is hardly the first or last word on any of these topics, Vining's unique reconstruction is a valuable contribution to the field." (
The Pokey Finger of God, June 08 )

"While this is a book aimed at a Christian audience, it does offer some perspective on Pagan beliefs in the early Common Era. Whether or not you find it useful in your own understanding of Christian origins, it should encourage an open-minded approach to religion in general." (
Michael Gleason, Witchgrove.com, April 08 )

"Vining shows the reader why Jesus is the Wicked Priest for reacting against some of the strict ascetic and often self-defeating doctrines of the Essenes. . . . This is a controversial work. It does challenge many Christian doctrines. Vining has done detailed research and it is apparent in his writing that he is a man of great faith. . . . suitable for both the interested lay person as well as the biblical scholar." (
Jennifer Hoskins, New Dawn, No. 113, Mar/Apr 2009 )

Product Description
Decodes the Dead Sea Scrolls to reveal Christianity’s hidden Essene origins

• Reveals the Essenes as key figures behind Jesus’s trial, torture, and crucifixion

• Shows how Jesus, a former Essene himself, was deemed “the Wicked Priest” for his liberationist politics and humanist bent

• Examines the lost Christian doctrine of reincarnation and the secret role of Gabriel in the Virgin Birth

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947 at Qumran, are generally believed to have been written by a Jewish sect known as the Essenes between 350 BCE and 70 CE--but until now no convincing methodology has linked the Scrolls to the actual life and teachings of Jesus. Marvin Vining builds from the controversial work of Barbara Thiering to demonstrate that the Scrolls do speak directly to the origins of Christianity and even reflect a mirror image of the Gospels from the perspective of Jesus’s enemies.

Christianity arose out of a schism between the exclusivist, rigid, and militant views of the Essenes and the inclusivist, tolerant, and nonviolent views of Jesus. Jesus was raised an Essene, but he refused to follow their orthodoxy. Vining shows that the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in a secret coded language called pesher in which Jesus emerges as the Wicked Priest, the antagonist to the Teacher of Righteousness who was the leader of the Essenes. Jesus the Wicked Priest revitalizes the Gospel message by revealing Jesus’s true role as a tireless social reformer and revolutionary teacher. Vining’s study reopens Christian doctrinal questions supposedly long settled, such as reincarnation and the Virgin birth--even demonstrating that these two issues are related. He discloses that the angel Gabriel was incarnate in a living human being and transmitted the seed of a holy bloodline to the Virgin Mary.


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4 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Reconstruction, June 16, 2008 By  C. S. Burton (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Jesus the Wicked Priest: How Christianity Was Born of an Essene Schism This work is a fascinating reading that combines sources from Dead Sea Scroll materials and Biblical exegesis to produce a surprisingly personal story of conflict between characters in the gospel stories. Vining brings to life a vital, aggressive Jesus, along with some emotionally complex contemporaries, revealing a minor miracle to be the most extraordinary socio-political commentary that could have been made in that time and place. If you've had your fill of timid, makepeace Christs, this book is for you. Even if you discard any or all of of Vining's conclusions, you will not be disappointed by the depth of material as he presents his various arguments. He has stayed on top of recent, primary research on DSS materials -- related results have been the foundation of much of this work -- and so this work is chock full of up-to-date, topical references. This glimpse at the current state of the DSS research was, for me, worth the price of admission. Vining is also unafraid to take risks. He makes leaps, he surmises, he paints with broad strokes: the result is more Pollock than Picasso. Like any work heavily dependent upon speculation, gaps suitable for long-range naval vessels frequently appear. A healthy stamina for withholding judgment is required to complete the entire book. One issue I had from the beginning was Vining's identification of the Essenes as the dominant group within 1st century Palestine. While he makes a number of compelling connections to bridge this assumption, one the whole, they don't hold up. Fortunately, it doesn't seem that Essene political dominance is particularly relevant to the final story. What his argument does do is to demonstrate that the Essenes provided significant theological and political contributions to Judaean society as well as to the early Church. Vining's titular identification of Jesus as the Wicked Priest is a reference to some commentaries found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Primarily these pesharim were commentaries on Habakkuk, Nahum, and Psalms that "translated" ancient verses into advice applicable for contemporary events. These commentaries describe a conflict between the "Teacher of Righteousness" and the "Wicked Priest". Most scholars look for these roles to be played by people early in the Maccabeean era. In common reconstructions, the "Teacher of Righteousness" is the leader of the Essene group that goes off to write the DSS, while the "Wicked Priest" was one of the Maccabees. Vining feels that the scrolls are misdated by over a hundred years, and fills the roll of "Wicked Priest" with a highly disobedient and obstinate Jesus and the "Teacher of Righteousness" with Simeon, the High Priest of the Temple mentioned in the Gospels. No small part of this identification is justified through Vining's interpretation of Essene reincarnation beliefs. No doubt some academic types could come up with a dozen reasons why this particular reconstruction is unlikely, that is if the reincarnation issue doesn't eliminate his book from serious consideration. Unlike some academics, however, Vining appears to be open to discussion on many of his points: I left some questions at his website [www.marvinvining.com], and he answered them most fully! At the end, we are left with a touching and sincere expression of personal faith. He takes his time bringing the reader along something that appears to mirror his own path of discovery for this question. He makes no excuses for his leaps of faith, but instead documents them as the insights they are. While this is hardly the first or last word on any of these topics, Vining's unique reconstruction is a valuable contribution to the field. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best I've read, July 10, 2009 By  D. Bischel "-his other half" (california) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This book was so exciting for me to find and read because when I was first reading the Dead Sea Scrolls - like two years ago - it occurred to me that the frequent venomous mention of a mysterious "Wicked Priest" and "Man of the Lie" who was "hung on a tree" seemed like such an obvious way to portray the enemy who made it his top priority to preach against all the hardcore Essene/Scribe rules. Who was the number one guy doing that around this time-period? Seriously, how many scribe-worthy crucifictions happened to men teaching the rejection of the LAW during the messianic era anyway? That was my thinking. But all the explanations I could find in books never mentioned Jesus being associated with the DSS at all. Robert Eisenman's ideas were the most unsettling: that the real Christianity was Jamesian - and if he was the DSS Teacher of Righteousness, that brand of Christianity was seriously heinous! I was further perplexed because everything in the Bible that Jesus talks about seems to go completely against the DSS Scribes' fanatical rules, and he was definitely dogged and harassed by the Scribes, and he certainly was publicly executed in that hanging fashion. So I pondered it for a while and did some more research. I wondered about how the DSS consensus scholars and the Church had conspired to cover up and delay so much of the translation over almost 50 years. Then I was really intrigued. With my Jesus/Wicked Priest theory I thought I'd come up with something really new and cutting edge, but who would believe it? Finally, I had an inspired (duh!) thought to just google "Jesus + Wicked Priest" and lo and behold, that same year - 2008- a book with that title had just come out. I bought it and read it in two days. It's now highlighted and dog-eared. It is so well-researched, I can't praise it enough. [...] When you put all the evidence together, Mr. Vining's explanations make the most logical sense. This book will make you love Jesus all the more. I wish more researchers and scholars would get over themselves and take a good look at Jesus the Wicked Priest. Vining's work rescues Jesus from the Christian fundamentalists and the Anti-Christian crowd both. He emerges as the true revolutionary who can inspire our world NOW. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Is Jesus nothing more than a radical and charlatan from two thousand years ago?, July 10, 2008 By  Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews Is Jesus nothing more than a radical and charlatan from two thousand years ago? "Jesus the Wicked Priest: How Christianity Was Born of an Essene Schism" takes a hard look at the historical Jesus, referencing the dead sea scrolls that were found in 1947. Evaluating an argument that is heresy to many Christians, and seeking to reinforce it with a study of the immaculate conception and the resurrection, "Jesus the Wicked Priest: How Christianity Was Born of an Essene Schism" is a startling new look at Christianity. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 4 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars Controversial, to say the least Outwardly this is a scholarly treatise, filled with arcane references and academic endnotes. Inwardly it feels more like a novel. The plot is bizarre, but fascinating. Read more Published 14 months ago by Larry Gates Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 4 customer reviews...

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