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The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity Paperback – January 1, 1987

4.4 out of 5 stars 171

Argues that Jesus Christ never broke away from Judaism and that the Christian religion was founded by Paul

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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; Attribute not applicable for product edition (January 1, 1987)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062505858
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062505859
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 171

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Hyam MacCoby
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
171 global ratings
DISAPPOINTED!!! A written-In Book IS NOT “Used - Like New”!!!
1 Star
DISAPPOINTED!!! A written-In Book IS NOT “Used - Like New”!!!
DISAPPOINTED!!! A written-In Book IS NOT “Used - Like New”!Hard to read the book with the writing. Probably will return it.Pgs. 4-65 are heavily written-in. It’s certainly NOT “Like New”!
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2012
I recommend this book highly.
It's true that no one can prove whether or not Paul was a Pharisee, and one
cannot prove which parts of the gospels were written early and which added later,
and which parts are honest reportage and which passages might have been added later
to make a point. But a lot of skeptical and speculative biblical scholarship involves these same
problems, yet brilliant contributions are made by such scholars.
And really none of the author's speculation or conclusions in speculative matters undercut his basic theories: that Paul is the inventor of Christianity, and that he did it by fusing three different kinds of belief: gnosticism, Jewish belief, and pagan mystery religion belief.
Frankly, I think Maccoby's explanation of Paul --- his explanation for the absurdities and contradictions
in Paul, and for the sum of Paul's assertions --- is best I've ever read.
I admit for me the Christian belief system does not work. I pursued it for 12 earnest years (I also grew up
Catholic)during which time I devoted myself to faith based biblical scholarship, devouring the works of many great scholars.
But in the end it all fell apart for me; and no small part of it was that I could not make sense of the O.T. and N.T. together. The assertions by Paul in the N.T. simply were not supported by the O.T. --- and the supercessionist theology, and supercessionist cliches I confronted from Christians,, apparently built up on the basis of Paul, were not supported at all by the O.T.
I left the belief system confused, disappointed and disillusioned. And for quite some time I've pondered
questions like "How could Paul just throw out God's law from Sinai?" or "How can anyone say that the O.T.
and the N.T. together are inerrant when Paul throws out the law of God Himself?" Well, this book by Maccoby
addresses this issues in the best and most complete way I've seen to date. --- It confirms me in my conclusions that
the Christian Belief System is founded on falsehoods, contradictions, and absurdities. But it goes much further than I
could on my own in explaining how this might have come about.
I recommend this book highly --- very highly. I hope that it is not out of print now, and that if it is, that it will
very soon be reprinted. The scholarship here is excellent; the writing is clear; and the book is profoundly illuminating.
I do not agree with every single assertion or conclusion of Maccoby, but the book overall is a mighty achievement. It is tremendous in scope as it addresses the birth of a religion and the problems inherent in that religion.
It's concluding chapter alone is worth the price of a copy.
69 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2019
If Jesus wanted Paul to be an apostle, why didn't he call Paul during his (Jesus') lifetime? If Jesus wanted the gospel preached to the gentiles, why didn't he explain this to Peter and James while he was alive? If the Torah was to be modified or ignored by gentile converts, why didn't Jesus explain this to his apostles in detail while he was alive and eliminate the confusion? The twelve apostles had every right to ask themselves these questions and almost certainly did. The sudden (And clearly unwanted) appearance of Paul undoubtedly confused and angered the original twelve and sparked years of infighting, arguing, disagreements and animosity, (And this is from the sanitized and biased version of Acts, what other battles went on between these men that was never recorded?) This conflict prompted James to force Paul to make public contrition through an orthodox (Jewish) purification ceremony at the temple which led to Paul's arrest and ultimate extradition to Rome. This episode in Acts portrays James more like a mafioso Don setting up Paul for a probable stoning than a Christian leader who's trying to iron out a misunderstanding. Having Paul killed by the "...thousands of Jews..." that James gloats about would have gotten this former Pharisee pebble out of James' shoe once and for all. Maccoby delivers an outstanding work on Paul and his thoroughly questionable calling and forces us to reconsider his motivation for starting his own religion. When you are willing to read the extremely limited and untrustworthy record that has come down to us (The New Testament) with an open mind, Paul's activities and motivations are enormously questionable and call into question the entire Pauline foundation of salvation by faith alone.
30 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2013
The knock on this book is unfair, it is essentially aimed at Maccoby's limited use of accepted reference material. Of course, there cannot be any meaningful sources to corroborate Maccoby's claim if the claim is indeed true. The only meaningful source material would have to have come from Rome or its agent-Paul. We certainly could not expect that Paul or Rome would have documented and preserved evidence of the deception they sought to advance. Maccoby notes the obvious contradiction between the apparent philosophy that Jesus held during his lifetime and the irreconcilable claim of Paul that the ghost of Jesus was an advocate of antinomianism. Thus, Maccoby simply offers informed conjecture as to the motivation of Paul, I suspect that the authors assessment of Paul is rather generous relative to the probability that Paul was a self-interested Gentile that actually had a contemptuous view of the real Jesus. In all likelihood, Paul bears some portion of responsibility for composing the amalgam of Mithraism and the Mystery cults that has come to be called Christianity. Through the author's eyes we observe that the relationship between Jesus and Christianity appears to be the same as the relationship between Judaism and Christianity; that is to say, the connection is nominal in both cases. The usefulness of Maccoby lies not within his offering of educated speculation, rather, it is in his demonstration of the incompatibility of the two divergent religious philosophies portrayed in the New Testament. Like J.Klausner, Maccoby shows the stark difference between the religion of Jesus [Judaism] and the religion that fancifully claims to be about Jesus [Christianity]. Certainly this book would be offensive to many Christians; who cares? Jesus was never theirs anyway, they can keep Mithras, he is their savior.
14 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Mr. Jack Lawson
5.0 out of 5 stars Reliable and Readable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2019
What is so remarkable here is the radical reappraisal of Paul's own contradictions that made him revered and reviled, both now and then. Saul or Paul claimed to be all things to all men, but was he? Arguably his switches were serial, his mind not confused but converted. What we read of him belongs to the period when he converted from Sadducee agent / enforcer / persecutor of the early Jewish Christians to the very same on behalf of the Roman conquerors of his nation.

What Maccoby brings to the table is the disturbing evidence that the claim to have been a Pharisee, a pupil of its leader, Gamaliel, and a supporter of the Jesus circle was, most probably, false. If you want to understand Jesus without contradictions and controversy, then you have to grasp Paul as false witness with his own agenda. Not only are the forged letters of Paul fake, so, it is clear, are the authentic letters. This is not an attack on Christians but an attack on their enemy within. As Maccoby stated, Jesus would be horrified to read of his simple blessing over bread and wine at the last supper with his disciples interpreted in pagan style as the invitation to drink his blood and eat his body.

If religion is to be truth, if one God is to strengthen humanity by love of His children, etc, then it is time to recognise the content and indeed the method of this reliable, remarkable and readable book.
5 people found this helpful
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wildwop
3.0 out of 5 stars The Denouement of History's Greatest Impostor...
Reviewed in Canada on August 1, 2016
This is an interesting book by a reputable Jewish scholar. That Saul of Tarsus was the inventor of Christianity as we know it is probably an open secret to most theologians, while being a closed book to practically all the faithful. Clues to this can easily be found in the Acts and several of Saul's own letters. That his teaching of what Joshua of Nazareth was supposed to have preached didn't go down too well with Joshua's actual followers, particularly since he was spreading his view of things to the Gentiles, comes out clearly from both the Acts and the letters. That he had to flee to Rome to avoid being killed is also on record. What isn't on record is why he concocted a spurious version of Joshua's significance in the resistance to Roman occupation and what happened to him after he fled to the Eternal City...

The Author attributes Saul's motives to his failed attempt to be accepted by the Pharisees as a true-blue Jewish convert. According to the Author, Saul joined in frustration the Sadducee Great Priest's political police and persecuted Joshua's followers, before experiencing a vision on the road to Damascus. Maybe. Or maybe not. The Author never hints at the possibility that Saul's 'conversion' might have been faked and that he was still working for the Sadducees and the Romans when he created a version of Joshua's person and message that was completely at loggerheads with what the Nazarene's followers knew: a Jewish patriot/freedom fighter - that may or may not have considered himself a Messiah - and who ended up like most other rebels to Roman authority...

After performing his 'agent provocateur' mission and being rescued from the Jewish mob, Saul was probably whisked to a comfortable retirement in some warm corner of the Roman Empire. Even cautious Mr. MacCoby hints at such a possibility...

That said, this book is a mite overlong but still a very good read...
One person found this helpful
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Pinto Robert
3.0 out of 5 stars The Mythmaker
Reviewed in France on June 5, 2015
Parfaitement lisible, oeuvre d'une universitaire, thèse sur la vie et les exploits de Saul dit Saint-Paul, juif de Tarse d'origine grecque
Leighton Brown
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Canada on February 16, 2017
The book is worth the read, you may or may not agree with the thesis.
Alan Robert Alexander
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2016
I had to get this book second hand from Canada, but it came earlier than expected and would have been worth waiting longer for anyway. It gives an extremely plausible theory of the likelihood that Paul didn't just spread the message of Jesus to the Gentiles, but invented that message himself.It is written with great clarity, avoiding theological mumbo-jumbo,and is perfect for the person who does not believe in God, but would nonetheless like to know how Christianity became so successful that it prevailed as the dominant religion of history.
2 people found this helpful
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