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Hyam MacCoby

The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity Hardcover – January 1, 1998

by Hyam Maccoby (Author)

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Maccoby's account of Paul is nothing short of a thorough shredding. If Paul was a trained Pharisee, why don't his arguments have the sound logical structure he should have learned in Pharisee School? Isn't there something a little funny about the way Paul whipped out Roman citizenship papers whenever he got into trouble? And just what _was_ the nature of the famous disagreement between Peter and Paul? Maccoby's Paul was, in short, a cunning rogue who pieced together a new religion from bits of this and that, and then dressed the whole thing up with a sprinkling of out-of-context Torah quotations. Does he denigrate Paul too far? Perhaps. Does he fail to account adequately for the rise of Christianity? Perhaps. But can we ever read the letters of Paul the same way again after Maccoby has scrutinized them? Undoubtedly not. Agree or disagree, Maccoby's volume makes a strong counterargument to those who, having reclaimed Jesus as a Jew, wish to extend the same courtesy to Paul. If this book becomes available again, grab a copy at once. And check out Maccoby's other books as well.

Print length

238 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Barnes & Noble Books
Publication date

January 1, 1998
ISBN-10

0760707871
ISBN-13

978-0760707876
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Barnes & Noble Books; Seventh Printing. edition (January 1, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 238 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0760707871
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0760707876
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #436,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #73,976 in Christian Books & Bibles

Customer Reviews:
139 ratings

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4 star		14%
3 star		5%
2 star		3%
1 star		4%

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Armchair Historian

Outstanding insight into the question of Paul's motivation and credibility

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2019

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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.

13 people found this helpful

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Anders H. Berg

The Christian church doesn’t follow Jesus’ teachings

Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2020

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Excellent book. Author really investigated history to voice his opinion about SAUL of Tarsis. I would recommend this book to all Christians, not to destroy their beliefs, but to learn why The majority of Jews do not follow Jesus teachings.

5 people found this helpful

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Lawrence D Eden

A Technical Study

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2015

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I agree with the author's position: Jesus would not have recognized himself in Paul's teaching. The "Jesus" that Paul invented had very little do do with the historical Jesus.

17 people found this helpful

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Drew

Not taken seriously by real scholars

Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2017

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When Hyam Maccoby first published this book, Pauline scholars, whether they are religious, not religious, or even atheists agreed that this is one of the worst books on Paul ever written. Atheist scholars like Bart Ehrman, James Crossley, and Gerd Luddeman (to name a few) have about as much respect for this book as they do for tinfoil hat conspiracy theories. Even his fellow Jewish scholars like Mark Nanos thought this book was crank history.

I am writing this review not as a Christian, but as an Orthodox Jew with an interest in Pauline thought. There are plenty of well-researched books out there which challenge traditional Christian views of Jesus and Paul. This is not one of them. Maccoby takes his simplistic view of Second Temple Judaism (which is really just his understanding of Medieval Judaism which he projects onto antiquity) and forces it on the New Testament.

What's even worse is that he trusts Ebionite teachings on Paul as more historically accurate than Paul's own writings! Not only is this enormously ad hoc (there is no evidence Ebionism existed before the year 70 C.E., but the earliest records of these Ebionite teachings are very late. The earliest record we have of Ebionism is in a work by Irenaeus in C.E. 180. In order to get a full treatment of what Ebionites believed, you have to go to Epiphanius's Against Heresies published in C.E. 375. Maccoby also relies on the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions, which was Published in C.E. 350.

Maccoby's method of separating fact from fiction reminds me of typical Internet conspiracy theorists:

Any evidence which contradicts his theory is dismissed as outright fabrication, no matter how early or multiply attested it is.
Any evidence which supports his theory is accepted as fact, no matter how late or sketchy it is.

Finally, Maccoby goes full retard on page 95, where he asserts that Paul is not only a Sadducee, but also a convert to Judaism with no Jewish lineage. The problem is that the Sadducees were not a political party based on ideology, but one based on identity. The whole point of being a Sadducee is to claim that you are a paternal descendant from the line of the high priest Zadok (the name Sadducee is based on the name of Zadok). A convert with no Jewish blood could no more be a Sadducee than he could be a Kohen or a Levi.

For a real Jewish look on Paul, I'd recommend Joseph Klausner's From Jesus to Paul. Klausner clearly did his homework for this book as he did for his previous work Jesus of Nazareth. The only downside is that it's a bit dated. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the publication of Paul and Palestinian Judaism by E.P. Sanders have convinced most scholars that Paul's "innovations" are not the result of Greco-Roman influences, but the result of Second Temple Jewish thought.

68 people found this helpful

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Adam P. James

Book in excellent condition. Fast delivery.

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2019

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Received very fast and looking forward to a great read!

2 people found this helpful

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EastTNWolf

Excellent study into the Roman puppet Paul

Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2017

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Excellent study into the Roman puppet Paul. I don't know if I agree with everything in the book, but it is quite interesting.

6 people found this helpful

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Norma Austin

Down with Paul

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2017

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We are studying this along with Jesus Words Only. Complements his book, and Zealot by Aslan is good too.

5 people found this helpful

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Denise Hernandez Gabino

Seems logical and well researched

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2019

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A very thought provoking book

One person found this helpful

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Mr. Jack Lawson

Reliable and Readable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2019

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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

Ida M.

Good book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2019

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I read this book many, many years ago, borrowing it from a friend of mine. It left a profound impression on me.
It is good for cross-referencing when elaborating some points in the Bible.

It is now very difficult to find this book, as there are no new editions. I was very pleased when I saw it here. And, the price was good!

One person found this helpful

Alan Robert Alexander

A wonderful book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2016

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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

Rhoda

Superficial and ideas cannot be supported by facts

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2021

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This book makes abstract claims which have no basis. It views Paul as an external Jew just because he had a different view to the others. It views Jesus as a Pharisee just because the Pharisees would agree with some of the teachings of Jesus. In my opinion it is superficial and there is not much research or facts to back these claims.

darryl

Signed By Author

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

Lovely book, many thanks

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