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Christ's Ventriloquists: The Event that Created Christianity Paperback – April 30, 2012

by Eric Zuesse (Author)

3.9 133 ratings

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CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS is a work of investigative history. It documents and describes Christianity’s creation-event, in the year 49 or 50, in Antioch (present-day Antakya, Turkey), 20 years after Jesus had been crucified in Jerusalem for sedition against Roman rule. On this occasion, Paul broke away from the Jewish sect that Jesus had begun, and he took with him the majority of this sect’s members; he convinced these people that Jesus had been a god, and that the way to win eternal salvation in heaven is to worship him as such. Paul here explicitly introduced, for the first time anywhere, the duality of the previously unitary Jewish God, a duality consisting of the Father and the Son; and he implicitly introduced also the third element of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost. This work also explains and documents the tortuous 14-year-long conflict Paul had had with this sect’s leader, Jesus’s brother James, a conflict which caused Paul, in about the year 50, to perpetrate his coup d’état against James, and to start his own new religion: Christianity. Then, this historical probe documents that the four canonical Gospel accounts of the words and actions of “Jesus” were written decades after Jesus, by followers of Paul, not by followers of Jesus; and that these writings placed into the mouth of “Jesus” the agenda of Paul. Paul thus effectively became, via his followers, Christ’s ventriloquist. A work such as this can be documented and produced only now, after the development (during the past 70 years) of modern legal/forensic methodology. Previously, the only available methods, which scholars have used, simply assumed the honesty-of-intent of all classical documents, especially of canonical religious ones, such as Paul’s epistles, and the Four Gospels. Only now is it finally possible to penetrate deeper than that, to reach the writer’s intent, and not merely his assertions, and to identify when this intent is to deceive instead of to inform. Whereas scholars have been able to discuss only the truth or falsity of particular canonical statements, it is now possible to discuss also the honesty or deceptiveness of individual statements. This opens up an unprecedented new research tool for historians, and CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS is the first work to use these new methods to reconstruct, on this legal/forensic basis, not just how crimes took place, but how and why major historical events (criminal or not), such as the start of Christianity, actually occurred. The author explains: “What I am doing in this work is to reconstruct from the New Testament the crucial events that produced it, without assuming whether what the NT says in any given passage is necessarily true or even honest. Instead of treating the NT as a work that ‘reports history,’ the NT is treated as a work whose history is itself being investigated and reported. Its origin goes back to this coup d’état that Paul perpetrated in Antioch in the year 49 or 50 against Jesus’s brother James in Jerusalem, whom Jesus in Jerusalem had appointed in the year 30 as his successor to lead the Jewish sect that Jesus had started. The Gospel accounts of ‘Jesus’ reflected Paul’s coup d’état – not actually Jesus, who would be appalled at the Christian concept of ‘Christ.’ That concept was radically different from the Jewish concept of the messiah, and Paul knew this when he created it.”

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eric Zuesse is a winner of the Mencken Award for investigative reporting. His previous books include IRAQ WAR: The Truth, and WHY THE HOLOCAUST HAPPENED. PRE-PUBLICATION ENDORSEMENTS of CHRIST'S VENTRILOQUISTS: "A winner." - Bruce Chilton, author of Rabbi Jesus, and Director of the Institute for Advanced Theology at Bard College "My skeptical ear detects a very distinct ring of plausibility in this gripping tale. ... provocatively interesting, ... and forcefully written." - Richard Dawkins, Oxford University and author of bestsellers The Selfish Gene, and The God Delusion "Great writing; great forensic investigation." - David Davis, participant in the Jesus Seminar's discussion group "This book is an absolute must-read for anyone investigating the origins of Christianity ... insightful, well-written, and powerfully informative." - Joe E. Holman, author of Project Bible Truth "Presents a side of Paul that the general reader of the Bible, or even the scholars, miss." - Oswald Schrag, Emeritus Professor of Religion at Fisk University, Fellow of the Jesus Seminar, and member of the Westar Institute "It works for explaining Christian origins. ... Paul has to do away with [Judaism's demand for] circumcision. That is so unambiguous." - James Crossley, Sheffield University Professor of Biblical Studies, and author of Why Christianity Happened "An open-minded reader/juror will come to the conclusion that [Paul] is guilty of inventing a new religion, illegitimately appropriating Jesus." - Abe Van Luik, Ph.D., former Christian fundamentalist "It is surprising to me that this view of Paul has not been previously written. ... I love your boldness." - Reverend Steven Michael Smith, Colona United Methodist Church, and a participant in the Jesus Seminar's discussion group

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hyacinth Editions (April 30, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 378 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0615573010
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0615573014
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.22 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.95 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,114,434 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,159 in History of Christianity (Books)
- #11,014 in Christian Church History (Books)

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3.9 133 ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book offers an interesting perspective on the topic. They describe it as enlightening, interesting, and worth reading. However, some readers feel the writing style is repetitive and tedious. There are mixed opinions on the writing style - some find it well-presented and beautiful, while others consider it verbose and disorganized.

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Enlightened Readability Writing style Repetition Faith

30 customers mention "Enlightened"27 positive3 negative

Customers find the book interesting and unique. They say it provides an interesting perspective on the influence of the apostle Paul in the beginnings of Christian civilization. The book is considered important and a great opportunity to understand its unique foundation. Readers appreciate the outstanding presentation of historical facts and evidence.

"...this is to be expected as he does put forth an excellent case for the false basis of Christianity and demonstrates how factual evidence can trump..." Read more

"...the Galatians by applying forensic methodology and ultimately concludes by designating the events, circumstances and players involved in shaping the..." Read more

"I am not religious but the topic was intriguing and that's why I bought the Kindle version...." Read more

"This is an exceedingly important book, and anyone who wants to be knowledgeable about the history of religion must read it...." Read more

15 customers mention "Readability"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the book readable and useful for reference purposes. They appreciate the thorough analysis and consider it a good starting point.

"An excellent analysis that is promising and applicable to not only the subject matter at hand, the start of Christianity, but to other areas of..." Read more

"...It is mind blowing! A great reading! It would be interesting to see what would happen if all Christians would find out about this!..." Read more

"...In any case, this an amazing book. I only regret having a mere five stars to rate it." Read more

"...I recommend this book as a great starting point. Note the author is critical of..." Read more

13 customers mention "Writing style"6 positive7 negative

Customers have different views on the writing style. Some find it well-written and detailed, going beyond scholarship. Others criticize the verbosity, lack of organization, and inadequate references. There are also complaints about lapses in phraseology and non-idiomatic use of English.

"...Unfortunately, the author is awful. This is the only source I found which explains the history of the Christian/Catholic religion in a truthful way...." Read more

"This is a really beautiful piece of literary analysis that goes far beyond mere scholarship...." Read more

"...It reads like a stream of consciousness, one subject, then another, then the first, headings, new ideas, etc We get frequent ALL CAPS as if the..." Read more

"This book analyzes Paul's letter to the Galations in great detail...." Read more

10 customers mention "Repetition"0 positive10 negative

Customers find the book repetitive and tedious. They find it annoying and difficult to finish due to repetition, overuse of emphasis, and pedantic writing style.

"...Zuesse is that he is pedantic, condescending, and worst of all, endlessly repetitive. If I told you once, I told you a hundred times!..." Read more

"...It is repetitive, overuses emphasis, and is occasionally badly written, but the author was trying to address people who won't agree with him anyway..." Read more

"The book is tedious. I wanted to read it entirely, but the author's constant reference to law, and speaking as an attorney, made me tired!..." Read more

"...It's difficult to wade through the swamp of redundancies, circumlocutions, lapses in phraseology, non-idiomatic use of English, etc...." Read more

4 customers mention "Faith"0 positive4 negative

Customers are dissatisfied with the author's statements about Jesus. They say Christianity is a hoax, and Jesus of Nazareth is not Jesus Christ.

"...I am yet unsatisfied with the author's statements about Jesus and what Jesus' reactions to Paul's gospel would be/have been...." Read more

"...who may have preached in Palestine at that time, and that Christianity itself is a hoax, at least as far as it claims to truely represent the..." Read more

"Jesus of Nazareth is no Jesus Christ!..." Read more

"False prophets..." Read more

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Ken G. Christian
Faith vs. Reality. An excellent methodology for historical analysis.
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2015
Verified Purchase
An excellent analysis that is promising and applicable to not only the subject matter at hand, the start of Christianity, but to other areas of historical study. The methodological approach here is presented in a somewhat awkward fashion if you are expecting a 'light read', but the application of this approach to the subject results in a fresh new approach that I enjoyed. Many of the reviews of this book focus on Mr. Zuesse's 'bluntness' or, somewhat ridiculously, his lack of love or compassion for attempting to ferret out the truth behind the creation of the most influential religious framework in the history of the world-- Christianity. I suppose that this is to be expected as he does put forth an excellent case for the false basis of Christianity and demonstrates how factual evidence can trump faith. The sad thing is that these comments demonstrate the belligerent, emotional, and unscientific attacks of those that will defend their "faith" at all costs, whether it is unsupported by scientific enquiry or through basic moral analysis. It is really no wonder that the majority of the world's problems today can be attributed to mythological beliefs-- reading comments like these should enlighten those that perhaps are straddling the worlds of faith-based belief and the real world.
One negative in this book is the constant insistence that the type of methodology used to analyze the New Testament, legal/forensic, not only stems from and is based upon a "court of law in a democracy", but that this must be a precondition for careful and reasoned analysis of the evidence in a court of law. This statement is found innumerable times throughout the book. It may be the case that this methodology grew over time at a time when democracy was also becoming more prevalent throughout the world, but it is false to assume that democracy is a pretense for evidentiary based analysis of historical documents with no prior-assumptions or no 'professional' scholarly opinion littering the mind of the person doing the analysis. Democracy is nothing more than mob-rule of a majority of people that live in a geographical area and has absolutely nothing to do with successful analysis of the best evidence when undertaking scientific enquiry. I respect the analogies to a court of law, and the source of this institution for a basis of this analysis, but it is important to understand that "democracy" is a political organization that has nothing to do with truth and fact. A "court of law in a democracy" is composed of a judge and frequently prosecution that work for the government that happens to be in power in the jurisdiction in which the trial occurs. In many cases this same government has influenced on the jurors throughout their lives via propaganda, education in government run schools, and culture. This is hardly an environment in which to discern truth of things. Truth needs to remain independent of not only faith, but political manipulation as well. A court of law in a democracy doesn't necessarily provide this.
This minor quibble aside, Mr. Zuesse, please give us more of this type of forensic analysis-- the world needs it!

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Wally Nichols
A Compelling Analysis of the Writings of the Apostle Paul Revealing the "Birth" of Christianity
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2013
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The author dissects Paul's Letter to the Galatians by applying forensic methodology and ultimately concludes by designating the events, circumstances and players involved in shaping the early Jesus-sect of Judaism which, the case us made, ultimately culminated with the singular moment that changed Paul's message, and thus gave birth to the new religion of Christianity.

I was initially put off by repetitive arguments becoming shoe-pounding the table. However, I later worked through these arguments as the author's way of beating back 2,000 years of indoctrination. The points could have been established without te cumulative arguments perhaps with one more edits prior to publication. One is left with the impression that time pressures may have forced a premature release in these aspects.

I am yet unsatisfied with the author's statements about Jesus and what Jesus' reactions to Paul's gospel would be/have been. Those arguments need to be better laid out instead of, or in conjunction with, the repetitive arguments comparing Galatians and the other Pauline Epistles. Otherwise, I'm left using the author's methodology against those blanket statements. Basically, the reader is left to making sweeping inferences concerning what Jesus' positions would be or were, merely because Jesus was a Jew and, presumably, a strict adherent to Judaism. I would like to see those arguments better laid out and replacing some of the repetitive points about forensic methodology and the Galatians - remaining Pauline letters substantiations of the author's logic. Then, I could give a 5-star rating instead of a 3-1/2 - 4-star rating based solely on effort and workmanship.

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Yvonne Forsman
The lies we live by
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2015
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I am not religious but the topic was intriguing and that's why I bought the Kindle version. Paul, the founder of Christianity based the religion on lies, he never even met Jesus b/c Jesus was already dead. Paul learned from Peter who was a disciple of Jesus and walked with Jesus. Paul changed everything. The whole story is funny to me, just imagine the millions of people who have for 2000 years believed in all the lies! It is mind blowing! A great reading! It would be interesting to see what would happen if all Christians would find out about this! Rome and all its Popes would fall, gone overnight! Talk about a "revolution"! *L* Paul was a great liar, maybe even a psychopath, which back then in those times may have been unusual, but today we have tons of psychopaths, they are everywhere, in the banking system, in politics, you name it, we are so used to be lied to that it almost feels normal. Paul was perhaps the first psychopath in the history? But in a way he did humanity a favor! Jesus was a Jew, as everybody knows, but Paul opened the religion/church to everybody, also Gentiles (non Jews) and therefore gave up the requirement of male circumcision which was the religious requirement among Jews and which they live by even today. I have read elsewhere about the negative side effects of circumcision and that's why I am saying Paul did humanity a favor by not requiring it.

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Djacir Carvalho
ADMIRABLE MASTERPIECE
Reviewed in Brazil on September 13, 2022
Verified Purchase
Here we have a courageous author who challenges the scholarly community way of research. The thesis of the book is proved almost without any restriction. As this is an unusual scientific approach among religisous studies, Zuesse constantly repeats issues to reach the reader, making reading somewhat tiring. Unfortunately, I didn't find yet his promised new book, JESUS & HIS ENEMIES.

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Rains Williamson
A Must Read !
Reviewed in Canada on December 25, 2019
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The author makes an excellent case for his proposition. Eye opening and thought provoking !

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Felix Rayner
Takes Saul's letter to Galatians as authentic. If this ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2016
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Takes Saul's letter to Galatians as authentic. If this really is so, the conclusions are correct.
One weak point of the theory in my opinion is the explanation of Saul's motivation to undertake the huge effort he did. The author explains it as an effort to self-agrandisment. I find this insufficient a motivation, the guy was too clever for such a thing. Either he was possessed, or the whole thing has some missing parts.

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Umberto Steindler
A milestone in historical research
Reviewed in France on September 14, 2015
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Eventually an unbiased book on an important subject in the history of religions. I have been waiting for a book like this all my life. Thank you Mr. Zuesse.

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jatheist
Christ good; Paul bad
Reviewed in Australia on August 6, 2015
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This historian has broken away from a long line of historians reaping each other in the unexamined christian era. He claims to use forensic methodology to examine the work of the man Paul who was the real founder of this religion. Like a breath of fresh air .

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