The messiah riddle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Messiah Riddle is the title of the German translation of a book by Joseph Atwill published in 2005 under the title Caesars Messiah - The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus .

thesis

The author proposes the thesis that the Gospels were constructed by a circle around Emperor Titus and the Jewish general and historian Flavius ​​Josephus who defected to Rome in order to break the violent resistance against Roman rule in Judea . He explains that the figure of Jesus mirrors the emperor's son and general of the Jewish War Titus in a macabre parody and, in turn, is commented on and parodied in an extremely macabre way in the history of the Jewish war by Flavius ​​Josephus . Both Jesus and Titus began their work in Galilee at the Sea of ​​Galilee and then went through Samaria to Jerusalem for a big showdown . Parallel motifs were drawn in the same order, only satirically exaggerated and broken by both courses of action. The teaching and figure of Jesus were constructed through a refined and complex classification in typologies and prophecies of the Old Testament (especially Moses and Daniel ) and in the (later) course of the Jewish war. Secretly, his prophecies about the Second Coming of the Son of Man refer not to his own return, but to that of the other Son of God , namely the son of the reigning Emperor Vespasian , the general and later Emperor Titus . His last judgment was fulfilled in the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the fortress of Massada . The believers converting to the new cult would thus be induced to participate in the imperial cult without their knowledge and even against their will , by actually worshiping Titus in Jesus Christ . In addition, the extremely virulent (violent) messianism of this time should be taken the sting by contrasting a pacifist, Roman-friendly and tax-paying messiah .

Fishermen of men

Atwill concludes this from astonishing similarities in the course of the Gospels and the Jewish war. The scene where Jesus calls Peter and Andrew on the Sea of ​​Galilee with the words: I will make you fishers of men ( Mt 4,19  LUT ) he connects with a scene from the Jewish war in which Titus' soldiers cross the water at this very point pursuing fleeing insurgents and actually fishing people (GJK III, 10, 9).

The demons of Gadara

Mark tells of the healing of a man possessed in Gadara, from whom Jesus casts out a whole legion of evil spirits, who then drive into a herd of pigs, whereupon they rush down the slope into the water and drown there. There were about two thousand animals ( Mk 5  LUT ). Flavius ​​Josephus reports how Titus occupied a place that was in the hands of insurgent Sicarians . The rebels fled to another village, where they armed a large number of formerly bystanders and engaged in a battle with the Romans with them. They were then driven to and into the Jordan. Fifteen thousand lost their lives. More than two thousand two hundred were captured, and there was also a rich prey of donkeys, sheep, camels and cattle (GJK IV, 7, 3-6). Pigs weren't there. Attwill sees in the description of Mark a parodic allusion to this battle, and in the smug enumeration of the booty in Josephus (without pigs, they were drowned) a macabre parody of the Gospel.

Mary's son as a Passover sacrifice

According to Atwill, the black humor was increased still further: And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, thanked and broke it, and gave it to them, saying: Take; this is my body ( Mk 14,22  LUT ) it says in the gospel at the last supper. Josephus, however, reports from the time of the siege of Jerusalem of “a woman, Mary by name, the daughter of Eleazar”, who slaughtered her son in infancy for the Passover festival, roasted and ate and offered it to her personal enemies, who had robbed her (GJK VI, 3, 4).

Further parallels

Atwill recognizes numerous other parallels, correspondences and mutual parodies and affirmations in detail. He recognizes the eponymous leaders of the Jewish uprising in the apostles Simon and John . A Matthias, a traitorous Judas, a Lazarus also play a role in the Jewish War, as do Jesus and Joseph and public crucifixions.

According to Atwill, the individual parallels may not in themselves be compelling. In their interplay, however, they suggested a “transfer of motifs” between Josephus' description of the war and the Gospels. Atwill concludes from this that both come from a common source, a circle around Titus and Josephus , and were deliberately adapted to one another. The Jesus myth could therefore not have originated before the end of the Jewish war, i.e. before the year 74.

criticism

The existence and mission of early Christian communities before the end of the Jewish War, the Apostles' Council in 48, the work of Paul in the 1950s and the persecution of Christians under Nero in 64 are generally considered reliable. The fact that Titus and Josephus also controlled or invented Paul does not seem very plausible in the context of the thesis, because Paul dedicated himself primarily to the Gentile mission and thus made out (so far unproblematic) Roman citizens or subjects Christians who very soon opposed the Applied imperial cult. That cannot have been in Titus' interests. The central control thesis reaches its limits here. Overall, there is a great consensus regarding the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth in historical research.

expenditure

  • Joseph Atwill: Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus . Ulysses Press, 2005, ISBN 1-56975-457-8 .
  • Joseph Atwill: The Messiah Riddle . Allegria, Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7934-2091-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bart D. Ehrman : Did Jesus exist? The historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth . HarperOne, New York 2012, OCLC 773671784 .