Reminds me of Hugh Schonfeld’s 1965 book Passover Plot, which suggests that Jesus faked his death by taking a poison, then was spirited away by his followers. (This hypothesis is generally not accepted by Christians but seems not impossible.)
The Qur’an gives us an “identity theft” angle (whether it was a belief already held by some at the time or a new idea that began when the Qur’an was compiled may be a matter of scholarly debate): It maintains that Allah switched the faces of Judas Iscariot and Jesus, and so Judas was the one actually crucified.
Oh, and the blaming of Jews instead of Romans for the death of Jesus seems to have begun with the apostle Paul; the Pharisees didn’t carry that much pull with the Romans; but crucifixion was reserved for crimes against the state, so if Jesus were a member of a group of insurrectionists, the Romans would have crucified him in any event.
Sorry about the religious-themed comment; just making a scholarly observation and not promoting a worldview. For me, religion’s a field of study and not something I subscribe to.
We can all agree, though, that this book cover is lousy – with anti-semites.
We’ll, that’s what happens when Jesus shares his Social Security number on the internet!
Reminds me of Hugh Schonfeld’s 1965 book Passover Plot, which suggests that Jesus faked his death by taking a poison, then was spirited away by his followers. (This hypothesis is generally not accepted by Christians but seems not impossible.)
The Qur’an gives us an “identity theft” angle (whether it was a belief already held by some at the time or a new idea that began when the Qur’an was compiled may be a matter of scholarly debate): It maintains that Allah switched the faces of Judas Iscariot and Jesus, and so Judas was the one actually crucified.
Oh, and the blaming of Jews instead of Romans for the death of Jesus seems to have begun with the apostle Paul; the Pharisees didn’t carry that much pull with the Romans; but crucifixion was reserved for crimes against the state, so if Jesus were a member of a group of insurrectionists, the Romans would have crucified him in any event.
Sorry about the religious-themed comment; just making a scholarly observation and not promoting a worldview. For me, religion’s a field of study and not something I subscribe to.
We can all agree, though, that this book cover is lousy – with anti-semites.