How Jesus Became Christian »

BARRIE WILSON is Professor of Humanities & Religious Studies at York University in Toronto. A specialist in early Christian origins, this is his first book intended for a general audience. Building on contemporary critical scholarship, it addresses some of the major puzzles he has identified in teaching biblical studies over a twenty-year period. An award-winning educator, his previous academic books focused on textual interpretation. For more information please visit www.barriewilson.com.

In How Jesus Became Christian, Barrie Wilson Ph.D. confronts one of the simplest—yet undiscovered—questions of religious history: How did a young, well-respected rabbi become the head of a cult that bore his name, espoused a philosophy he wouldn't wholly understand, and possessed a clear streak of anti-Semitism that has sparked hatred against the generations of Jews who followed him? Vividly recreating the Hellenistic world into which Jesus was born, Wilson looks at the rivalry of the "Jesus movement", informed by Matthew and adhering to Torah worship, and the "Christ movement," headed by Paul which shunned Torah. Suggesting that Paul's movement was not rooted in the teachings of historical Jesus, but a mystical vision of Christ, he further proposes Paul founded the new religion through anti-semitic propaganda, crushing the Jesus Movement. Sure to be controversial, this is an exciting, well-written popular religious history that cuts to the heart of the differences between Christianity and Judaism. How Jesus Became Christian looks at how one of the world's great religions prospered and grew at the cost of another and focuses on one of the fundamental questions that goes to the heart of way millions worship daily: Who was Jesus Christ —a Jew or a Christian?

Library Journal

In this provocative work, Wilson (religious studies, York Univ., Toronto) investigates the increasingly popular hypothesis that Christianity's origins are rooted in a colossal cover-up, asserting that the "original" Jesus movement developed into the Ebionites, an early Jewish Christian sect. Wilson indirectly presents modern Judaism's understanding of its own development in relation to that of Christianity, and in this respect, his work may be useful. However, several factors preempt any such benefit. First, he displays an uncritical bias in choosing the Ebionites as the "original" Christians solely on the basis of their relative "Jewishness." Additionally, he reiterates unproven hypotheses concerning James (Jesus's brother) and Paul, mistakenly considering them new. Wilson's view of Christians throughout is typified by hostile language and quick accusations. In effect, these pages serve to magnify the rifts and injuries between Jews and Christians. For a balanced perspective, consider instead N.T. Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God or James D.G. Dunn's Jesus Remembered . Not recommended.-Dann Wigner, Wayland Baptist Univ. Lib., Plainview, TX

Acknowledgments ix

Prologue: A Personal Note xi

1 The Cover-Up 1

2 Cultures in Conflict 7

3 Being Jewish in a Cosmopolitan World 31

4 The Secrets of History 48

5 The Challenge of Jesus 63

6 The Promises of Jesus 85

7 Jesus's Earliest Followers: The Jesus Movement 95

8 What Happened to Jesus? 103

9 The Trouble with Paul 109

10 The Big Switch: Christ for Jesus 131

11 The Jesus Movement Fades Away 150

12 Paul The Radical 168

13 Demonizing Jewish Leadership and The Jewish People 182

14 Confiscating Judaism's Heritage 195

15 Attacking the Jewish Concept of God 211

16 Anti-Semitism 230

17 The Cover-Up Revealed 237

Epilogue: The Way Forward 254

Timelines 267

Terminology 275

Notes 285

Bibliography 300

Index 307