(Anyone who knows their Bible can tell that "The Jesus Papers" by Michael Baigent is a pack of lies.)
'Da Vinci Code' rival releases new book
Baigent contends that Jesus wasn't thought to be divine until long after his era and the New Testament story is pretty much one big fraud.
Baigent's book publicity asks: "What if everything we have been told about the origins of Christianity is a lie?"If Baigent's earlier writings are a guide, "Jesus Papers" will find a ready audience among religious skeptics, conspiracy theorists and Vatican-haters but seems likely to be rejected by major historians who specialize in Christianity's early centuries.
As with "Holy Blood," Baigent supposes that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and sired a child, though he concedes "we are short of evidence - all that we have is circumstantial." Critics have said even circumstantial evidence is lacking.
From there, "Jesus Papers" proceeds to speculate that Jesus didn't die on the cross. Rather than supposing that somehow someone substituted for Jesus, Baigent follows another older theory, that Jesus remained alive and was spirited away to recuperate, which is why his tomb was empty on Easter morning.
"Unfortunately, in this case, there are no facts," Baigent says.
His new twists have Jewish Zealots who resisted Roman occupation seeking Jesus' execution as a traitor to their movement while Pontius Pilate "took steps to ensure that Jesus would survive." After recuperating, Jesus and wife supposedly traveled to upper Egypt and taught mystical lore that inspired ancient Gnostic wisdom. Maybe they made it to France, Baigent posits.
Baigent relies on reports about a text saying Jesus was alive in A.D. 45, which Anglican Canon Alfred Lilley of Hereford, who died in 1948, told the Rev. Douglas Bartlett he'd seen. Long afterward, Bartlett mentioned this to Baigent.
The actual text is lacking, as with several other documents Baigent reports trying to track down.
FULL STORY at
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/14143/--Da-Vinci-Code---rival-releases-new-book