PRAISE FOR PAUL AND JESUS
“James Tabor is a meticulous historian who carefully and convincingly lays out the actual Jewish theology of earliest Christianity which lies shrouded in the New Testament. . . . Tabor’s thorough yet succinct writing style brings a welcome new clarity to our understanding of the development of Christianity.”
—The Rev. Jeffrey J. Bütz, S.T.M., adjunct professor of Religious Studies, Penn State University, and author of The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity
“A fresh, imaginative and insightful treatment of the original years of the Christian faith. It is not as we have been taught through the centuries. It is infinitely more complex and infinitely more exciting. James Tabor makes this clear.”
—John Shelby Spong, author of Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World
“This superb, well written book carefully shows just how different Paul’s religion was from that of Jesus and his first followers. . . . A fascinating book, packed with illuminating insights. Highly recommended.”
—Barrie Wilson, Ph.D., Professor, Humanities and Religious Studies, York University, and author of How Jesus Became Christian
“Tabor does a particularly fine job of explaining Paul’s unique view of Jesus. . . . The crisp, clear writing gives readers much to consider—especially the fact that it is a Pauline Christianity that most Christians practice today. . . . The depth of his scholarship shows, but he also makes this an enjoyable read for those who want to know more about one of history’s great mysteries.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Digging beneath the acceptable, scholars like Tabor . . . break through assumptions—even the sacred ones—and give rise to new perspectives and stories.”
—Robert Orlando, Huffington Post
Thank you for purchasing this Simon & Schuster eBook.
Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Simon & Schuster.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com
CONTENTS
MAP: THE WORLD OF PAUL
TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS AND FIGURES
PREFACE: DISCOVERING PAUL
INTRODUCTION: PAUL AND JESUS
ONE: CHRISTIANITY BEFORE PAUL
TWO: RETHINKING RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
THREE: READING THE GOSPELS IN THE LIGHT OF PAUL
FOUR: LAST BUT NOT LEAST
FIVE: A COSMIC FAMILY AND A HEAVENLY KINGDOM
SIX: A MYSTICAL UNION WITH CHRIST
SEVEN: ALREADY BUT NOT YET
EIGHT: THE TORAH OF CHRIST
NINE: THE “BATTLE OF THE APOSTLES”
APPENDIX: THE QUEST FOR THE HISTORICAL PAUL
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT JAMES D. TABOR
NOTES
INDEX
TO MY ESTEEMED TEACHER
JONATHAN Z. SMITH
WHO FIRST TAUGHT ME TO MAKE
THE FAMILIAR STRANGE
AND THE STRANGE FAMILIAR
TIMELINE OF MAJOR EVENTS AND FIGURES
63 B.C.
Roman conquest of Palestine by Pompey; Judea made a province
31 B.C.–A.D. 14
Rule of Augustus, 1st emperor of Rome
37–4 B.C.
Rule of Herod the Great, King of the Jews, over Palestine
4 B.C.
Death of Herod the Great and uprisings in Galilee and Judea
5 B.C.
Birth of John the Baptizer, Jesus, and Paul
4 B.C.–A.D. 39
Rule of Herod Antipas, son of Herod, over Galilee and Perea
A.D. 14–37
Rule of Tiberius, 2nd emperor of Rome
A.D. 29
Execution of John the Baptizer
A.D. 30
Execution of Jesus
A.D. 37
Conversion of Paul to the Nazarene movement
A.D. 37–41
Rule of Caligula, 3rd emperor of Rome
A.D. 41–54
Rule of Claudius, 4th emperor of Rome
A.D. 50
Jerusalem conference
A.D. 51–56
Paul preaches in Asia Minor and Greece, writes his early letters
A.D. 54
Rule of Nero, 5th emperor of Rome
A.D. 56
Paul’s final trip to Jerusalem: confrontation with James
A.D. 62
Execution of James the brother of Jesus
A.D. 64–67
Paul’s imprisonment in Rome and his execution
A.D. 69–79
Rule of Vespasian, 6th emperor of Rome; destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70
PREFACE
DISCOVERING PAUL
I have spent my thirty-year career as a scholar of Christian origins investigating the silence between two back-to-back statements of the Apostles’ Creed, namely that Jesus was “Conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary” and that he “Was crucified, died, and was buried, and on the third day He rose again from the dead.”1
Is it not striking that this oldest and most foundational Christian creed jumps from Jesus’ birth to his death and resurrection, entirely skipping over his life?
How did it happen that the way Jesus came into the world, and how he left—Christmas and Easter—came to define Christianity itself? Here Catholics, mainstream Protestants, and Evangelicals all agree. To be a Christian is to believe in the virgin birth and resurrection of Christ, and thus to participate in the salvation Christ brought to the world as God-in-the-flesh. Where did this emphasis on the “entrance” and “exit” points of Jesus’ heavenly existence come from, and how did it achieve such centrality—even above that of Jesus’ life and teachings?
This book is a historical investigation of the origins of this particular way of defining and understanding Christianity. As we shall see, such an understanding of the Christian faith, confessed by millions each week in church services all over the world, originates from the experiences and ideas of one man—Saul of Tarsus, better known as the apostle Paul—not from Jesus himself, or from Peter, John, or James, or any of the original apostles that Jesus chose in his lifetime. And further, I maintain that there was a version of “Christianity before Paul,” affirmed by both Jesus and his original followers, with tenets and affirmations quite opposite to these of Paul. This is the lost and forgotten Christianity of James the brother of Jesus, leader of the movement following Jesus’ death, and the Christianity of Peter and all the apostles. In other words, the message of Paul, which created Christianity as we know it, and the message of the historical Jesus and his earliest followers, were not the same. In fact, they were sharply opposed to one another with little in common beyond the name Jesus itself. Discovering how such a state of affairs came about has been the quest, as well as the adventure, of my life.
I began my first serious encounter with the apostle Paul over forty-five years ago as a college student. I took a Greek reading course called “The Letters of Paul.”2 That course introduced me to Paul and his world in such a profound way that I was never the same. Day by day, phrase by phrase, we read through Paul’s writings in the original Greek in a small seminar setting. We discussed every aspect of Paul’s letters, their ideas, and their background. I became “hooked for life” on Paul and that college course marked the beginning of my lifelong spiritual and intellectual quest to understand Paul and his place in the formation of Christianity. Like Jacob wrestling the angel at the river Jabbok, I lay hold on Paul and swore that I would not let go until I understood his complex ideas and probed his mysterious depths. In this book I share with my readers what I have discovered over the past forty-five years.