The Other Jesus Myths
Written: Aug 10 '09 (Updated Aug 10 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good scholarly work on the origins of the Jesus myth
Cons: Too brief and incomplete
The Bottom Line: Allegro's interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls establishes a precedent for the Jesus myth - it would have been nice if all the Scrolls had been co-published
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| vicfar's Full Review: |
The Christian myth was fashioned during times of great upheaval and horrible suffering, and is therefore anachronistic in much of today’s Western world. Yet, it endures. For a lot of Christians, faith is based on a literal interpretation of that myth. In spite of what some liberal theologians, like Paul Tillich, have claimed, i.e. that the myth retains its power when used symbolically, we live in an era that – in a break with the past – insists that myth and reality are two mutually exclusive ideas, and Christianity claims the veracity of the Jesus story.
For this reason, a heated debate has been raging among scholars ever since, in 1947, the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered on a plateau in the great Rift Valley. After the find, the Jordanian government formed a team of scholars tasked with reading, translating and intepreting the documents. Yet, most of the contents of these documents had not been published as of 1992, when the second edition of the book was released. One lone scholar, John Allegro, the author of this book, broke the agreement and published the portion of the text entrusted to him. It is indeed shocking and inexcusable that after more than 40 years these texts still stood unpublished, and this prompted the suspicion that the scholars, all affiliated with religious institutions except Allegro, were trying to somehow protect the Church’s version of the Jesus story.
The 250-page book, first published in 1984, starts by describing the finds. In chapter one (The Essene Library) the more than 100 parchments, written in ancient Hebrew and Aramaic, are described in general terms. The texts appear to belong to the very secretive Jewish sect of the Essenes, and feature the charismatic figure of a “Teacher of Righteousness”, who was probably crucified by Maccabean leader and king-priest Alexander Jannaeus in 88 BC.
The historical context of this crucifixion is described in the second chapter: this was the civil war between the Maccabees and Pharisees, the latter having enticed a foreign ruler, Greek king Demetrius, to occupy Jerusalem. The blasphemy created a rebellion against the Pharisees, and Jannaeus was restored to power. His revenge was ruthless, and he crucified hundreds of perceived opponents, among them the Essene leader. This tragic death became associated, in Essene mythology, with the biblical expectation of the “End of Days”, when their teacher would return to establish a new kingdom of justice.
After describing the Essene location in relation to the area’s Biblical mythology (chapter 3; the settlement was located in ancient Secacah, today’s Qumran), Allegro in chapter 4 narrates the origins of the Essene myth: the Essenes felt they were connected to the biblical Rephaim, the fallen angels, which had inhabited the area of Qumran.
Chapter 5 introduces the “Teacher of Righteousness” and for the first time translates the Scrolls and elucidates a number of similarities with the Jesus story. The Essenes had in a way anticipated the death of their master (who apparently was extremely old when he was crucified), because he had been persecuted throughout his life, and had developed the idea that his sacrifice would somehow serve to redeem the Jewish people.
In the following chapters, Allegro begins to reconstruct the way of life of the Essenes, and especially their religious practices, which departed more and more from traditional Jewish cult (the Essenes did not go to the temple). The Essenic ritual, which was extended to women, evolved into a gnostic, mystical cult, replete with extremely difficult spiritual exercises and trances aimed at achieving the ultimate knowledge through the seven circles of heaven. The departure of these cults from more traditionally accepted religious forms was especially evident in the myth of celibacy, which was interrupted by sporadic episodes of sexual ritualism. In a much maligned variant of the Christian mass, the spiritual food of the communion was human sperm (achieved through mass masturbation or coitus interruptus, usually homosexual) and the drink was menstrual blood, which symbolized life.
The significance of these cults and many others (those for example involving a variety of drugs and hallucinogenic mushrooms which were supposed to facilitate the spiritual encounter with God) which were widespread during the first century AD is obvious: “the Gospel stories that have come down to us in the New Testament canon are, of course, only a small part of the mythical literature circulating in the various messianist sects which proliferated after the disruption (by the Romans) of the Essene central administration in AD 68.”
After devoting two more chapters to other unorthodox Essene myths, especially the Helen/Simon story, Allegro describes the feeling that he has lost the historical Jesus, but has discovered a “timeless revelation of divine purpose”. Indeed, the myth of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Gospel was just one of many Redeemer mythologies, and the “ingredients” of this messianist theology had been formulated by the Essenes at least century before the life of the Christ we have read about in Church.
In the end, all the Gnostics, including the Essenes, lost the battle for survival against the Papacy. Their writings were burned (well, luckily not all), and the mystics were persecuted, and either died or went into hiding. “But the individuality they sought in their relationship with God remained an essential part of the Christian religion”, concludes Allegro. In this sense, the Jesus myth, in spite of its historical improbability, remains a source of deep and varied spiritual experience.
This is a well-written scholarly book that should be appreciated by all those who are interested in Christian theology. As a caveat, Allegro’s detractors have accused him of many translation mistakes, a claim I cannot verify nor dispute. Although Allegro concludes that his findings (in addition, of course, to many others) completely undermine traditional Christian theology and establish the fictitious nature of the Jesus character, it is clear from the inspired tone of the book that the author is utterly fascinated by the variety and the richness of the Christian myths he explores. This is not the work of someone who simply wants to expose religious beliefs as ridiculous. After all, the multiform sacred texts that have reached us, in spite of the Church’s obvious obfuscation strategy, do not belong only to Christians: they belong to all of us, and all of us can enjoy and draw inspiration from them.
Recommended:
Yes
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vicfar
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Location: Antwerp, Belgium and Aachen, Germany
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There's a crack in everything. That's how light gets in (L. Cohen)
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