The Jesus Papers

Michael Baigent cashing in on The Da Vinci Code, which, of course, cashed in on the work Baigent cowrote back in the day: Holy Blood, Holy Grail. So, part of this book is a rehash of that book's thesis, with some added conjecture on Jesus and the Zealots, Jesus's lost years, and Jesus's supposed survival of the crucifixion. Baigent maintains that Jesus was promoted by the Zealots, but they became mad at him when he decided it was okay to "render unto Caesar" that which was Caesar's. Baigent claims that Jesus visited, lived near, and studied at one of the two Jewish temples outside the one in Jerusalem: the one on Elephantine Island in Egypt and the one at Leontopolis. Baigent chooses the Jewish temple at Leontopolis, built by Onias III show more as Josephus first said, and it was the temple of the Zealots. This gives Baigent leeway to imply that Jesus's Jewish religion was crossed with various Egyptian ideas, like that of Ma'at (the scales of justice), mysticism (like the Book of the Dead for the living), and, oddly, being entombed or en-caved like Osiris. Finally, building off his Holy Blood, Holy Grail theories, Baigent claims a Church of England vicar contacted them in the 1980s, said that way back in the 1930s, his boss another Church of England man, told him that back in the 1890s he had been called to Saint Sulpice in Paris, France, to translate a set of documents that showed Jesus was alive in A.D. 45, etc. Then, in the early 2000s, Baigent claims he saw this document and/or similar documents (confusion here) that were from A.D. 34 and/or A.D. 45 (confusion here) that showed Jesus was alive, etc. Baigent implies that the document he heard about in this third-hand, one hundred year game of telephone was the source of Bérenger Saunière's mysterious wealth and the foundation of all the Priory of Sion stuff midwifed by Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Of course, all the people in his game of telephone are quite dead. The documents Baigent supposedly sees in the 2000s are all quite nowhere to be seen, studied, verified, etc. There are lots of forgeries in the world of ancient documents. And, by the way, it is very rare that documents of such sort can be dated so precisely as A.D. 34 and/or A.D. 45. So, some scholarly supposition in Baigent's style, some alternative history and theology. Then a bunch of wink wink nudge nudge "trust me, would I lie" supposition and, frankly, malarkey. By the by, the baddies in Baigent's narrative are the same folk in most of these new agey, new Christ-y books: the Roman Catholic Church, conservative Christians, Paul of Tarsus, the Patriarchy, Academe, etc. Trope central. Interesting in spots; derivative, exploitative, and speculative to the point of incredulity in others. show less

Neste livro, o autor faz revelações sobre a História de Jesus - ele não foi crucificado; era um líder político interessado no poder; e, bom de retórica, redigiu do próprio punho sua defesa diante do Tribunal Romano. Baigent se baseia em um documento jurídico romano, de 45 depois de Cristo, em que um certo Jesus ben Josef, imigrante da Galileia e proprietário de terras condenado por Pôncio Pilatos, faz declarações surpreendentes a respeito de sua natureza divina.
O que pensar diante da descoberta de um documento jurídico romano, de 45 depois de Cristo, em que um certo Jesus ben Josef, imigrante da Galiléia e proprietário de terras condenado por Pondo Pilatos, faz declarações surpreendentes a respeito de sua natureza show more divina? Será que tudo o que sabemos sobre Jesus está errado? Será que a biografia do símbolo maior do imaginário ocidental é muito mais ampla do que nos fazem acreditar? Em Os manuscritos De Jesus, Michael Baigent, um dos autores do consagrado O Santo Graal e a linhagem sagrada, faz revelações impressionantes sobre a vida e a crucificação desse homem que marcou a história do Ocidente. Apesar da celebração e veneração seculares ao redor da figura de Jesus, Baigent assegura que a sua trajetória de vida e as circunstâncias que o levar show less

Baigent is one of the people responsible for the book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" and this is partially a re-iteration of theories put forward then and partially a series of new issues that he's uncovered in the years since then. Interesting, and should be required reading for both historians and archaeologists. Why? Because although the leaps of faith he takes a few times are too far it would encourage looking at the facts and thinking about them without blindly accepting the "truths" presented. I'm sure lurking within the pages of this book there are some hidden things that need further investigation but they're obscured by rambling journeys on Baigent's pet hobby-horse, that Jesus was a member of the Essene community, show more survived past the crucifixion, was married to Mary Magdelene, his descendents live on today, that the Roman Catholic Church knows this and keeps it secret.

It's a fun read, it's full of conspiracy but it is an interesting look at a different reflection on early Christianity. show less

Interesting hypothesis, which is what got me to pick up this book. Baigent suggests that Jesus survived the crucifixion, that Mary Magdalene was his wife, and that she (a woman) was the one who anointed him as messiah. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot of evidence to support the claim. Also, some of the book reads like a textbook, which can be a bit tiresome.

Okay, here's the thing. The background information he presents was interesting to me. He made a few great points in the book that really made me think. But, let me go on to say, Biagent is trying to show how the NT is maybe not all we think it is - saying they are simply stories contrived to serve specific purposes and don't have the innocent writing background most assume today. Then he goes on to say they are false because there is fact A. And if we assume fact B caused fact A, and then we assume fact C caused fact B and then we do some more assuming, well, that proves this really incredible thing happened instead of what The Bible says. I find a lot of what may have happened just as woven and created, if not more so, than what he show more says about the Bible. Just my two cents though! show less

I enjoyed the book for its historical perspective. However, there is a lot of hypothetical conjecture on the authors part with regards to linking of some events to prove their theories correct. I could give you a pretty convincing argument for the existence of a Yetti, but it doesn't mean they exisit. The book however does make me want to read the Bible again soon from a historical viewpoint.

This book is great fun. It's one of those "what if? " type of books which, to my mind, should be read with tongue firmly in cheek. the historical accuracy of a lot of the content is probably questionable & I'm not sure that the conclusions would stand critical scrutiny ...but it is entertaining & must be worth a read from that perspective alone.