How Jesus Became Christian: The Early Christians And The Transformation Of A Jewish Teacher Into The Son Of God

We often forget the undeniable fact that Jesus was Jewish. He lived and died a Jew, teaching the religion of his forbears and living by the Torah. After his death there was a 'Jesus movement' led by Jesus' brother James in Jerusalem and a 'Christ movement' led by Paul (who never met Jesus) in the Diaspora. The Christ movement deliberately sought to replace and destroy the Jesus movement.The battles of the Jewish community against the Romans, and the chaos after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, helped Paul and his party to seduce Jesus' followers away from the strictures of Judaism. Having killed off the historical Jesus, the new Christians turned the religion away from a traditional emphasis on behaviour into the most successful personality cult in recorded history.

About The Author:

About the Author

Barrie Wilson is Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies at York University in Toronto, where he teaches courses on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the formation of Early Christianity and Second Temple literature. He studied philosophy at Columbia University and the University of Toronto, as well as attending theological seminaries in New York and Toronto. He joined York University in 1975, where he taught philosophy and helped to establish a religious studies programme. He is the author of a number of academic works, but HOW JESUS BECAME A CHRISTIAN is his first book for the general reader, the result of many years' fascination and involvement with the inconsistencies of early Christianity. He lives in Toronto