If Jesus did not die on the cross, as Dr Barbara Thiering has maintained in her two previous books 'Jesus the Man' and 'Jesus of the Apocalypse,' what was his role in the years following 33 AD and what part did he play in the religious movement we now call Christianity?
In this new book the author takes yet another bold, controversial step in her unravelling of the New Testament, using the pesher method of interpretation to discover the true story behind the flourish of colourful and poetic imagery, metaphor and mysticism.
Through impressive scholarship and research, the theory that the Book of John was the work of Jesus himself, assisted by his Gentile friend Philip, is developed. His sense of humour, the recollection of his own life and his struggle to move away from strict Judaism and to open the door for a new religious philosophy and structure all emerge as clues in his writing.
This is a clear and rational explanation of how Christianity came into being, and how Jesus himself was an active and inspirational figure behind its emergence both in the East and in Rome and later in Western Europe.
