The Jesus Puzzle
A Look at a Book by Earl Doherty

OCTOBER 2000

Most biblical scholars, Christian or not, would agree that without the writer known as Paul (or St. Paul), Christianity would not exist as we know it today. Perhaps the most influential proselytizer in the history of proselytizing, Paul was the creator, if you will, of Christianity. The author of Mark later wrote the script and filled in a few sketchy earthly details, but Paul had already put on the spiritual show in his own skilled writing.

But there is one extremely puzzling aspect of Paul's conception of the earthly Jesus—he didn't have one. As far as Paul was concerned, the Christ did all his redemptive work in the spiritual realm. He was not of this earth. How could this be? How could a man preaching Christ Crucified not speak of a human being who was physically crucified? That's easy. Paul didn't think it had happened. To him Jesus was like other gods of the so-called Mystery Cults, where spiritual redemption in a purely spiritual world was quite common. Osiris, Attis, Isis, Mithras and many other deities around the Mediterranean and in Asia Minor all had a death/resurrection/salvation theme as a core belief, and many had "sacred meals" as part of their rituals. Mithra's sacred meal consisted of bread and wine.

However, these redemptive struggles all took place in the spirit world where the savior/gods did battle with demons and various forces of darkness. These otherworldly events then provided salvation to those humans willing and able to "receive" these divine revelations. Such beliefs were quite prevalent during this era.

Scholars agree that Paul's and most other biblical epistles predate the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Thus we have a most disingenuously arranged Bible. Since the Gospels are placed before the epistles, clearly implying earlier origins, the reader will presume, retrospectively, that all the mystical references about salvation in the epistles are referring to an earthly Jesus of Nazareth. But they are not.

If you read the epistles without taking the Gospels into account, no easy task, you will be struck by the total lack of any descriptions of a physical, human life led by someone named Jesus. Early in my own studies, I wondered: Why didn't Paul just tell a straightforward story of "The Life of Jesus of Nazareth"? Jesus was born here, of these parents, was educated by whomever, began his career in this place and so on, leading up to the dramatic crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Wouldn't that be the least you'd expect? But no. There's nothing. No cities, no dates, no relatives, no nothing. It's all mystical references and Old Testament quotations. It's as if Paul never knew there had been a physical Jesus. But then maybe that's because there hadn't been.

Not only Paul, but all the other epistle writers failed to mention:

Good grief! Why are these things not mentioned? How can you preach about a so-called Savior of the World, and not mention anything he did? The epistle to the Hebrews flat out makes Jesus spiritual only. There is not one original quote from Jesus in the whole book. There are only quotes from the Old Testament. Is this not beyond odd? You're telling, supposedly, a story about the Savior of the World who came to earth, but you offer not a single quote from him. The following, however, is from Hebrews 10:36-37—

36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. (KJV)

He that shall come. Doesn't sound like the past tense to me. Of course, Hebrews is held to have been written quite early—possibly before the Jewish War of 66-70. And the Gospels, which do indeed flesh out this Jesus as a person, had not yet been written. Hmmm. The earlier writings, which could possibly include some real human memories of Jesus, or at least memories of Dad telling you about Jesus, do not offer any particulars at all about the man known as Jesus. The world had to wait the better part of a century before anyone began to offer any details, through the Gospels, about this earthly Savior's life. This is totally bass-ackwards. Unlike some wines, memories of events do not improve with the passage of decades.

Even more incredible is that the Bible as it is (more or less) recognized today was not completed until almost 200 years after the supposed events. That's like not writing a complete story of the French Revolution until Ronald Reagan was elected president of the USA. Or not writing about Henry VIII until the French Revolution. Or Richard the Lion-Hearted until the reign of Charles V of France. And so on. And the story of Jesus was presumably the most spectacular, important story, ever, in the history of humankind. Sorry, but this has myth written all over it. Myths take time to evolve.

If you pause and think about all this, you have to wonder how Christianity ever got off the ground, with such a slow and shaky start. But it appealed to the masses, unwashed if you will—slaves, socially oppressed, disenfranchised—and told people that their unhappy lives were to be accepted graciously, since eternal reward was all that mattered. Its very simplicity, believe and you're saved, was appealing. Unlike previous gods who often demanded, many of them simultaneously, quite complicated rituals and offerings, this new cult was austerity itself. One God, one belief, no burnt offerings. One stop shopping. In fact here is my own recipe for Christianity:

Savior Soufflé

2 C Old Testament scripture                                              1 qt. Apollonius

 1 ¼ C Logos                                                                2 T Osiris

                         ¾ C sifted Mithraism                                                  handful of Q Document

         poor, wretched people with the desire to "get even" in an afterlife

Beat until downtrodden. Wrap in palm fronds and cook in conventional oven for 2 centuries; microwave for 1 ½ centuries. Serve half baked. Garnish with gullibility. No leavening needed, as it will rise on its own. At Easter be sure to save your soufflé in a tube-shaped cookie jar with the lid rolled open halfway. Serves millions. But I digress.

Interesting comparisons: Mithra, Persian God of the 5th-century B.C., was the God of Light and Wisdom. He aided human souls to heaven after death; he was born on December 25, and his birth was the result of a miracle; shepherds worshipped at his birth; his rites included baptism and a sacred meal; and he was to raise the dead and judge humankind at the end of the world. Doesn't this have a familiar ring to it?

Or consider Apollonius of Tyana, circa 80-90, who was sired by an Egyptian God, preached the One True God, performed miracles and healings, cast out demons and raised the dead. He also raised himself from the dead, appeared to his followers, and then made a bodily ascent into heaven. There was a lot of that going around apparently.

When Paul describes how Jesus "appeared" to him, long after Jesus' purported death, meaning it could only have been a vision, he makes no distinction between that appearance and Jesus' supposed appearances to others on earth. In other words, we're back in the realm of the supernatural, not here on earth. Jesus is also repeatedly referred to as a "king" even though the Gospels themselves describe him as a peasant who dies a criminal's ignominious death by crucifixion. King of kings indeed! So, since Jesus obviously never reigned as king anywhere on earth, where did he reign? Simple. In the higher celestial realm where he acted as intercessor for humans—like other savior/gods.

And where did Mark get his story—the story that ended up being mistaken for history? Certainly not from Paul. The Passion part of the Gospel tale, symbolizing the spiritual redemptive savior god Jesus, he put together out of passages and themes from the Jewish scriptures, using a Jewish technique called "midrash." The ministry in Galilee reflected the doctrines and experiences of a kingdom of God preaching sect in Galilee that the community of Mark was a part of, and which Mark cast as the ministry of a symbolic founder, one Jesus of Nazareth. That fictional character brought together two separate entities in one allegorical composite, and the world was changed forever.

All this and a thousand-fold more is presented in a book, The Jesus Puzzle, by Earl Doherty, published by Canadian Humanist Publications. Visit: (www.magi.com/~oblio/jesus.html) and no, I haven't anything to gain at all from his book sales. I've never even met the man, though I'd like to. But I was so impressed with his persuasive arguments against the historicity of Jesus that I just had to write about it. For almost 20 years I have been part of the minority camp who believe that there never was a(n) historical Jesus. But it took a lot of slogging through some deadly dull tomes to finally arrive at that conclusion. Well, you can save yourself that grief by reading this one scholarly, yet readable, book. Writing The Jesus Puzzle could not have been an easy task. To be scholarly without being totally, relentlessly boring, is quite a feat. (I am writing this review with Doherty's permission; however, the content is strictly mine.)

All the questions that had plagued me for so many years, way back when, are answered, convincingly, in this one book. For example, why are there four Gospels in the first place? Never mind that they disagree with each other Big Time, about so much. Why were four needed? Why must we probe and prod and decipher and "interpret" four different narratives to figure out what happened in the most important event in the history of the world? Why is there not one, single, complete, unambiguous account of The Greatest Story Ever Told? It passeth human understanding. Oh, to have had The Jesus Puzzle way back then! It would have saved me endless, tedious research.

For those of you who believe there was a(n) historical Jesus, The Jesus Puzzle is a must read. For those who do not believe that, it is also a must! Your every doubt will be validated and vindicated.

© 2000 Judith Hayes

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