The Lost Gospel of the Historical Jesus | The Delayed Dream

"Modern Christianity must always reckon with the possibility of having to abandon the historical figure of Jesus."

“What has been presented as Christianity during these nineteen centuries is only a beginning, full of mistakes, not full blown Christianity springing from the spirit of Jesus.”

— Albert Schweitzer

"Christianity both admits and subverts the Historical Jesus"
John Dominic Crossan

The Lost Gospel - The Lost Kingdom

Did the original intentions of the Historical Jesus die with him? Does it matter and should it matter to modern believers high christology? Is the theological story the gospel writers wrote more important in its impact to the point that the historical Jesus intentions are secondary to the current believers theological needs?

What happens to a dream deferred?...does it explode"
Langston Hughes

Historically the martyrdom of Jesus (c. 30 ad) is placed in the timeline between the movement of Judah the Galilean (6 ad) and the later Jewish Revolt (66 ad). This is the historical Forest that is often missed for the theological trees of pauline gentile theology.

The chief priests and leading citizens wanted "peace" and stability. Rome wanted its taxes and the leading citizens wanted to keep their position and wealth. Power supported the Rich and the Rich supported the Powerful as is the normal way of human history. Pax Romana used overwhelming violence to enforce that peace and prosperity.
An unjust peace only stores up the energy for the coming violent storm.

Why was Jesus crucified by the gentile Roman rulers and why did he create a tumult at the Temple? These questions have been answered mostly through a theological filter. The burden of the historian/scholar is take on difficult questions that have been buried by theological and political layers going on for 2000 years. Atonement and Anti-Judaism has often been the main filter from the theological narrative.


One of the main themes throughout the synoptic gospels is the Kingdom of God for the poor and the coming judgement of the rich.

"I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Messiah and him crucified."
The Apostle Paul

Messiah(christ) is a Jewish King. Jesus was a Jewish martyr killed by Roman gentiles. The New testament admits this but also goes to great links to theologically subvert this and separate Jesus from his people and his place and time.

The two most important figures in finding the Historical Jesus that act as book ends to Jesus are arguably John the Baptist and James the Brother of Jesus. The way the new testament writings grudgingly admits their influence and at the same time theologically chips away at their authority and importance as they must reinterpret the events to suit the sacred theological narrative of the emerging organized hierarchical church.

The gospel of Mark points to not only John being a mentor of Jesus in his baptism for the remission of sins but also the one who kick starts his ministry and the inspiration to Jesus going into Galilee and preaching "Repent the kingdom of God is at hand"



John Dominic Crossan : Why did two populist movements, the Baptism movement of John and the Kingdom movement of Jesus, occur in the territories of Herod Antipas in the 20s of that first common-era century? Why then? Why there?

A voice cries: “In the desert prepare the Way of Yahweh; Make straight in the Arava a highway for our God (Isa 40:3).


They shall separate from the session of perverse men to go to the wilderness, there to prepare the way of truth, 14 as it is written, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Community Rule: 1QS 8:13)

Both the group that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls and the John the Baptist/Jesus movement looked upon this verse as their basic “Call” to prepare the Way for the end of the age–which they believed was shortly to unfold.


There is something about the desert when it comes to prophetic and revolutionary voices.


"I have always thought of the historical Jesus as a homeland Jew within Judaism within the Roman Empire. For me, then, within Judaism within the Roman Empire has always been the absolutely necessary matrix rather than the annoyingly unnecessary background for any discussion of earliest Christianity."
JDC

The pen of Paul and the sword of Rome were too much for the original Messianic movement of John, Jesus, and James to be left unscathed in its original form.

As one scholar noted. "Paul used Jesus. James knew Jesus. Worship or Follow?"

Yeshua and Yaakov | Jewish Martyrs


James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dream of the Historical Jesus | The Lost Gospel