Reply #8: That is an Excellent Summary [View All]

[On the Road]

I prefer to start out regarding the sayings and deeds of Jesus as authentic, then looking for reasons why they might not be authentic. The more I look at it, though, many of the sayings seem to reflect the split between Paul and the more Judiazed movement in Jerusalem lead by Jesus' brother James.

For example, the parable of the talents relates that the man with one talent hid it in the ground, and was rejected for doing that. This sounds like nothing so much as the treasures hidden to escape the Romans around 70AD described in the Copper Scroll. Many of the parables, such as the ungrateful banquet guests, refer to the chosen ones as being cast out and replaced by others thought less worthy. This seems to reflect the split in the early Christian movement and the excommunication of Paul and his followers.

I am very intertested in who Jesus was and what he said, but it's damnably hard to get a good grasp of it.