Book description
Since the eighteenth century, scholars and historians studying the
texts of the Bible have attempted to distil historical facts and
biography from the mythology and miracles described there. That trend
continues into the present day, as scholars dissect the gospels and
other early Christian writings to seperate the 'Jesus of history' from
the 'Christ of faith'. But in The Messiah Myth Thomas L. Thompson
argues that the quest for the historical Jesus is beside the point,
since the Jesus of the gospels never existed.
Like King David before him, the Jesus of the Bible is an
amalgamation of themes from Near Eastern mythology and traditions of
kingship and divinity. The theme of a messiah - a divinely appointed
king who restores the world to perfection - is typical of Egyptian and
Babylonian royal ideology dating back to the Bronze Age. In Thompson's
view, the contemporary audience for whom the Old and New Testament
were written would naturally have interpreted David and Jesus not as
historical figures , but as metaphors embodying long-established
messianic traditions. Challenging widely held assumptions about the
sources of the Bible and the quest for the historical Jesus, The
Messiah Myth is sure to spark controversy and heated debate
among believers and sceptics alike.
Thomas L. Thompson is the author of
Early History of the Israelite People
and
The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past
. He currently teaches in the prestigious Biblical Studies programme of
the University of Copenhagen. He lives in Copenhagen, Denmark.
