Barrie Wilson, PhD

HOW JESUS BECAME CHRISTIAN

2008 - NY: St. Martin's Press; Toronto, Random House; London, Orion

From Jewish rabbi and messiah-claimant to a Gentile God-human, in only 100 years! Explore how this happened.

Meet the members of the Jesus Movement under Jesus' brother, James, in Jerusalem. These first followers of Jesus looked upon their rabbi as a teacher and possible messiah. He had announced the coming Kingdom of God that would bring about the messianic era. Gone would be the occupying colonists, the Romans. The righteous would be rewarded. The dead would be resurrected. It would be a time of universal peace and the worship of the one God. Jesus said that would happen soon.

Enter Paul, the developer of the Christ Movement. Paul never met the Jesus of history and rarely quotes him. His religion is founded on a vision, a mystical encounter with the Christ, the God who emptied himself and took on the form of a human. The focus of Paul's new religion was on the suffering and death of Christ, the hope being that just as he was raised from the dead, so, too, would we be.

Paul's religion was different in origin, beliefs and practices than the religion of Jesus. Explore just how different!

How Jesus Became Christian shows how Paul's religion replaced that of Jesus'. It also investigates the real basis for Christian anti-Semitism as decade by decade, early Christianity separated from Judaism in a hostile fashion.

Barrie speaks about his book

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PAUL ON TRIAL

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THE LOST GOSPEL

Book and documentary - late 2013

An exploration of a mysterious document prized by early Christians that takes us into the political ambitions and connections of Jesus along with his human and family side.

Helios riding a chariot, surrounded by the Zodiac. Beit Alpha Synagogue, Israel.

Who would become "King of the Jews" - Herod Antipas who so coveted the title? Jesus who was crucified for this claim? Herod Agrippa?

Who was Pontius Pilate and what were his connections to Rome?

How were Jesus and those closest to him imaged by his early followers on the world stage, outside the confines of Middle Eastern politics?

And just who were Jesus' closest companions?

This document takes us well beyond the canonical gospels shaped by Paul’s theology and answers questions they fail to address.