James Tabor has announced that his Jesus Dynasty has been given pride of place in the latest edition of US News and World Report in a ‘Collector’s Edition’ headlined “Secrets of Christianity.”Within the pages a novel Christmas Story unfolds.Jesus’ birth was not miraculous in any way outside of that of every human birth -- and he was finally betrayed by his favorite disciple; he didn’t rise from the dead, was married to Mary Magdalene and established a very short lived dynasty--unless one accepts the argument of the runaway best seller, The Da Vinci Code.The church, for which no purpose really exists, was not founded by Jesus, but was led by Mary and the other women who with a man called Saul see virtue or opportunity in the life of a man who remains buried in Jerusalem, his bones by now placed in a stone box or ossuary, inscribed with his name. Such material is gleaned from The Jesus Dynasty, courtesy of James Tabor and the Gospel of Judas, the Discovery Channel’s documentary and also from their book entitled The Jesus Family Tomb, along with other populist books that have been published over the last few years relating to Gnostics and their gospels.The fact that these resources have been denounced and called into serious question by scholarship seems to escape the religious editor of the magazine.
But, it provides a salutary lesson.
The ideas that have been taught about Christmas and its relationship to the birth of Jesus Christ are built on a similar foundation.The fact that the ideas expressed above and in the USN&WR article could be espoused by people is an indication of how fragile is our Judeo-Christian heritage, built as it is upon syncretic ideas and traditions rather than an understanding what is expressed in the Bible.The first followers of Jesus Christ would be stunned by our attempts to create a 'credible' story.
