Jesus The Riddle Of The Dead Sea Scrolls

Examines the connection between the scrolls and the early Christian Church and discusses what they reveal about the historical life of Jesus

Based on materials (TV, radio, press letters) made public following The Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls Barbara Thiering's research.

Jesus was the leader of a radical faction of Essene priests.He was not of virgin birth. He did not die on the Cross. He married Mary Magdalene, fathered a family, and later divorced. He died sometime after AD 64. This controversial version of Christ's life is not the product of a mind which wants to debunk Christianity. Barbara Thiering is a theologian and a biblical scholar. But after over twenty years of close study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospels she has developed a revolutionary new theory which, while upholding the fundamental faith of Christianity, challenges many of its most ingrained supernaturalist beliefs. Jesus the Man will undoubtedly upset and even outrage those for whom Christianity is immutable and unchallengeable. But for many who have found the rituals of the contemporary church too steeped in medieval thinking, it will provide new insights into Christianity in the context of the modern world.

Paperback edition of a controversial study that presents a new understanding of Jesus and the origins of Christianity that challenges traditional beliefs. Includes maps, charts, chronologies, a guide to personalities and locations, a bibliography and a detailed index. Based on the author's research on the Dead Sea Scrolls, best known through the ABC TV documentary 'The Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls', screened in 1990. First published in 1992.

'This significantly expanded and revised fourth edition of what has always been the best English translation of the Scrolls has become a combination of two books: Vermes has replaced nearly all of the original Introduction with an abridged version of the corresponding material from The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective... He has also added new translations of material that has been published since the last edition appeared in 1975... By far still the best edition of the scrolls in English.' James R Mueller, Religious Studies Review>

In this book, two of the world's leading experts on the scrolls reveal the complete and fascinating story in all its detail: the amazing discovery, the intense controversies, and the significant revelations. This comprehensive, up-to-date guide is the def

Decodes the Dead Sea Scrolls to reveal Christianity’s hidden Essene origins • Reveals the Essenes as key figures behind Jesus’s trial, torture, and crucifixion • Shows how Jesus, a former Essene himself, was deemed “the Wicked Priest” for his liberationist politics and humanist bent • Examines the lost Christian doctrine of reincarnation and the secret role of Gabriel in the Virgin Birth The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947 at Qumran, are generally believed to have been written by a Jewish sect known as the Essenes between 350 BCE and 70 CE--but until now no convincing methodology has linked the Scrolls to the actual life and teachings of Jesus. Marvin Vining builds from the controversial work of Barbara Thiering to demonstrate that the Scrolls do speak directly to the origins of Christianity and even reflect a mirror image of the Gospels from the perspective of Jesus’s enemies. Christianity arose out of a schism between the exclusivist, rigid, and militant views of the Essenes and the inclusivist, tolerant, and nonviolent views of Jesus. Jesus was raised an Essene, but he refused to follow their orthodoxy. Vining shows that the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in a secret coded language called pesher in which Jesus emerges as the Wicked Priest, the antagonist to the Teacher of Righteousness who was the leader of the Essenes. Jesus the Wicked Priest revitalizes the Gospel message by revealing Jesus’s true role as a tireless social reformer and revolutionary teacher. Vining’s study reopens Christian doctrinal questions supposedly long settled, such as reincarnation and the Virgin birth--even demonstrating that these two issues are related. He discloses that the angel Gabriel was incarnate in a living human being and transmitted the seed of a holy bloodline to the Virgin Mary.