LEADER 00000cam  2200000 a 4500 
001    ocm24141997 
003    OCoLC 
005    20101202010012.0 
008    910710s1991    nyu      b    001 0 eng   
010       91027091 
019    59939728 
020    0879756918|qhardcover|qalkaline paper|c$19.95 
020    9780879756918|qhardcover|qalkaline paper 
035    (OCoLC)24141997 
035    (OCoLC)24141997|z(OCoLC)59939728 
040    DLC|beng|cDLC|dBAKER|dBTCTA|dYDXCP|dMWD 
049    STJJ 
050 00 BR129|b.S49 1991 
082 00 270.1|220 
100 1  Sheaffer, Robert,|d1949- 
245 14 The Making of the Messiah :|bChristianity and resentment /
       |cRobert Sheaffer. 
264  1 Buffalo, N.Y. :|bPrometheus Books,|c1991. 
300    192 pages ;|c24 cm 
336    text|btxt|2rdacontent 
337    unmediated|bn|2rdamedia 
338    volume|bnc|2rdacarrier 
504    Includes bibliographical references and index. 
505 0  1. Immaculate Fornication? -- 2. The Birth of Christianity
       from the Spirit of Resentment -- 3. The Making of the 
       Messiah, Part One: The Cruci-fiction -- 4. The Making of 
       the Messiah, Part Two: The "Virgin Birth" -- 5. The Making
       of the Messiah, Part Three: The Post-Resurrection 
       Appearances -- 6. The First God to Claim a Monopoly -- 7. 
       In Hoc Signo Decadence Conquers: Esthetic Objections to 
       Christianity -- 8. The Blessed of Christ. 
520    "This book presents a picture of the origins of 
       Christianity very different from anything that has been 
       published before," writes Robert Sheaffer in the 
       introduction to The Making of the Messiah. "Many 
       Christians will find this book as offensive as Moslem 
       fanatics did Salman Rushdie's 'blasphemous' Satanic 
       Verses." Indeed, here is a volume that will provide 
       fascinating reading for all those not afraid to question 
       the jargon and inconsistencies that lie behind the 
       "accepted truths" of Christianity. In his attempt to 
       dispel the myths surrounding the life of Jesus, Sheaffer 
       presents Christianity with one of its greatest challenges.
       His approach differs from the conventional works of 
       freethinkers by suggesting a radically different picture 
       of Christianity's rise from--to borrow Friedrich 
       Nietzsche's phrase--the "spirit of resentment." Sheaffer 
       tells why Christianity could develop only as it did, as it
       emerged from the envious anger of the lower classes 
       against the power and wealth of Rome. 
520 8  Looking at the evolution of Christian writings and 
       doctrines exactly as skeptics investigate contemporary 
       accounts of UFO abductions or psychic wonders, Sheaffer 
       shows how early Christian writers altered historical facts
       to make the new religion "sell" to potential converts. 
       What emerges is a scheme of deliberate distortion and 
       deceit that could grace a mystery novel, leaving in its 
       wake a trail of highly suspicious and incriminating 
       evidence. 
520 8  The Making of the Messiah presents a compelling argument 
       that Jesus was never "crucified by the Romans" but slain 
       and hanged on a tree, under Jewish law, as a heretic and 
       blasphemer. It shows that behind the Virgin Birth story 
       lurks a darker tale of Mary the adulteress whose "divine 
       child" was rejected by her husband, Joseph, as a bastard. 
       And, finally, it traces the accounts of Jesus' 
       Resurrection in chronological order of composition, to 
       reveal that the earliest gospel, that of Mark, contains no
       actual sightings of a risen Jesus. With time, however, 
       Christianity's claims of a Resurrection gradually evolved,
       progressing from "vision" to "established fact"--the 
       result of purposeful embellishment and mythologizing. 
520 8  Sheaffer did not rely on dubious and fanciful sources or 
       questionable documents about the life of Jesus to arrive 
       at his startling conclusions. Working from the same 
       ancient sources that biblical scholars use--some of these 
       sources having only recently come to light--Sheaffer 
       pieces the evidence together in a new way. It is the 
       picture that emerges that will generate so much 
       controversy. This unconventional perspective on some of 
       the central tenets of Christianity radically impacts 
       biblical criticism in a manner that humanists and 
       freethinkers will wholeheartedly applaud. 
650  0 Christianity|xOrigin. 
776 08 |iOnline version:|aSheaffer, Robert.|tMaking of the 
       Messiah.|dBuffalo, N.Y. : Prometheus Books, 1991
       |w(OCoLC)645848337 
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938    Baker and Taylor|bBTCP|n91027091|c$19.95 
938    YBP Library Services|bYANK|n949759 
994    02|bSTJ