Jesus The Sorcerer Part l with Robert Conner

04/05/17 • 59 min

Mystic-Skeptic Radio: Uncensored/Raiders of the Unknown

In this week’s show our guest is Robert Conner author of Jesus the Sorcerer and the website Magic in Christianity. His articles “The Romans meet Jesus” and “Faking Jesus” are featured on disinfo.com and Scribd respectively.We discuss the topic Magic & The Supernatural in the early church focusing on Jesus’ relation to Greek Culture and how the apostle Paul borrowed ideas from some of the mystery cults in the Mediterranean. We also discuss sourcery and demonology in the Greco/Roman culture of that time.According to Gershon Scholem, the late expert in Jewish mysticism, Jewish Gnosticism did not exist since as Kabbalistic literature did not develop until later centuries. Mr. Conner discusses the work of Elaine Pagels,’ an expert in the Gnostic Gospels, as she wrote the most extensive work on Gnosticism in Paul’s writings.Our topic is very controversial in nature, especially as our guest discusses information that can be misconstruded by some. For example: when discussing how early Christians commited acts of vandalism in the Roman Empire he is reporting accounts from Roman leaders who are antagonistic to the nascent Jesus movement. Regarding Jesus claims the aspect of fulfilled prophecy is a debatable topic that is not covered in this series. In this show we also do not discuss the impact of Christianity on human history or the traditional Christian interpretation of world events.Our guest shares the worldview of the apocalyptic groups which were part of first century Judaism. However, he does not address claims scholarly concerns that the gospels are not historically reliable sources, but apologetic missionary tracts which make it difficult to do a historical reconstruction of the events that transpired.At first impression it appears that in some of his works he claims that the Gnostics were the majority of Jesus followers. This is one of the controversial points of his argument since it is part of the justification for his view of Jesus and his followers using magic to gain members. Gnosticism is known as secretive in nature, not evangelistic as many groups in that time period and beyond.I asked our guest regarding the sexuality of Jesus and his followers because in his booklet Faking Jesus he alludes to the accusation of some Roman leaders that the early Christians were immoral in their relationships. This type of personal attack on the opposition is common among groups struggling for political power. The demonization of the other is the easiest way to neutralize your opponents views.Mr. Conner also does not address the differences between the Gnostic perspective of God and the biblical one. This is an important topic that I will try to bring up in our future interviews. I am also interested in discussing the Gospels’ birth narratives which have many parallels in other cultures.Many academic would disagree with his view that later Christians manipulated the scriptures; instead some scholars see the Hebrew Bible as inspiration for many different views. One examples is the Essenes at Qumran who reinterpreted the scriptures to meet their theological needs, but this does not mean they were heretical for doing this since it took centuries for classical Judaism to develop.

Mystic-Skeptic Radio produces programs such as Uncensored & Raiders of the Unknown. Some of the ongoing series are: Anti-Semitism Rising & Jesus The Israelite (all available on our YouTube channels). In the past 10 seasons we have featured academics (Amy Jill Levine) , presidential candidates( Howie Hawkins), Commentators (Jay Michaelson) , Advocates (Vanessa Guillen), Scholars(John Dominic Crossan) and Holistic Healers (Rosemary Gladstar). We have taken deep dives on the topics of human trafficking, ancient civilizations, demonology and the occult, social movements, controversial topics and many of the current affairs affecting our society. Join us as as we explore the mystic-skeptic mind space...

Previous Episode

Jewish Origins of the Jesus Movement

In this week's episode we discuss the Christian roots of Anti-Semitism and what history and archeology can tell us about the original Jesus movement. The show comprised of two interviews. One with Amy-Jill Levine, University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University and the other with Israel Knohl, the Yehezkel Kaufmann Chair of Biblical studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Dr. Amy-Jill Levine’s discusses her book The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus and the historical framework of the writing of the New Testament. She shares alternatives for interfaith relations.Israel Knohl discusses his book Messiahs and Resurrection in ‘The Gabriel Revelation’. Which focuses on his research on the Gabriel Tablet, an ancient document believed to support Knohl’s theory. He believes that a group of surviving followers of a ‘messianic king’ wrote the document to make sense of their loss, just like Jesus’ disciples.Historically, an Anti-Jewish bias from people claiming to follow the teachings of the Jewish preacher from Nazareth, has caused much prejudice and persecution. To heal the hearts of those affected by this, we must seek to understand the roots of these sentiments to gain insights on how not to perpetuate this conflict.

Next Episode

The Secret Gospel of Mark with Robert Conner

In this week’s show we conclude our discussion of early Christianity, Greco-Roman culture and Gnosticism with Robbert Conner. He is the author of The Secret Gospel of MarkThe description of the book is the following: “While cataloging material in the library of the monastery of Mar Saba in 1958, Morton Smith discovered a quotation from a letter of Clement of Alexandria copied in the end pages of a 17th century collection of the letters of Ignatius. After more than a decade of collaborative analysis of the find, Smith published his conclusions in 1973, setting off a firestorm of controversy in the New Testament studies guild. In 1975, a Jesuit scholar, Quentin Quesnell, claimed the letter had been forged and implied that Smith was the forger, moving the focus of debate off the text itself and onto Smith. Since then the pages containing the letter have been removed from the book and possibly destroyed, while Catholic and evangelical writers, none of whom have ever seen the pages in question, continue to claim that Smith forged the letter. Following his death in 1991, accusations against Smith took on a considerably more personal tone, highlighting his alleged homosexuality and by implication his dishonesty and moral perversity. Although the question of authenticity remains unresolved, the controversy has opened a window on the intellectually corrupt nature of apologetic New Testament studies, a subject of greater importance than the authenticity of early Christian texts.”In the letter Clement of Alexandria addresses a gnostic group known as the Carpocratians which he considers heretical and who might have corrupted Jesus’ teachings in the original version of the Gospel of Mark.The letter includes two excerpts from this Secret Gospel (From Morton Smith’s Translation):“And they come into Bethany. And a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway a great cry was heard from the tomb. And going near Jesus rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb. And straightway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God. And thence, arising, he returned to the other side of the Jordan.”“And the sister of the youth whom Jesus loved and his mother and Salome were there, and Jesus did not receive them.”John Dominic Crossan (a scholar interviewed on our show) has the following view of the document “I consider that canonical Mark is a very deliberate revision of Secret Mark.”(D. Crossan, Four Other Gospels: Shadows on the Contours of Canon, Minneapolis, 1985, p. 108)Our guest shares many of Morton Smith’s ideas such as considering the historical Jesus as a magical healer an