Jewish Origins of the Jesus Movement

04/03/17 • 36 min

Mystic-Skeptic Radio: Uncensored/Raiders of the Unknown

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.

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...

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John Dominic Crossan Author of Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography

In this week’s show we are honored to have a world renown scholar who participated in the Jesus Seminar in the 1990’s. His books include Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography and The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. During our show John Dominic Crossan explains his view of the historical Jesus and elaborates on his reconstruction of the historical figure. In his research he portrays Jesus as a hellenized Jewish cynic philosopher, he also discussed Jesus Jewish heritage, his social teachings as well as his revolutionary tactics against the Roman empire.Along with Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan has co-authored a series of books: The Last Week: A Day by Day Account of Jesus’s Final Week in Jerusalem (2006); The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach about the Birth of Jesus (2007); and The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon(2009).His most recent book is How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis through Revelation (HarperOne, 2015).

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Ghosts and Resurrection Stories in the Ancient World with Robert Conner

“I command you, ghost of the dead (nekudaimon), by the powerful and implacable god and by his holy names, to stand beside me in the night to come, in whatever form you had...” Michael A. Morgan Sepher Ha-Razim: The Book of Mysteries., Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983., pg. 36,38.In this week’s show we continue our discussion of early Christianity, Greco-Roman culture and Gnosticism with Robert Conner. He is the author of Resurrection or Ghost Story? available on Scribd.During our program we discuss his research and the different types of ghosts stories in the ancient world. He shares how modern ghost stories are influenced by ancient ones and describes the documented apparitions of Romulus & Apollonius of Tyana which have many parallels to the resurrection stories in the New Testament and other stories.