Jesus in Purple: A Thinker's Guide to the Christian Bible

By Tommy Taylor

This book is about the Christian Bible. It looks at how folks 2,000 years ago tried to explain the missing body of Jesus and the reports of subsequent sightings after his crucifixion, all having regard to the prevailing belief systems of the Greeks, Romans and Jews. In a very easy-to-read way, the book explains how Christianity was "bound to happen," and why it is here to stay.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Dec 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9781779414601

Tommy Taylor

Tommy holds a BSc, an MBA and a law degree. He has been a math/science teacher and a realtor, and for thirty-five years he was a corporate solicitor. Tommy's favourite undergrad course was a classical studies elective and it kickstarted a lifetime interest in ancient affairs. The Greeks. The Romans. The ancient Jews. And, of course, the early Christians. Tommy's science background makes him question magic and miracles. His MBA helps him see the eagerness of many ancients to make a buck. And his practice of law has given him a great donkey-dung sniffer. That sniffer did a lot of tingling when Tommy first read the Bible. These practical credentials have prompted Tommy to seek simpler explanations for the emergence of Christianity.

Book preview

Jesus in Purple

A Thinker’s Guide to the Christian Bible

Tommy Taylor

Jesus in Purple

Copyright © 2023 by Tommy Taylor

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Cover art by Whitsteen

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-1-77941-500-4 (Hardcover)

978-1-77941-461-8 (Paperback)

978-1-77941-460-1 (eBook)

To my brilliant, beautiful and indomitable-spirited wife

Oak and cypress

Table of Contents

Introduction

To Be an Educated Person

My Target Audience (to buy or not to buy)

Who Am I?

Ancient Text

Let’s Go

Chapter 1. The Colour Purple

1.1 Purple as Proof

1.2 Contemporary Sources

1.3 Analysis (Ockham’s Razor)

1.4 Who Gets the Clothes?

1.5 Pontius Pilate and the Trial Narrative

1.6 Quoted Speeches

1.7 Biblical Bias

1.8 Layout of this Book

Chapter 2. Roman History and Dominance

2.1 Roman Emperors (Power and Peace)

2.2 Roman Taxation

2.3 Roman Tax Farmers

2.4 Roman Cruelty

2.5 Methods of Roman Control

Chapter 3. Pre-Crucifixion Jewish History

3.1 Alexander the Great, the Seleucids and the Ptolemies

3.2 Maccabees and Hanukkah

3.3 Hasmonean Rulers

3.4 Civil War and Emergence of Antipater

3.5 Emergence of Herod

3.6 Herod as King

3.7 Judea, Samaria, and Idumea Becoming a Roman province

3.8 Jesus Was Raised in Tumultuous Times

3.9 John the Baptist

3.10 Pontius Pilate

Chapter 4. The Historical Jesus

4.1 Tricks of the Trade

4.2 Jesus Was Likely Born in Nazareth, Not Bethlehem

4.3 Jesus Was a Good Jew

4.4 Jesus Was a Follower of John the Baptist (JB)

4.5 Jesus Was a Teacher/Philosopher

4.6 Jesus Was an Advocate for the Poor and a Social Reformer

4.7 Jesus Had Boundless Economic Naïveté

4.8 Jesus Preached the Kingdom of God

4.9 Jesus Was a Militant Who Opposed Roman Rule

4.10 Jesus Was an Expected Messiah

4.11 Jesus Was Not All Lovey-Dovey

Chapter 5. The Nature of Belief in Antiquity

5.1 Divine Intervention

5.2 Dreams

5.3 Frenzy

5.4 Astrology and Other Heavenly Signs

5.5 Prophetic Books

5.6 The Study of the Flight of Birds and Animal Guts

5.7 Portents of Glory and Doom

5.8 Surrounded by Demons

5.9 Belief in Ghosts

5.10 Magic and Miracles

5.11 Outright Lying

5.12 Gullibility: BS and Embellishment

5.13 Purposeful Fiction

5.14 Bias

Chapter 6. Descent from Gods and Becoming a God

6.1 Gods Mating with Humans

6.2 Descent from the Gods

6.3 Who’s Your Daddy?

6.4 Other Ways to Become a Son of a God

6.5 Humans Becoming Gods Upon Death

6.6 Humans Becoming Immortal While Alive

6.7 Ancient Theories on Why Humans Become Gods

6.8 The Sliding Scale of Divinity

Chapter 7. Jewish Religion and Customs

7.1 Nasty Summary

7.2 No Work on the Sabbath

7.3 Animal Sacrifice

7.4 Paying the Powerful Priests

7.5 Circumcision

7.6 Belief in the End of Times

7.7 Jewish Belief in Resurrection and Assumption

7.8 No Photos, Please

7.9 Belief in Angels and Demons

7.10 Four Sects of Jews

7.11 Antiquity of the Jewish religion

7.12 Roman Attitude to Jewish Customs

7.13 Proselytes: Growing Interest Among Gentiles

Chapter 8. Pagan (Roman and Greek) Religion

8.1 Major Gods

8.2 Sacrifices and Ritual

8.3 New Gods Versus Old Gods

8.4 Minor Gods

8.5 Daemons as Intermediaries

8.6 The Nature of the Soul

8.7 Roman Imperial Cult: The Emperors Well Known to the Gospel Writers

8.8 Roman Imperial Cult: A Broader Perspective

8.9 Sophists

Chapter 9. The Crucifixion and Resurrection

9.1 Facts and Conclusions

9.2 Survival on the Cross

9.3 Who Got Pinned?

9.4 The Removal of the Body

9.5 The Subsequent Claimed Sightings of Jesus

9.6 Impostors Galore in the Time of Jesus

9.7 Sowing Doubt

Chapter 10. What Really Happened

10.1 The Two-Jesus (Impostor) Theory

10.2 Taking One for the Team

10.3 Inability to Get Stories Straight

10.4 Release of the Son of the Father

10.5 Possible Real Death of Jesus

10.6 How Someone Back Then Could Believe the Resurrection Story

10.7 Final Words from Polycarp and Tacitus

Chapter 11. Pre-Gospel Evidence of Christianity

11.1 The Way

11.2 Many Ways

11.3 The Q Source (He’s Just a Man)

11.4 Placing Jesus on the Scale of Divinity

11.5 A Son of God

11.6 A Divine Intermediary (Angels and Demons)

11.7 A Polymorphous Creature

11.8 Atonement for Our Sins

11.9 Economic Rationale for the Atonement

Chapter 12. Understanding Saint Paul

12.1 Paul’s Letters

12.2 Paul’s Conversion

12.3 Fame After a Change of Name

12.4 Paul Declared That He Talked to God and Jesus

12.5 Paul Dismissed Smart People, but He Was Very Smart, and Melodramatic

12.6 Paul, the Fundraiser for the Saints (Follow the Money)

12.7 Paying Poor Paul

12.8 A Jealous Paul Stakes Out His Turf

Chapter 13. Paul’s Theology

13.1 Key Elements

13.2 Summary of Paul’s Theology

13.3 Sidelining Judaism

13.4 Paul’s View on the Matter of Resurrection

13.5 Being Nice to Paul

13.6 The Last Word: Paul the Non-Feminist

Chapter 14. The War

14.1 Reasons for Importance

14.2 Chomping at the Bit

14.3 A Reign of Chaos

14.4 Jew vs. Jew

14.5 Destruction of the Temple

14.6 The Masada

14.7 The Jewish Tax

14.8 The Bar Kokhba Revolt

Chapter 15. Post-War Synoptic Gospels

15.1 Four Gospels

15.2 Who, How, Where and When

15.3 Basic Story Line of Mark

15.4 Purpose of Mark

15.5 The Gospel of Matthew

15.6 The Gospel of Luke

15.7 Other Lukian Differences

15.8 Don’t Tell Anyone!

Chapter 16. The Gospel of John

16.1 Numerous Johns

16.2 The Sliding Scale of Divinity

16.3 Multiple Passovers

16.4 Jesus Turns Water into Wine

16.5 The Raising of Lazarus

16.6 Walking Through Doors and Showing Wounds

16.7 Puffing an Imperfect Peter

16.8 Difficulty in Performing Miracles

16.9 Jesus and the First to Cast a Stone

Chapter 17. Acts of the Apostles

17.1 The Holy Spirit

17.2 Who Were the Apostles?

17.3 The Heavyweights

17.4 Peter and Paul: The Horse Race

17.5 I Do Not Like Peter

17.6 Early Communism

17.7 Jesus Did Not Like Peter

17.8 Paul Did Not Like Peter

17.9 Peter Ending Up in Rome

17.10 Faith vs. works

Chapter 18. Other Books of the NT

18.1 The Letter of James

18.2 The First Letter of Peter

18.3 The Second Letter of Peter

18.4 The First Letter of John

18.5 The Second Letter of John

18.6 The Third Letter of John

18.7 The Letter of Jude

18.8 Revelation

18.9 Excluded Books

Chapter 19. Alpha to Omega

19.1 Summary of Elements of Greco-Roman and Jewish Thinking

19.2 Twenty-four Point Summary of the Creation of Christianity

19.3 A Solution to a Problem

Chapter 20. Stubborn and Immutable

20.1 Save My Soul

20.2 Jesus is God

20.3 Why Religion Won’t Go Away

20.4 Innate Need

20.5 Instrument of the State

20.6 The Profit Motive

20.7 Need to Be Part of a Group

20.8 Cultural Christianity

20.9 Final Thoughts: The Wisdom of Gilgamesh

Bibliography

Introduction

To Be an Educated Person

For years I was fond of saying that to be an educated person in the Western world one should have read Homer, Shakespeare and the Bible. However, other than sections of Genesis, I did not finish reading the Bible until my mid-fifties. I finally read it from cover to cover when my wife and I walked 800 km along the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. It’s easy to read after a long day of walking when your feet are sore. Admittedly, I found reading a lot of the repetitious sections of the Old Testament to be more painful than my feet . . . other than the book of Genesis, of course. Those Genesis stories are great: Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. But I digress . . .

This book is about the Christian Bible, which is commonly referred to as the New Testament (sometimes shortened to NT). Reading the NT will be a good step toward making you an educated person, and reading this book will be a good step to helping you understand the NT.

My Target Audience (to buy or not to buy)

Are you a devout Christian? I affectionately refer to people like you as Thumpers, short for Bible Thumpers. This is perhaps only applicable to fundamental Protestants, but I’m going to stick with the label. In any event, if you are a Thumper then please don’t buy this book. Put it down. You won’t like it.

Are you a Bible scholar? An academic? Can you read and write ancient Greek? With equal affection, I refer to people like you as Tower Types—guys that work in ivory towers. If you are a Tower Type then you may not like this book . . . it is too shallow for you, although you may find some fresh ideas you haven’t previously thought about.

Are you a businessperson, a professional or a well-read individual? If so, then you are my target audience; assuming, of course, that you are not also a Thumper or a Tower Type.

Who Am I?

I am a Christian, of sorts. However, my idea of Christianity may be different than that of most other people who identify themselves as Christians. There is nothing remarkable about that. Many people who call themselves Christians do not even understand the most basic tenets of the religion, and those who do certainly don’t agree with others who also consider themselves knowledgeable Christians. Two of my most religious friends do not even agree on the very nature of Jesus: is he God or an aspect of God or the Word of God, or is he a lesser intermediary, such as the real or allegorical Son of God?

I cannot read Greek, Latin, ancient Hebrew or Aramaic, and so I do not qualify as a biblical scholar; however, my background has given me some alternative credentials. My first degree was in science, and at the age of twenty-two I was a high school science teacher. I then completed a master’s degree in Business Administration. Along the way I obtained a realtor’s license, which I upgraded to an agent’s license. I completed law school and was called to the bar at the age of thirty (roughly the same age as Jesus when he found his mojo). I was then in the law business for about thirty-five years. While taking my science degree I took a course in Classical Studies as an arts elective, and that turned out to be my favourite undergrad course. It kick-started an interest in ancient affairs, and over the next forty years I read translations of most of the noteworthy classical Greek and Roman authors. After reading the Bible on my Camino walk I spent a lot of time thinking about the overlap between classical literature and the Bible.

My science education has left me with a predisposition to not believe in magic or miracles. My MBA has helped me identify the eagerness of many ancients to make a buck, not unlike the entrepreneurs of today. And my practice of law has given me a great BS sniffer. That sniffer did a lot of tingling when I first read the Bible.

Ancient Text

My goal in writing this book is to share with you my own understanding of Christianity and how it came about, having regard to my review of some contemporaneous Greek, Roman and Jewish literature. I will share with you a lot of text from the Bible and from numerous classical sources. I will also refer to a few more modern sources. All sources are listed at the end of this book. This is not intended to be a textbook, and so other than in respect of the Bible I am not citing chapter and verse or page.

Except as noted, all text quoted from the Bible will be from the New Revised Standard Version. If you try to fact-check with the King James Version then the words might be a bit different.

Let’s Go

The Roman writer Horace said:

Nothing any good was ever written by a man who drinks only water.

So with a splash of pinot noir in my crystal goblet, I begin my book. Let’s now jump to the biblical Jesus . . .

Chapter 1

THE COLOUR PURPLE

The goal of this chapter is simply to whet your appetite and stimulate your interest in Jesus.

1.1 Purple as Proof

After reading the four gospels included in the NT section of the Bible I was struck with the oddity of how and why the Romans stripped then dressed then undressed Jesus before killing him. Here are the perplexing sections from the four gospels:

Mark 15:17–20

They clothed him with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him . . . When they had mocked him, they took the purple off of him, and put his own garments on him.

Matthew 27:28,31

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him . . . When they had mocked him, they took the robe off of him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Luke 23:11

Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate.

John 19:2–5

The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment . . . Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment.

Going with the majority opinion (two votes for purple against one for scarlet and one without reference to the colour) the best spin is that the Romans took off Jesus’ clothes, dressed him in a purple garment, mocked him, then took off the purple garment and put his own clothes back on him and then carried on with the crucifixion.

When I first read the foregoing verses my BS sniffer started to tingle and I wondered if this costume change really occurred. Why would the good folks who wrote the four gospels forty to eighty years after Jesus died say these things? The key is in the verse from the Gospel of Mark, in which the reference does not concern an actual robe or garment or some other luxurious clothing, but rather that they clothed him with purple. Purple was used as a noun rather than an adjective. This is significant. Let’s hold that thought and dive into some contemporary literature.

1.2 Contemporary Sources

In his book The Histories, written in about 425 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus wrote:

Certain Greek cities sent messengers to the Spartans asking for help against the Persians. [The chosen speaker] prepared by draping himself in a purple cloak, so as to create a stir among the Spartans, and to draw as large an audience as possible . . .

In his book The Argonautica, written in about 275 BC, the Greek writer Apollonius of Rhodes described the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts, and he wrote:

Jason fastened around his shoulders a purple cloak of double width which Pallas Athena . . . had made and given him.

In his masterpiece The Metamorphoses, written in about AD 8, the Roman writer Ovid described the god Quirinus (the god that the Roman founder Romulus morphed into) as follows:

. . . such now appears the form of great Quirinus, clad in purple robe.

In his play Thyestes, written in about AD 50, the Roman writer Seneca described a scene just before Atreus (the father of the Trojan heroes Agamemnon and Menelaus) was about to murder his two nephews:

The little princes have their hands tied back; he binds their poor little heads with a purple band.

In his book The Twelve Caesars, written in about AD 120, the Roman historian Suetonius described how, when Julius Caesar escaped an enemy sortie in Egypt, he . . .

. . . dived into the sea, and swam 200 yards to the nearest ship, holding his left arm above the waves so as not to wet the documents he had with him, and towing his purple cloak after him, gripped in his teeth, to prevent its capture by the Egyptians.

And finally, in his book The Life of Antony, written in about AD 120, the Greek historian Plutarch described how, after initially ignoring the orders of Mark Antony that Cleopatra come to him, she eventually, on her own terms . . .

. . . came sailing up the river Cydnus, in a barge with . . . outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps.

Virtually every classical writer, directly or indirectly, refers to the colour purple as signifying illustriousness, royalty or high birth. The reason is that the purple dye came from the murex shellfish, which was difficult to obtain. As a result, purple dye was extremely expensive. In his book The Natural History, written in about AD 75, the Roman writer Pliny the Elder devoted seven chapters to the creation and use of the colour purple, and he included the following summary:

It is . . . this colour that asserts the majesty of childhood; it is this that distinguishes the senator from the man of equestrian rank; by persons arrayed in this colour are prayers addressed to propitiate the gods; on every garment it sheds a lustre, and in the triumphal vestment it is to be seen mingled with gold.

1.3 Analysis (Ockham’s Razor)

By now you should be getting the picture: purple was special. When presented with the fact that Jesus wore a purple robe the logical inference would be that Jesus was very special. But please, don’t think for a minute that the Romans would go out of their way to find an expensive purple robe to put onto someone they were going to kill. Let common sense prevail. It simply would not happen. However, the truth that the gospel writers wanted to portray was that Jesus really was special, on par with the Roman emperors and others who properly wore purple. The simplest way to portray this truth was to write stories in which Jesus is dressed up in purple. The writers did not have to believe that Jesus was first undressed and then dressed in purple to write that this occurred.

In this book I will often invite you to apply the Ockham’s razor principle, which provides that when one is presented with multiple explanations for a noted event, the simplest explanation is usually the best. Let’s use Ockham’s razor to scrutinize the incident. Consider which of the two following scenarios regarding the crucifixion of Jesus sounds the simplest:

A.The Romans undressed Jesus then dressed him then undressed him again before nailing him to the cross; or

B.The Romans stripped Jesus and nailed him to the cross.

My money is on alternative B. Ockham’s razor in action.

1.4 Who Gets the Clothes?

Have you ever read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, or seen the movie? Do you remember when the Ghost of Christmas Future showed Scrooge a vision of the charladies divvying up his clothes after he died? Well, that is more or less what the Bible says about what happened to the clothes of Jesus. Let’s look at the relevant sections.

Mark 15:24

Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take.

Matthew 27:35

When they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among them, casting lots, and they sat and watched him there.

Luke 23:34

And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

All very similar, which is what we might expect from these three synoptic gospels. But now look at John 19:23–24:

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So, they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it. This was to fulfill what the scripture says, They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.

Whoa, what just happened? The first three gospels simply refer to gambling for the clothes, but John adds an explanation. This explanation is found in language from the Jewish scriptures, now commonly called the Old Testament (and often shortened to OT). The folks who wrote the NT went out of their way to find verses in the OT that might be relevant to the creation of the Jesus story. I will comment more on this later, but for now all you need to know is that the gospel writers managed to find over one hundred sections in the OT which could be twisted to prove that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and the Son of God, and that his appearance was predicted long ago.

The specific text from the OT that was used to craft the above verses from the four gospels regarding the division of Jesus’ clothes is from Psalm 22:18, which reads as follows:

My hands and feet have shriveled; I can count all my bones.

They stare and gloat over me;

they divide my clothes among themselves,

and for my clothing they cast lots.

There you have it. The clever gospel writers thought that if they wrote that the soldiers cast lots for the clothes of Jesus, that would create proof of their belief that Jesus was a descendent of King David (the fellow who killed Goliath) and the true Messiah. I did not quote language that would let you see the connection to King David, but just trust me.

1.5 Pontius Pilate and the Trial Narrative

Probably everyone in Christendom has heard of Pontius Pilate. I will have more to say about Pilate when we talk about Jewish history in Chapter 3. Right now, it is not an overstatement to say that one of the worst things that ever happened to the Jews was the inclusion of the trial narrative in the NT gospels. The trial narrative is the supposed trial of Jesus in the presence of Pontius Pilate. These sections of the Bible gave rise to the Christian claims starting in late antiquity that the Jews were Christ killers, and killers of God. The worst narrative is contained in the Gospel of John. I will set out for you some passages selected from John 18:28 through to John 19:16:

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate’s headquarters . . . They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover. So, Pilate went out to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this man? They answered, If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you. Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law. The Jews replied, We are not permitted to put anyone to death.

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus and asked him. Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me? Pilate replied "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me . . ."

[Pilate] went out to the Jews again and told them, I find no case against him.

When the chief priests and the police saw [Jesus] they shouted, Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no case against him.

From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor.

Then [Pilate] handed [Jesus] over to them to be crucified.

This trial narrative is nonsense, but it illustrates two more things you must always bear in mind in terms of understanding the Bible. The first is the use of quoted speeches, and the second is the all-pervasive influence of bias.

1.6 Quoted Speeches

There are numerous instances in ancient books, including the Bible, in which the authors use what appear to be precise quotes from various characters, whether Julius Caesar or Jesus or Peter or Paul or anyone else. We tend to assume that the quoted speech is accurate, but it is important to understand that this was simply a style of writing. In the odd instance the quoted speech might be accurate; for example, there are acknowledged instances where an ancient writer such as Cicero kept a written record of his own speeches, or when a person’s short speech was accurately recorded by a writer in attendance. However, in the vast majority of cases speech that is ascribed to a person was the result of the writer putting words into the mouth of the speaker. The chosen words are either what the writer thinks the speaker would have thought or said, or what the writer himself thought would be appropriate. This is nicely described by the Greek writer Thucydides in his book The History of the Peloponnesian War, written in about 410 BC, in which he stated:

In this history I have made use of set speeches some of which were delivered just before and others during the war. I have found it difficult to remember the precise words used in these speeches which I listened to myself, and my various informants have experienced the same difficulty; so, my method has been, while keeping as closely as possible to the general sense of the words that were actually used, to make the speaker say what, in my opinion, was called for by each situation.

In rare cases other ancient writers were honest in mentioning the fact that their written speeches were not a verbatim record. For example, in his book The Agricola, written in AD 98, the Roman writer Tacitus described a supposed speech by one of the British chiefs who was rebelling from the Romans. Tacitus wrote:

Calgacus . . . is said to have harangued the multitude, gathering round and eager for battle, after the following manner: "the use of arms, which is at all times honourable to the brave, now offers the only safety even to cowards . . ."

The purported speech goes on for four pages. Tacitus’ inclusion of the words after the following manner is the giveaway. But most writers in antiquity, including all the gospel writers, did not share that honesty, and their quoted speeches are presented as being verbatim and accurate. The gospel writers made speakers say what they thought was called for in each applicable situation; in other words, to support their beliefs. Don’t forget that.

If you need a bit more evidence then go back to the trial narrative and note that for part of the time Jesus and Pilate were together behind closed doors. Who do you think recorded their discussion? Some Thumpers will come up with an explanation involving the presence of sympathetic witnesses. Don’t believe it.

1.7 Biblical Bias

Look back at the passages from the trial narrative. Pilate looks like a good guy, doesn’t he? Wrong-o. As you will see in Chapter 3, he was a ruthless governor. So why on earth would the fellow who wrote the Gospel of John not say that? The answer is quite simple: all the gospels were written after Rome crushed Jerusalem and destroyed its holy temple. You want to piss off the Romans? Go ahead, slag them in writing and see how far that gets you. The politically expedient thing to do was to be nice to the Romans.

1.8 Layout of this Book

There is a strong academic backdrop to a proper understanding of the Jesus story. The Tower Types have shed light on Roman history, Jewish history, the conflict between Rome and Jerusalem, Roman religion, the evolving Jewish religion, and the superstitious nature of ancients of all stripes. I struggled with how to organize and present this necessary information. My decision was to start with Roman and Jewish political history. Then, just as I anticipate boredom setting in, I will jump to the real historical Jesus. Then I will go back and give you more contextual material dealing with the nature of belief in antiquity and the spectrum from human to divine. Then I will share with you information on contemporaneous Jewish and Roman religions. Then I will make another jump to Jesus and talk about the all-important crucifixion, including an explanation of how the Jesus story might have unfolded. Then I will give you my thoughts on the actual books of the NT. I suppose I could have organized the information in a different way, but as Pontius Pilate said in the Gospel of John after the Jews complained about how the description of Jesus was written on the cross, What I have written I have written. So, let’s carry on . . .

Chapter 2

ROMAN HISTORY AND DOMINANCE

To understand Jesus we need to understand the culture and political structure of ancient Rome from the middle of the first century BC to just after the end of the first century AD. The beginning of this period was when guys like Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar loomed large, while the end of this period was when the Roman Empire was at its peak and when the fourth gospel (John) was written. The presence of the Romans in Palestine throughout this period was key