American Biblical Scholar Claims Proof That Jesus and Christianity Were Fabrications

So, this is not exactly a new argument, and thus it surprises me a bit that this is still generating so much controversy. Perhaps it is because he is a Biblical scholar, and that changes matters? I am not entirely sure why. But the religion as placating the masses, and particularly at pacifying the poor by promising them riches in the afterlife, is certainly not new in 2013.

The Catholic Church was attacked quite a lot over the course of centuries for enriching themselves while taking money from the poor. Martin Luther started a civil war within Christianity, if you will, by breaking away from the Church. The French Revolution essentially banned Christianity based on past exploitation, even though it obviously came back to France following the end of the revolution. Karl Marx famously called religions in general the "opiate of the masses". And more specifically, the argument that promising eternal wealth and happiness in the afterlife was a means of essentially placating the poor, and keeping them in humble and even happy servitude and inferiority has been voiced by quite a few people along the way as well.

Nothing really new there. So, what makes this so controversial?

Well, Joseph Atwill, an American Biblical scholar, and author of the book 'Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus', claims to have definitive proof that Jesus himself was an invention by powerful men, with designs on controlling the masses under their power.

He argues that Christianity did not, in fact, begin as a religion at all, but as a means of propaganda by Roman rulers to keep the masses in check. Where he differs from other critics of Christianity, and specifically those who argued that the Church had exploited the poor, and allowed, and even encouraged, further exploitation by promising eternal happiness in the afterlife, if they kept themselves poor and humble in this physical world, is that he essentially claims that the Christian religion itself, and Jesus in particular, was just one huge fabrication by these self-interested Roman rulers, bent on finding a means of being allowed to exploit the poor, and entrenching their power.

In effect, what he is saying is that Christianity itself began as a conspiracy, and has no basis in truth whatsoever.

Atwill sums up his argument clearly enough here:

"Christianity may be considered a religion, but it was actually developed and used as a system of mind control to produce slaves that believed God decreed their slavery."

Atwill argues that Jesus specifically was created because their were militants in Palestine that were waiting for the next Messiah, and Jesus as the new savior figure, advocating a message of peace and acceptance of poor conditions, in effect worked to give the potentially dangerous masses what they wanted, while allowing the ruling class to continue their rule based on exploitation unabated.

"That's when the 'peaceful' Messiah story was invented.  

"Instead of inspiring warfare, this Messiah urged turn-the-other-cheek pacifism and encouraged Jews to 'give onto Caesar' and pay their taxes to Rome."

He goes farther, claiming that Christianity is still used exclusively as a means of exploitation by modern days rulers, to keep the masses supporting the very policies and practices that keep them oppressed.

"Although Christianity can be a comfort to some, it can also be very damaging and repressive, an insidious form of mind control that has led to blind acceptance of serfdom, poverty, and war throughout history.  

"To this day, especially in the United States, it is used to create support for war in the Middle East."

Atwill argues that he noticed that Jesus's story, and the places that figure prominently in the Christian Bible, were actually almost identical with those of a Roman ruler.  He began to notice, and be troubled, by the parallels, when he studied the New Testament while also reading 'War of the Jews' by Josephus.

He explains:

"What seems to have eluded many scholars is that the sequence of events and locations of Jesus ministry are more or less the same as the sequence of events and locations of the military campaign of [Emperor] Titus Flavius as described by Josephus."

And so, he argues, the whole notion of  Christianity, with "Jesus" as the central figure of this made up religion (according to Atwill), is a complete fabrication by the powerful elite of Rome, who used it to unify the empire, and which was used since by rulers in various other nations and lands for similar purposes.

"The biography of Jesus is actually constructed, tip to stern, on prior stories, but especially on the biography of a Roman Caesar."






I got the information on Atwill used in this article from the following article:


"Story of Jesus Christ was 'fabricated to pacify the poor', claims controversial Biblical scholar" by Rob Williams of The Independent, Thursday 10 October 2013:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/story-of-jesus-christ-was-fabricated-to-pacify-the-poor-claims-controversial-biblical-scholar-8870879.html