Curious about the author, an investigative historian, I searched briefly and found information about one of his books, CHRIST'S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
Hmmm that sounds interesting, but probably far too dense in detail for this reader's internet addled ADD infected brain. It seems that Mr Zuesse has discovered that St Paul was not exactly what some of us might have expected: a true messenger carrying the teachings of Jesus Christ ever farther afield. Instead he might have been something rather more sinister, a twister of Jesus' teachings to suit his own, and his successors', purposes of...what? Control, I guess.
Never suspecting I'd be tumbling deeper down that same rabbit-hole, I next clicked to one of my regular net-stops, Cannonfire, only to see, to my surprise, Mr Cannon writing about Jesus and Christianity too: Not THIS shit again: "Jesus never existed..."
There's no direct link between Zuesse's writings and Cannon's, other than the religious aspect between adjacent rabbit-hole stops - which kind of shook me. Am I meant to think on these things? I wonder!
I like to keep things as simple as possible, so came to the conclusion, some time ago, that the man we call Jesus Christ emerged in the Middle East as a teacher of what we might today consider "left-wing" ideals, set against those of the then ruling Roman Empire - a rather nasty crew by all accounts. Stories about the teacher have been told and embroidered, maybe even twisted somewhat over the centuries. Jesus the teacher could well have taken his ideas from earlier wise men and legendary teachers similar to himself. Eric Zuesse's book could be a detailed and well-researched historical journey along a similar theme. The Roman Catholic church, it seems to me, has always been very far away from what I understood to be Christ's teachings. Same applies to fundamentalist evangelical churches in the USA. Best to say no more, this particular rabbit-hole could become very, very dark!
