Robert Sheaffer
                                   Box 10441
                                   San Jose, CA 95157
                                   May, 1991

                    The Making of the Messiah

                New Book Confronts Christianity with
                 its Greatest Challenge in Decades


A  new  book  scheduled for November, 1991  publication  by  Prometheus  Books  
confronts Christianity with its greatest challenge in many a year. "The Making 
of  the  Messiah"  by  Robert Sheaffer  differs  from  conventional  works  of 
Freethinkers  by  suggesting  a radically different picture  of  the  rise  of 
Christianity.  The  book describes, to use Nietzsche's phrase, "The  Birth  of 
Christianity  from the Spirit of Resentment." It tells why Christianity  could 
only develop as it did, emerging from the envious anger of the lower  classes. 
It  shows  how  Christian writers altered historical facts  to  make  the  new 
religion  "sell"  better among those seething with  resentment  against  Roman 
power  and  wealth.  By looking at the chronological  evolution  of  Christian 
writings  and doctrine, exactly as skeptics investigate contemporary  accounts 
of  UFO  abductions or psychic wonders, it is possible to infer the  kinds  of 
objections that the infant Church must have been struggling to meet, and  from 
these  long-suppressed  objections deduce probable historical fact.  This  new 
perspective  radically impacts Biblical criticism, in a manner that  Humanists 
and Freethinkers will wholeheartedly applaud.

"The  Making  of the Messiah" presents a compelling argument  that  Jesus  was 
never  "crucified" by the Romans, or anyone else. The familiar Gospel  account 
of  Jesus'  death  is  termed the  "cruci-fiction  story."  Biblical  scholars 
generally acknowledge that the confusing and contradictory Gospel accounts  of 
Jesus'  two  trials make absolutely no sense from the  perspective  of  either 
Roman  or  Jewish law. Resolving this dilemma, the  book  presents  compelling 
evidence  that Jesus was indeed condemned by the Sanhedrin as stated  in  Mark 
14:64,  stoned to death, and hanged in a tree until sundown:  the  inescapable 
penalty under the Mosaic law for blasphemers and heretics. All of the  ancient 
Rabbinical  texts mentioning Jesus' death are totally consistent in  recalling 
that  he  was  "slain and hanged in a tree." There are  even  a  few  passages 
remaining  in the oldest books of the New Testament proclaiming Jesus to  have 
been slain and "hanged in a tree" - for example, Acts 5:30 and Galatians 3:13. 
These passages are NOT metaphor: they describe the punishment Jesus MUST  have 
suffered  if  found guilty of the charges he faced!  (See  Deuteronomy  13:10; 
21:22.)  How did the cruci-fiction story arise? Several decades  after  Jesus' 
execution,  when  the  infant  Church sought to  recruit  converts  among  the 
Gentiles,  the tale of a Jewish prophet "slain and hanged in a tree"  probably 
failed  to excite or inflame the listener. But when the story was  changed  to 
have  Jesus  "crucified"  by the Romans, the tale  electrified  the  resentful 
throughout the vast Empire.

Another subject covered in great detail is Jesus' supposed "Virgin Birth."  In 
recent  years even many liberal Christians have been willing to question  this 
highly-dubious  claim.  They  quietly assume that Jesus  must  have  been  the 
natural  son  of  Joseph.  What they do not seem to  realize  is  that  it  is   absolutely  clear (see Matthew 1:19) that Joseph knew the child was  not  his, 
and  that  he  believed  Mary to be guilty of  adultery.  This  is  abundantly 
confirmed  by  a  number of other ancient texts, both  Christian  and  Jewish. 
Therefore,  unless  Mary's  pregnancy is of supernatural  origin,  she  is  an 
adulteress.  Tracing  the development of Christianity's  various  accounts  of 
Jesus' origin, it becomes obvious that the "Virgin Birth" fable, which was not 
taught  until nearly a century after Jesus was born, was invented as a  "cover 
story" to mask the shameful reality of Jesus' illegitimate birth. The  gospels 
of Mark and John say nothing whatever about Jesus' birth; the authors of those 
gospels must have assumed that the reader already knew of Jesus' illegitimacy, 
which intrudes upon the text in several places. The genealogies of Jesus given 
in  Matthew  and  Luke differ because the former  was  obviously  compiled  by 
someone  hostile to the new religion. It lists among Jesus' ancestors some  of 
the  most notorious disinherited kings and fallen women of the  Davidic  line. 
The  problem  was  fixed in Luke, whose genealogy  contains  only  respectable 
names.  Because  bastard  children were treated extremely  harshly  under  the 
Mosaic law, it is not surprising that Jesus chafed at the restrictions The Law 
placed upon him, claiming the inspiration of a "higher law" from above. Jesus' 
experience  of  being "despised and rejected" owing to an  accident  of  birth 
shaped  the  very fabric of early Christianity, and drew together  under  that 
religion's banner all who chafed at living under The Law.

What  set  Jesus apart from other Messianic pretenders was the claim  that  he 
arose  from  the  dead.  The evidence offered in  support  of  this  claim  is 
scrutinized in detail. When these accounts are examined in chronological order 
of  composition,  in light of long-suppressed Roman-era  criticisms,  a  clear 
pattern emerges. The earliest accounts make the least-convincing claims of  an 
actual,  physical resurrection. Paul sees a vision of a risen Jesus, which  is 
worthless  as  "evidence"  for anything. As  time  progresses,  Christianity's 
claims  that  people had sighted an actual, physical risen Jesus  become  more 
definite.  Many  ancient  manuscripts of the earliest  gospel,  Mark,  contain 
absolutely  no  sightings  of  a risen Jesus,  whose  resurrection  is  merely 
inferred because his body was not where it had been left. Mark 16:9-20,  which 
describes  such sightings, was written years later, to answer objections  that 
nobody actually SAW Jesus after his supposed resurrection. The only reasonable 
conclusion to be drawn is that the supposed resurrection never occurred.

Robert Sheaffer is the author of "Resentment Against Achievement" (Prometheus, 
1988). Laissez Faire Books hails it as "a modern classic," comparing it to the 
works  of H. L. Mencken, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Ayn Rand.  Success  Magazine 
writes that "the book crackles with ideas that others have failed to perceive, 
or  have  been  too timid to express."  Sheaffer's first  book  was  "The  UFO 
Verdict"  (Prometheus, 1981), a highly-skeptical analysis of UFO mania,  about 
which Sky and Telescope magazine said, "if you're only going to have one  book 
on  UFOs,  this  is  the one." He is a regular  columnist  for  The  Skeptical 
Inquirer.

     (After  about  Nov. 1, "The Making of the Messiah" can  be  ordered