In yet another sign of the times and a failing world education, On Oct. 19, self-professed Biblical scholar Joseph Atwill is planning to make public some very flammable allegations. At a day-long symposium called “Covert Messiah” in London, England, he’s set to unveil purported evidence that Roman aristocrats manufactured Jesus Christ – a claim that, if substantiated, would devalue the core of the Christian faith.
The only problem? Most Biblical experts disagree with the scholar’s pronouncements. Mainly due to the overwhelming historical and eyewitness evidence to the historical Jesus. Many have tried and failed to disprove that Jesus walked the earth.
A press release announcing the purported new evidence claims that Atwill has discovered “ancient confessions” that purportedly prove that Romans invented Jesus Christ in the first century. He has long argued that the faith system was used as a political tool to control the masses — something he says is still going on today.
“I present my work with some ambivalence, as I do not want to directly cause Christians any harm, but this is important for our culture,” he said of the alleged debunk – one that he believes will eventually be universally accepted.
Of course, such statements are intellectually dishonest at best and more likely a straight forward lie.
In the release, Atwill said that governments often create “false histories and false gods” and that this is often done in an effort to secure social order.
Rather than a theology, Atwill believes that Christianity was concocted as a government project that was used to control Roman citizens. During a time in which Jewish residents were waiting for their Messiah, he says they were a constant source of insurrection, leading the Romans to seek out an equalizing and tempering force.
“When the Romans had exhausted conventional means of quashing rebellion, they switched to psychological warfare,” Atwill explains in the press release. “They surmised that the way to stop the spread of zealous Jewish missionary activity was to create a competing belief system.”
And that’s when Jesus was allegedly created – a man who advocated peace rather than violence. Atwill contends that the Christ that billions embrace never actually existed and that he is a “fictional character.”
True history records that the Romans had little to fear from the Jewish people and when they did decide the Jewish people needed to be controlled, they simply sacked Jerusalem. Followers of Jesus had barely gained the Romans attention by that point and most of the followers of Jesus had been executed by the Romans and the Jewish leadership.
He bases his theory on a study of “Wars of the Jews,” a book by Josephus, a scholar who provided insight and documentation first-century Judea. The historian contends that the prophesies of Jesus line up with Josephus’ writings about the Jewish-Roman war and are, thus, proof that “the biography of Jesus is actually constructed, tip to stern, on prior stories, but especially on the biography of a Roman Caesar.”
Josephus, however, recognizes the historical Jesus. He does not regard Him as Messiah, but the new sect of Judaism is just a footnote for Josephus not a major player of his time.
“Is this the beginning of the end of Christianity?” the press release cryptically asks.
Hardly, but while Atwill doesn’t think it is, he did say that the purported discovery will give those who are looking to leave the Christian faith the perfect motivation to do so. He maintains that his evidence shows exactly where Jesus’ story came from.
Of course, that is the point. The enemy always looks to bring doubt to ones faith and the Word of God, to call what is good evil and evil good.
“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,” he said. “To this day, especially in the United States, it is used to create support for war in the Middle East.”
Patheos blogger James R. McGrath, though, doubts that the symposium will be groundbreaking. Of Atwill’s claim to be a Biblical scholar he wrote, “there is no evidence that he has relevant qualifications or research to his name.”
Atwill’s biography claims that, while he went to school for computer science, he has spent years studying the origins of Christianity.
Professor James Crossley from the University of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England, agreed with Atwill’s critics, telling The Daily Mail that theories like Atwill’s are not accepted among academics.
“These types of theories are very common outside the academic world and are usually reserved for sensationalist literature,” he said. “They are virtually non-existent in the academic world.”
Atwill’s views are no surprise. Online articles and a book he wrote in 2005 entitled, “Caesar’s Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus,” all include similar themes. His view that Jesus was manufactured is well-documented. Most mainstream Bible scholars, though, don’t seem to be buying into it.
