Essays discussing selected aspects of early Christian history will be posted on this web site.
The first essay will deal with events surrounding the Last Supper in light of the socio-political situation then current in Judea, and how our understanding of these events has been altered by a partisan redaction and translation of the original texts. The Last Supper resulted from a violent confrontation between Jesus' followers and the Roman supported Judean hierarchy. The threat of Roman intervention led Jesus to submit to the Romans. Judas was not a traitor, but a loyal retainer obeying his leader's orders. Jesus' example inspired the sudden growth of his sect, and gave rise to its unexpected Hellenized offshoot, Christianity.
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Future topics will be the dating and authorship of the Gospel of John and the New Testament's vocabulary of hidden violence.
Please address comments to: christianoriginsoccasionalpapers (at) yahoo (period) com
A Betrayal of the Original Text: The Traditional Translation and Interpretation of the Last Supper