About the Audience of this Book

      This book was written for those who want to learn the historical and literary facts concerning the doctrines of Judeo-Christianity. It was written for those who are willing to use the same standard for evaluating the claims of all religions. 

What this Book is About

     This is a comprehensive study of the origins and the evolution of the Christian beliefs, from the 20th century BCE to the end of the 4th century CE. The book addresses questions such as the following: From where did Abraham obtain his beliefs? Who wrote the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible)? Why didn't Moses believe or teach that Satan exists or that God is a trinity, or that there is life after death? Who introduced the belief in life after death and how did such belief become part of Judaism? Who was the first to claim that God is a trinity? Did Jesus abolish Judaism? Did he establish Hellenistic Christianity (today's Christianity)? Why did the Romans crucify Jesus? Did Jesus claim to be God? Did Jesus' followers believe that Jesus is God? Did Paul and the early Church Fathers believe Jesus is God? From whom did Paul obtain his beliefs?

The Pastoral Approach Versus the Critical Scholarly Approach

            There is the pastoral approach to the Bible and then, there is the critical scholarly approach. These approaches focus on different facts and yield different results. For example, if you ask your pastor, priest, or rabbi, What did God create first? He will tell you: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 KJV) But if you ask a critical biblical scholar the same question he or she will point to three biblical passages, which give three different answers to this question.

What did God create first?  

A critical scholar will explain the reason why the above verses disagree: Genesis, Proverbs, and Revelation were written in three different periods and by three different persons, who held slightly different religious beliefs.

    A critical scholar is not partial to the Bible over the Koran. He or she uses the same critical standards and methods to evaluate both of these books. Such scholar does not approach the Bible and the Koran with the assumption that they are authentic, or that they are reliable, or that they are free of errors. Such scholar does not make judgments about these matters beforehand, but after he completes his investigation. The critical examination of the Bible may disturb some Christians, just as, the critical examination of the Koran may disturb some Muslims. Such disturbance stems from the feeling that the Bible and the Koran should not be questioned, but simply believed.

Here are samples of some scholarly findings, which are presented in the book:       

    Pastors, priests, and rabbis teach that God gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that Moses wrote it in the Pentateuch. But critical scholars point out the following facts: the Pentateuch was written in Hebrew and Moses did not know the Hebrew writing, because it did not become available to the Israelites until about two centuries after Moses' death (according to scholars, Moses lived in the 13th century BCE). Furthermore, about fifty of Moses' laws are strikingly similar to the laws of Hammurabi (who lived in the 18th century BCE). Here are two examples:

The Mosaic Law came  hundreds of years after Hammurabi's Law (Code) and it exhibits a considerable dependence on the latter. The similarities between these laws (in fifty instances) cannot be explained away. Evidence shows that the early Israelites borrowed many of their laws from the early Babylonians and the Canaanites (their neighbors).

        The author presents considerable evidence which shows that the Jews borrowed many of their laws and beliefs from the early Babylonians, the Phoenicians, the Canaanites, and from the Egyptians. (The book explains in detail how this transfer of beliefs took place.) Here is a Mosaic law, which was inspired by a law from from the Eshnunna Code. (The Eshnunna Code was written centuries before the Law of Moses.) Compare:

The similarities in the above examples suggest that one writer borrowed from the other. Here are more examples. They are comparisons between the Hammurabi Code and Exodus. (The Hammurabi Code was written centuries before Moses' Law.)

 
To evaluate the book, check out the main subject titles: Abridged Table of Contents. Also, examine its Timeline. (It is a timeline of beliefs, events, persons, landmarks, and other pertinent facts, which are mentioned or discussed in this book, and relate to the development of the Judaic and Christian beliefs.)

How this Book Was Composed

         The author's love and curiosity for this subject drove him to a lifelong systematic study and learning. To write on this subject, the author pursued an education, which covers several biblical fields. He studied the books of numerous acknowledged scholars of various biblical fields. To get an idea of the type of books that he studied, see the Bibliography.  In addition to the books listed in the Bibliography, the author studied various Greek writings of the Greek Classical Era, the Hellenistic Era, and the Roman Era; (writings that relate to Christianity). He studied various intertestamental books, (Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal), and numerous writings of the early Church Fathers. He is familiar with Classical Greek, Koine Greek (the language of the New Testament and of the Greek Old Testament: the Septuagint), and Modern Greek (he speaks and reads Greek fluently). He carried out a first-hand research of  the Greek New Testament and of the Septuagint (the early Christian Old Testament). He used powerful computers and biblical software to conduct this research. Without such tools this research would have been impossible. He has worked on this project, with brief period breaks, for more than 18 years.

     About the uniqueness of this book: To the knowledge of the author, there is no other book, which covers comprehensively the subject of Christianity's origins and evolution. Had there been such a book, he would not have undertaken this project.

    About the documentation: The author provided in his book more than 2,500 citations from ancient writings, from ancient inscriptions, from books of acknowledged biblical experts, and from authoritative dictionaries. He also provided thousands of quotations from the Bible. His book is truly a reference book. 

    How this book relates to mainstream biblical scholarship: The author consulted the writings of hundreds of scholars, and consequently, he compared their facts and their explanations of facts. Most of the facts that he presented in his book are in accord with the facts of the scholars who wrote The Anchor Bible Dictionary (an acknowledged scholarly biblical encyclopedia, written by over 800 article contributors, who are biblical scholars from around the world). {The Anchor Bible Dictionary, editor in chief David Noel Freedman, Doubleday, NY, London, 1992, 6 volumes.} The author presents scholarly facts which are taught in seminaries and universities, and, in some cases, broadcasted in scholarly television programs, such as "Who Wrote the Bible?" (broadcasted by the History Channel ™ A&E Television Network),  in which program several acknowledged scholars discuss various biblical topics. If you have not seen this program on television and want to see it, you can purchase a copy of it from the website of the History Channel. ™

Samples of reviews:

         The following list was taken from the Amazon.com website (from where you can order the book).  Here are remarks by some people who bought the book:    

 Abridged Table of Contents   (Return to continue reading the description of the book)

 I. The Origins of the Old Testament 

            1. The Development of the Early Text
            2. The Importance of Dating the Old Testament Books
            3. The Origins and Development of the Law of Moses
            4.  Literary Sources of the Old Testament
            5. The Miracles of Exodus Explained

            6. The Links between the Greeks and the Israelites

            7. Greek Stories and Their Parallels in the Old Testament

            8. The Jewish Calendar from Adam to Moses

II. The History of God

            9. The History of God From Abraham to Moses
            10. The History of God from Moses to 586 BCE

            11. Similarities between God and Other Ancient Near Eastern Gods

            12. The Body of God, according to the Old Testament

            13. The Mind of God, according to the Old Testament

III. The Development of the Judeo-Christian Doctrines after 586 BCE

            14. Zoroaster: The Man who Changed the Course of Judeo-Christianity
            15. The Origins of Satan and Predestination
            16. The Origins of the Belief in Eternal Life
            17. How Zoroaster Influenced the Greeks and the Essenes

IV. The Melting Pot that Brewed Christianity

            18.The Cultural Background of Christianity
            19. Alexandrian Judaism: the Precursor of Christianity

            20. How the Intertestamental Books Influenced the New Testament Writers
            21.  Zoroaster's Influence on the New Testament Writers

            22. The Essene Influence on the New Testament Writers

            23. Plato's Influence on the New Testament Writers

            24. The Greek Mystery Religions and Their Influence on Christianity
            25. How Philo Laid the Foundations of Christianity
            26. How Philo Fashioned the Word of God
            27. Pre-Christian Stories that Molded the Story of Jesus

V. The Birth of Christianity

            28. The Jewish Christians: the Original Followers of Jesus

            29. Dissension between the Jewish and Hellenist Christians
            30. How the Hellenist Christians Separated from the Jewish Christians
            31. How the Hellenist Christians Misquoted the Old Testament
            32. How the Hellenist Christians Evolved into Gentile Christians

VI. Concerning the Historical Jesus

    Jesus' Teachings Compared to Those of His Contemporary Jewish Rabbis

            35. What Kind of Messiah Did Jesus Claim to Be?

                35.1 What Did “Son of God” Mean in Those Days?
                               King of the Jews = Son of God.
                35.2 Why Did the Romans Crucify Jesus?

            36. While Jesus Was Alive, Did His Family and His Disciples Believe He Was God?

            37. After Jesus Died, Did His Disciples Believe He Was God?

            38. Did Mark Believe Jesus Was God?

            39. How Jesus' Beliefs Reveal His Nature

VII. How Jesus Was Turned into God

            40. How Men Were Turned into Gods
            41. How the Image of Jesus Evolved in the Synoptic Gospels
            42. The Jesus of Paul
             43. The Jesus of John
            44. How the Early Church Fathers Viewed Jesus

            45. The Origins of the Trinity Doctrine
            46. How the 4th Century Church Fathers Declared Jesus Equal to God

VIII. An Inquiry in the Testimony for Jesus
IX. Various Biblical Discrepancies
X. The Unfulfilled Prophecies

                                                     (Return to continue reading the description of the book)

    To see the complete Table of Contents click here:  Table of Contents. 

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Note: The book contains over 2,500 footnotes (quotations and references), which explain or document the facts presented. Those footnotes are not included in most excerpts presented in this web site.