The Betrayal - The Lost Life of Jesusby Kathleen O'Neal and W. Michel Gear
Tor Books 2008
Author website
You might recognize the writers names as the authors of the "People of..." series of Novels. This book is also a novel.
The Year is 325 AD - a most critical year in the life of the Catholic church. The Council of Nicea, headed by Emperor Constantine, trying to decide which writings will be used in the church and which will not.
In the writings of Mary Magdalene, Philip, and James are clues to the real truth about Christ. But the church rejects these writings as they dont want a rebel for a god, they want a teacher and a leader, one who will come again and save his people.
Emperor Constantine declares these scrolls, and others like them, to be a "hotbed of manifold perversity". Constantine also decrees that anyone found reading or copying these texts will be executed as a Christian heretic.
There is an alternate story of the life of Jesus. It is a very HUMAN story, one that has been SUPPRESSED for 1900 centuries. The story in this novel is based on ACTUAL documents recovered from archaeological sites in the Middle East or respected repositories of ancient literature, such as the Vatican Library.
Nearly all the ancient texts verify that Jesus was crucified as the "King of the Jews". He was not, as many books and movies would have us believe, a meek and mild man who spent his time spinning tales (parables) and healing the sick. Such a Jesus would have been a threat to NOONE.
The historical Jesus DID theaten and enrage people, from the priestly aristocracy in Jerusalem Temple, to the Roman Prefect who finally condemned him to be crucified.
