Paul the Herodian

I've long been drawn to the idea that Pauline Christianity was an empire-friendly replacement for 'the original Christianity' that developed in and around Jerusalem.

Now I've discovered a leading scholar in the field and have started reading one of his books, Robert Eisenman.

It's based on the Dead Sea Scrolls and a wealth of other often overlooked sources.

He was a leading figure in demanding that the Dead Sea Scrolls be opened up for public view (as photographs, transcriptions, and physically for dating).  He was told he'd never live to see them.  Finally they were, revealing:

It does consist mostly of the Old Testament books.  But there's other tantalizing stuff too.

Critics maintain that "scientific" dating (which was only very poor in the beginning) dated all these materials to around 200 BCE, so the idea that there was anything here from the time of Jesus was dismissed.  Later testing has moved the dates up.

As far as I know, Dr. Eisenman still has not been allowed to have his preferred scientists do the dating.

Anyway, he believes his textual analysis methods prove some of the documents are from the first century CE, and that they reveal details about early Christian Judaism (or Jewish Christianity) under James the Just (the "brother of Jesus" whose exact relationship to Jesus we do not know).

James had full participation in the Second Temple and was considered very pious, even granted access to the Holy of Holies which only top priests could access.

His version of Christianity put great emphasis on piety and obeying all the laws of Judaism, and in addition it was messianic (the age of judgement is near), nationalistic, opposed to collaboration with Romans (not unique), and concerned with the needs of the needy (more than others).

James primarily served 'the poor' and believed they were getting ripped off.  (Wikipedia says a confrontation over this may have led to his infamous stoning, but it could also have been jealousy or even fear because James was becoming more and more popular and the highest priest feared the masses he was attracting.  Anger over the assassination of James may have led to widespread revolts which ultimately caused the Roman invasion.)

Anyway, Paul seems to be viewed very unfavorably by this the people who wrote the last scrolls, labeled 'Liar.'  He was a Pharisee himself who claimed to have met the spirit of Jesus.  But he inverted Christianity so that strict observation of Jewish laws was not included, only belief in the resurrection, and instead of nationalism and messianism it promoted universal faith, hope, and love.  It inventively (and  Hellenistically) turned Jesus into a part of God.  For Jamesians, Jesus had not been God.  Presto, Paul created a simple monotheistic religion which could easily spread throughout the Roman Empire to Gentiles.

Eisenman determines that Paul was actually a Herodian, a priest associated with the Herodian Dynasty (which had been hand picked by Rome and was a good collaborator).  And so his politics were inverted from those of James, as reflected in modern Pauline Christianity.

I've only started his 2019 book.  The rest of this essay is about my current thinking.

Let me add that the Herodians had been among those who received forced circumcision as part of the Jewish Conversion mandated by the Hasmonians on newly aquired territories (similar to those the State of Israel now controls).  The Herodians were picked by Rome, and as soon as they took control of Jerusalem they murdered all the Hasmonians, even Herod's wife.

So it's fitting their guy would invert the doctrines that James had actually been teaching and made them far more hellenistic at the same time.

The New Testament we have is a redacted and rewritten version of earlier sources that makes sure the Romans are not blamed for the death of Jesus, etc.

Paul and his people were in open collaboration with Rome, just like the Herodians.

However, the Christian Jews of Palestine following Jamesian Christianity were ultimately excommunicated from the rest of Christianity (500-600 CE) and most converted to Islam, which also has Jesus as a non-God but as a Prophet.

The Old Testament writers included all the instructions they felt would be needed, including instructions on what a future dynasty should be like, in very poetic terms.  That's the stuff which, sadly, tended to trigger nationalism and messianism in the  first century CE.

Judea (area around Jerusalem) was a theocratic republic in the Second Temple era until the first conquest.  The religious elite sent by the Persians were convinced previous failures were because of corrupt kings, so they determined that rabbis would run things.  Later the rabbis generally hated the Hasmonian and Herodian monarchies.  Ultimately Talmudic Judaism explicitly internationalized Judaism and instructed Jews on the ways of fitting in everywhere.  It did not eliminate the Messiah, but is re-emphasized that the Messiah must be divine, and that all good people will be saved, in fact all good people will be Jews by then because of conversion and the Messiah.