Book cover of The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity

Book description

Argues that Jesus Christ never broke away from Judaism and that the Christian religion was founded by Paul

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Mythmaker as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

If we only had Paul to rely on for our knowledge of Jesus’ life, all we’d know is that he was born, was Jewish, had brothers and died. Written by a British academic, The Mythmaker is a break-through book that shows how Paul created Christianity by developing a mythology/theology about the significance of the death of Jesus as a Christ. Maccoby’s thought is further developed in my book, How Jesus Became Christian (2008) that demonstrates how different Paul’s religion was from that of Jesus.

From Barrie's list on The best books on early Christianity.

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