The Earliest Footprint of Jesus: Yeshu ha-Notzri

"Yeshu Ha-Notzri" is the second volume of the historically inspired series, Before the Myth: The Earliest Footprint of Jesus. This book directs attention on the historical milieu and how the story of Jesus actually came about. The book investigates some of the major structural influences that contributed to the final written text. All phases of the final outcome emphasized in a historical light. Influences such as:

* Oral to Written

* Rural to Urban

* Judaic to Hellenic

* Aramaic/Hebrew to Greek

* Social to Religious

This volume examines such familiar gospel stories as the woman with the bloody flux and the feeding of the five thousand men from a more historically reliable vantage point. The results are rather startling. One must say, "startling" from the point of view of contemporary New Testament scholarship. Many aspects of these two accounts argued today do not even remotely mirror the historical backdrop. This book informs readers why.

In some detail this second volume describes why Markan tradition is vastly overrated as "source tradition" for the historical Jesus. The author promotes a slim early thread preserved inside the Johannine Gospel as almost without doubt originating Jesus tradition. Again, the author designates a fair amount of space defending and promoting this argument. Ultimately, based on the early Johannine argument, an "earliest gospel" is outlined in these pages.

Finally, the second volume looks at Mary Magdalene and her role in the Resurrection story. Historically suggested aspects are emphasized.

1) This book takes time to inform readers on early church political influences of Mary as first witness in light of male dominance in the early church.

2) This volume emphasizes that one isolated thread in the canonical collection almost certainly represents the bedrock upon which all later traditions evolved. That "bedrock" was NOT originally produced by synoptic editors.

3) Finally, the book reviews the Resurrection story with an eye on ancient orality and its impact, not only on Mary and her role, but on the very first witnesses and just how the story of Jesus managed to survive in light of the emotional devastation of the Crucifixion.

"Yeshu Ha-Notzri" is the second volume of the historically inspired series, Before the Myth: The Earliest Footprint of Jesus. This book helps assess how the final written stories of Jesus came about. It offers compelling historical details by:

(1) Observing, through close literary analysis, firsthand migration of story development away from original geographical settings focused on Judaism to later Hellenistic environs familiar to Paul and his followers.

(2) Exposing the fallacy of treating Markan tradition as the earliest surviving glimpse of the historical figure.

(3) Replacing this exposed logic with a more dependable, Judaically inspired, profile from an original source tradition still available to us today.

(4) Establishing the Resurrection as a "historical" event.

(5) Spotlighting the figure of Mary Mag′dalene and her crucial role restoring belief among the Nazarene's followers that Yeshu ha-Notzri was indeed Israel's Messiah.

This two book series from a historical standpoint represents a complete rejection of many traditional themes surrounding the story of Jesus characteristically defended today. Themes often developed (or radically altered) beyond the Land of Israel that more properly fit the Pauline Hellenistic setting. The author attempts to insert reliable and unbiased arguments in defense of his thesis. The result is a highly suggestive historical profile consistent with the life and times as we know it (or should know it).

The search to uncover the figure we know as Jesus the Nazarene (or "Yeshu ha-Notzri") began in the fall of 1973 and has continued off and on to this day. The author's last line of work (off and on over 20 years) was devoted to business software development and related programming. That career has taken him as far away as rainforest Africa. While the author is not a scholar, across his adult life he has made it his quest to understand Jesus the Nazarene in a historical light. That passion has led him into many areas of investigation which includes:

* understanding temple worship

* Jewish festivals;

* Mosaic themes;

* historical Galilee;

* the synagogue;

* Roman Palestine;

* the Land of Israel;

* orality;

* ancient storytelling;

* the group vs individual dynamic;

* other sociological themes blanketing the geographical setting;

* the role of "elders" in ancient society;

* the canonical Gospels (with emphasis on John and Mark);

* Palestinian Christianity;

* the Apostle Paul;

* themes surrounding Judaic "renewal";

* first-century Palestinian violence and social unrest;

* so-called "exorcism" inside the historical setting;

* Greeks versus Jews;

* the early gospel witnessed as "Signs" tradition;

* related historical works of classical scholars;

* the Dead Sea Scrolls;

* John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene;

* Passion Week;

* and the Resurrection.

This list is far from complete.

These two volumes strongly suggest that mainstream scholarship has committed grievous errors reconstructing their so-called "historical" models. Thus, the necessity to ultimately publish the author's findings.