Secret of the Savior: The Myth of the Messiah in Mark

[sidmartin]

I take a somewhat different approach. My working hypothesis is that the Gospel of Mark, the earliest written, is an allegory of the history of Israel from the Essenic point of view written in response to the fall of Jerusalem and designed to encourage the reader to keep the faith -- the Jewish faith. His message is that God has always saved his People and in the end Israel will rise again, which is the meaning of the resurrection. Jesus is a symbol of salvation, which is what the name "Jesus" means, and the story of Jesus recapitulates the history of salvation. Jesus is a serial composite character. He is identified with a series of savior figures and salvation event, from Joshua on and from the Exodus to the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. Wlthough Mark incorporated certain pagan motifs, which became more prominent in later Christianity, Mark's Gospel is essentially Jewish. At the risk of being accused of self-promotion, I would refer those who might be interested in pursuing this analysis to my newly published book, Secret of the Savior: The Myth of the Messiah in Mark, which is availabe on Amazon and elsewhere.

[MrMacSon]

Sid,

Secret of the Savior looks fascinating! -

The thesis of this book is simple. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is the personification of divine salvation, which is what the name “Jesus” means, “God saves.” Jesus stands for whomever or whatever Mark sees as the instrument or embodiment of salvation at any given point in time. Jesus represents a series of savior figures and salvation events. Jesus is a process, not a person, the process of God saving. Jesus is a symbol of salvation. God is the savior. Jesus is the savior, not incarnate, but personified. That is the secret of the savior.

Be prepared for an exciting adventure in literary archeology. What we are doing is no less than unearthing the hidden history buried beneath the surface story in the earliest Gospel.

http://www.secretofthesavior.com/book-preview.html

It's also interesting b/c Earl Doherty has previously described Jesus Christ as meaning "the annointed savior" and, when I posted a quote referring to that elsewhere recently, someone questioned that meaning of Jesus.

Of course, one of the Greek spellings of 'christ' (chrestus or christos) often meant annointed.

[dewitness]

Sid,

Secret of the Savior looks fascinating! -

The thesis of this book is simple. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is the personification of divine salvation, which is what the name “Jesus” means, “God saves.” Jesus stands for whomever or whatever Mark sees as the instrument or embodiment of salvation at any given point in time. Jesus represents a series of savior figures and salvation events. Jesus is a process, not a person, the process of God saving. Jesus is a symbol of salvation. God is the savior. Jesus is the savior, not incarnate, but personified. That is the secret of the savior.

Be prepared for an exciting adventure in literary archeology. What we are doing is no less than unearthing the hidden history buried beneath the surface story in the earliest Gospel.

http://www.secretofthesavior.com/book-preview.html

It's also interesting b/c Earl Doherty has previously described Jesus Christ as meaning "the annointed savior" and, when I posted a quote referring to that elsewhere recently, someone questioned that meaning of Jesus.

Of course, one of the Greek spellings of 'christ' (chrestus or christos) often meant annointed.

Anyone who thinks gMark Jesus is the personification of divine salvation does not understand or cannot remember what gMark said.

1. gMark's Jesus wanted the Populace to REMAIN in Sin.

2. gMark's Jesus boasted that he did NOT WANT the Populace to understand him.

3. gMark's Jesus did NOT want the Populace to identify him as Christ.

gMark is an anti-Jewish propaganda to show that the Jews were Evil and were really responsible for the Fall of the Temple and the desolation of Jerusalem.

[captiveofchrist]

Jesus was never called "Jesus". The letter J is 300 years old, messiah lived nearly 2000 years ago, do the math. His name is Yahushua

[Stephan Huller]

"Jesus Christ" does not mean 'anointed savior.' Fuck.