Dear Romany,

If you google - 'Barbara Thiering - Mary and Joseph,'
you'll find quite a few websites to choose from.

Or alternatively, google - 'Barbara Thiering's Writings.'

Select the articles - actually written by her, and not other authors.

The following websites may be of interest:

www.pesherofchrist.infinitesolutions.com/index_Mary.html

The title is called: The Pesher of Christ: Dr Barbara Thiering's
Writings.

www.wikio.com/article/36752757 - 44k -

The title is: Blasphemy: Mary Magdalene by Barbara Thiering.

I hope this helps.

In parallel there were the Gnostic gospels.

After Hellenisation of The Word,subsequently, at Nicaea (325) a selection of the main non-Gnostic gospels were selected together with the OT as the Bible: For me this makes the Life of Jesus, opaque.

I believe the goadhead was a concession to Roman pantheism in the time Constantine, possibly modelled on the Serapis godhead. It is plausible Constantine saw God the Father & Sol Invictus, as the same entity.

Islam would recognise Jesus as a significant prophet, of lesser rank than Mohammed.

Linguistically Jesus' words would have been under the influence of Attic Greek & Aramaic, whereas the Bible's interpretations codified doctine by the various church councils, until the King James Bible, Koine Greek and Vulgar Latin.

I'm open argument from Theists' case. But my positive heuristic is inclined towards the Bible "not" being The Word of God. Yet, some of the words are supportive of moralist and humanist constructs.

-Error, reposted-

I'm open argument from Theists' case. But my positive heuristical is included towards the Bible "not" being The Word of God. Yet, some of the Bible's words are supportive of moralist and humanist constructs and ambitions, and, as such, have high value to humankind.

--might be offline for two days, but will try and take a peek--

Oliver it was never intended that anyone should know for sure.Life is full of paradoxes and ambiguities.If you knew for sure,life would not be worth living,whether you be god fearing,agnostic or aetheist.

Enjoy the moment,since there is nothing that can excell the pleasure or pain that can be experienced by your own hand.

Pre-occupation with god or aethieism is a waste of time.

Dear Oliver,

Barbara Thiering claims that the gospels were written deliberately in a form containing two levels of meaning: the surface level provides a simplified and often symbolic description designed to satisfy those who needed the supernatural as an element of their faith.

And the second level, concealed within, depicts the actual events and their real significance. The surface stories and parables of the New Testament provide one account - yet the real history of the life of Jesus is to be found beneath.

By presenting his life in its historical context (amidst the social, political and religious agitations of the time), Barbara Thiering removes elements of Christian mythology to show that Jesus:

-was born out of wedlock to a betrothed and thus, officially, "Virgin" woman:
-was rejected by his strict Jewish religious sect for his actions in promoting rights for the poor, the sick, women and gentiles;
-was crucified for his beliefs but did not die on the cross and was revived later in the burial cave;
-married Mary Magdalene and fathered a family.

By stripping away the mystery from events and examining their significance, Barbara Thiering has discovered a Jesus who is a real, human, fallible figure. His courage, compassion and wisdom are of timeless relevance and continue to be the wellspring of our deepest and most powerful values.

Of course its political! The never ending story of power and control and broken down to a bed time story for children. Then again, the comparison is not that dissimilar.

EVO