The canonical gospels were written long after the events they describe. Indeed, some of them may have been written by authors who were not even eyewitnesses to these events and who slanted their writings to fit the needs of the new Church. As a result, a huge gulf exists between the Christ of the Christian church and the historical Jesus. In Jesus the Rabbi Prophet Jacques Baldet seeks to restore the historical context and true nature of the Jewish society in which Jesus lived--a context in which his actions take on an entirely different meaning. The research of modern historians has shed much new light on the historical circumstances at work in Judaea and the Roman provinces that Jesus knew. Looking at the life of Jesus in its broader historical setting gives us answers to questions that have long puzzled historians: When did Jesus actually live? What was the true nature of his family, convictions, and spiritual beliefs? From this vibrant and highly informed perspective, the deeper story of the man from Galilee emerges: Rabbi Jesus was both a Jew imbued with the monotheistic teaching of the Torah and a visionary who preached of the kingdom within. Viewed in their proper historical context, Christ's betrayal by Judas, the Stations of the Passion, and his death on Calvary take on a new light. Baldet shows that the true life and original message of Jesus were concealed beneath the literary creations that primarily reflected the agenda of the early Church. Jesus was not seeking to start a new religion. He was a Jewish teacher who sought to reform the faith of his fathers by restoring dignity to the unfortunate and ostracized members of his society. JACQUES BALDET is a writer, economist, and international consultant who completed graduate studies in economics at the Sorbonne. He has worked for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program. For many years he has conducted research into the historical Jesus and the Jewish roots of Christianity. He lives in France.
