This exciting work by the author of the 300,000-copy bestseller The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered challenges established views on the origins of Christianity. Professor Eisenman reveals startling information about the first Christians, the Righteous Teacher, the apocalyptic documents of the time, and more.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians: Essays and Translations

Religion & Spirituality

Eisenman, Robert

Christian Books & Bibles

Castle

In this new series of books: James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls I, renowned biblical scholar Robert Eisenman revisits the subject of James the brother of Jesus connecting him even more effectively, not only to the Leadership of Early Christianity in Palestine, but to the Dead Sea Scrolls in Palestine too. In a more reader-friendly format that compresses the results of his several previous works, Eisenman uses the Dead Sea Scrolls and early Church texts to create the most comprehensive picture of Jesus’ brother James conceivable. The private specialist and enthusiastic aficionado will not want to miss it. The James, Eisenman presents, is the pivotal Opposition Jewish Leader leading up to the fall of the Temple and beyond in the First Century. As a typical Essene or Dead Sea Scrolls sectarian, James wears only linen, bathes daily in cold water, was a vegetarian, and is a life-long Nazirite; but he and the Party, the New Testament attests he led, are also “zealous for the Law” and insist on “Circumcision”. Moreover Eisenman makes compelling arguments that James not Peter -- whoever he was and however he existed -- and certainly not Paul, was the true heir to his brother Jesus and the Leader of early Christianity everywhere. Eisenman will also cover subjects like “the Brothers of Jesus as Apostles,” “the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus,” and Paul’s almost mortal attack on James in the Temple. Eisenman’s work will also extend to the competition between Paul and James in Antioch and over the conversion of Queen Helen of Adiabene and her two sons in Northern Syria, who not only led the ‘famine relief” efforts ascribed to Paul in Acts, but also gave the fabulous golden candelabra depicted as booty from the Temple on the Arch of Titus in Rome. Eisenman will show the figure of James to have been so influential and highly-regarded in the Jerusalem of his day that his death was the capstone event that led up to the Jewish Revolt against Rome. In this series, Eisenman’s revelations will extend far beyond these examples. Adapted from a lifetime of research, James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, both I and II, will complete the task of rescuing James from the oblivion into which he was cast either intentionally or via benign neglect. His conclusion will therefore definitively bear on the problem of “the Historical Jesus”: “Who and whatever James was, so was Jesus.”

James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls I: The Historical James, Paul the Enemy, and Jesus' Brothers as Apostles

Grave Distractions Publications

In this concluding volume of James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II: The Damascus Code, the Tent of David, the New Covenant, and the Blood of Christ, renowned biblical scholar Robert Eisenman compresses in a more reader-friendly format the results of previous work, creating a more comprehensive picture of Jesus’ brother James as “the pivotal Opposition Leader” of the time leading up to the War against Rome (66-70 CE). Is there an interconnecting code between the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls? Eisenman – who broke the Scrolls monopoly and was the first to identify the so-called “James Ossuary” as fraudulent – shows that there is. Moreover, in this newly-revised volume, he ‘decodes’ many beloved and famous sayings of the Gospels, such as “Every plant which My Heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted,” “A man shall not be known by what goes into his mouth but by what comes out of it,” “Do not throw Holy Things to dogs”, etc. including chapters like “The Dogs who Licked Poor Lazarus’ Sores” or “Rabbi Eliezer’s Bad Breath and Lazarus’ Stinking Body”. In identifying the Scrolls as the literature of “the Messianic Movement in Palestine”; he not only connects “James the Brother of Jesus” to the Leadership of ‘Early Christianity’ in Palestine, but also to "the Righteous Teacher” in the Scrolls. Offering a point-by-point analysis of James' relationship to the Habakkuk Commentary, The Damascus Document, The War Scroll, etc., he also illumines the subjects "the Pella Flight and raising the Fallen Tent of David”, “Paul as an Herodian,” “the Wilderness Camps,” and “Peter”’s role as “a prototypical Essene” but in Acts as a mouthpiece for anti-Semitism. In doing so he, not only clarifies the true history of Palestine in the First Century, but deciphers the way ‘the picture’ of “Jesus” was put together in the Gospels and, as a consequence, what can be known about the real “Jesus”. He also covers subjects like “the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus” and Paul’s attack on James on the Temple steps, extending it to the competition between Paul and “the Party of James” over “Circumcision” in Antioch and the conversion of Queen Helen Adiabene and her sons in Northern Syria, who led the “famine relief” effort ascribed to Paul in Acts. Moreover, he will show the figure of James to have been so influential and highly-regarded in the Jerusalem of his day that his death was the capstone event leading up to the Jewish Revolt against Rome. In making these arguments and exposing actual ‘overwrites’, a crucial new point that emerges is his identification of the Qumran document called by scholars “MMT” as a ‘Jamesian’ Letter to “the Great King of the Peoples beyond the Euphrates.” At the same time, he unravels the real “code” behind the pivotal New Testament allusion: “This is the Cup of the New Covenant in My Blood,” connecting it to “the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus” and “giving the Cup of the Right Hand of the Lord ( "the Cup of Divine Wrath”) to drink” in both the Damascus Document and Habakkuk Pesher in the Scrolls. Did Paul know the meaning of the famous Damascus Document (discovered in Cairo in the Nineteenth Century) “to set the Holy Things up according to their precise specifications” – or the reverse of it, as Peter is presented as being made to understand by “a Voice out of Heaven” and “a Tablecloth” descending out of it – “to make no distinctions between Holy and profane” – on a rooftop in Gaza? In this series, Eisenman’s revelations will extend far beyond these examples. James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, both I and II, will complete the task of rescuing James from the oblivion into which he was cast, either intentionally or via benign neglect. His conclusion will, therefore, definitively bear on the problem of “the Historical Jesus”: “Who and whatever James was, so was Jesus.” Eisenman’s many readers will not be disappointed.

James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II: The Damascus Code, the Tent of David, the New Covenant, and the Blood of Christ

This is the follow-up work to Prof. Eisenman's Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians, and Qumran: A New Hypothesis of Qumran Origins, in which he attempts to prove in a case-by-case manner some of the hypotheses he suggested in that original ground-breaking work. Both works turn out to be, surprisingly enough, just about exactly the same number of pages and what Prof. Eisenman does in this short volume is to go through what is known by scholars as "The Habakkuk Pesher" and laymen, "The Habakkuk Commentary" – "Pesher" in Hebrew having the same sense as "Commentary" in English – in a line-by-line, passage-by-passage fashion; and meticulously set forth just how they can relate to known events, ideas, and happenstances known from and associated with the life of James or as all Early Christian accounts would have it: "James the Just" (the cognomen, “the Just One” of course, being at all times all-important) or “James the Zaddik.”. As everyone knows, he has expanded this in two 1000+ page books since: James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls (1997-98) and The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ (2006) and two shorter ones: James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls I and II (2012 and 2013); but these two initial volumes represent his first forays into this territory. Once again, despite the impression by a few critics, who try make light of or marginalize his theories or scholarship (as if they could produce anything better); as in MZCQ, he absolutely distinguishes between "the Spouter of Lies” or “Lying” (the so-called “Liar” or “Scoffer” – for Eisenman, a more accurate translation of this last being “the Jester”) and "the Wicked Priest"; and this dichotomy has withstood the test of time and initiated a host of imitators. Not only does he make it clear – despite some simplistic “Consensus” theorizing – that these two are utterly different; but, in doing so, he absolutely confirms through internal analysis a First Century CE date for principal Qumran original Documents (called by so-called ‘consensus scholars’, “Sectarian”), a position he already basically set forth in MZCQ. The first, of course, is an internal ideological Adversary of the hero of the Scrolls, "the Righteous Teacher" – “the Liar” who "denied the Law in the midst of their entire Congregation" – the second, the present Establishment High Priest and this, definitively not a “Maccabean” but the reigning “Herodian” one. It is he who is responsible for the death or destruction of "the Righteous Teacher" and some of those with him – called revealingly “the Poor" – “the Ebionim" in the Hebrew of the Scrolls and very probably equivalent to "the Ebionites" of Early Church History about whom Eusebius in the 4th Century is so contemptuous and scathing of. These and many other things are meticulously delineated in this, Eisenman's first foray into a line-by-line decipherment of the Habakkuk Pesher – having already dealt definitively and in detail with the twin issues of Archaeology and Paleography in MZCQ preceding it. Both of these very-hard-to-acquire books will not, it is hoped, disappoint, Prof. Eisenman's many admirers.

James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher

This is Eisenman's original, ground-breaking work in which he criticizes the archaeology and paleography of Qumran as it had been developed by 'the specialists' up to that time and rather offers his own hypothesis-starting with the fact that it was impossible to consider that the Maccabees were the so-called "Wicked Priests" at Qumran, primarily because everything known about them agrees, for the most part, with the doctrines and positions emanating from the documents known at that time to emanate from the area known as "Qumran" along the Northwestern part of the Dead Sea and which, for that reason, we call "The Dead Sea Scrolls". In addition, he shows rather that the Establishment against whom the Qumran Scrolls were in an almost homogeneous manner directed was rather that of the Herodians and the Priests that owed both their appointment and authority to them and the Roman Governors that in due course either replaced or ruled either through or in conjunction with them. He also starts in this work to build his case for the fact that the individual came to be understood in Early Christian History as "James the Righteous" and called by everyone "James the Just"-that same individual known by everyone as as "James the Brother of Jesus"-had very much in common with "the Righteous Teacher" described and alluded to in many Dead Sea Scrolls documents. That is why this book, originally published in the early 1980s, was subtitled "A New Hypothesis of Qumran Origins".It was necessary to subject both the archaeology and paleography of Qumran-upon which the so-called "Establishment" or "Consensus of Qumran Scholars' had all based both their theories and chronology to thoroughgoing criticism. This he has done, as only someone who originally studied math and physics, could do, in a meticulously masterful fashion. No one has 'laid a glove' on his analysis since. At the same time and in parallel fashion, he starts to suggest that the 'opponent' of this individual in Early Christian History, Paul, had about the same amount of characteristics with the individual these same Qumran Documents are constantly referring to as "The Spouter of Lying", "the Liar" or "Man of Lying", or "the Scoffer" or Jester" (not someone to be taken seriously)-but, of course, this is not the same individual as "the Wicked Priest" whom prestigious Qumran 'scholars' on the highest level insist upon saddling him with because they saw "the Wicked Priest" and "the Lying Spouter" described in Qumran Documents as the same individual.Eisenman lays out here in very clear terms that the two individuals denoted as "the Wicked Priest" and "the Lying Spouter" were two distinct and absolutely separate persons-this again, despite what some 'scholars' attempt to foist on him in order to try to make him look ridiculous . No, on the contrary, in doing so, they only make themselves look ridiculous. Eisenman is very careful here - "the Spouter of Lying" is an internal opponent of "the Righteous Teacher" at Qumran. "He denied the Law in the midst of the whole Congregation"! "The Wicked Priest - certainly no 'Maccabean'/'Hasmonean' - was rather an Establishment and probably Herodian High Priest, meaning, appointed by the "Herodians" and their Roman Overlords.

Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians, and Qumran: A New Hypothesis of Qumran Origins

By the author of the best-selling Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered and the James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls series, fascinating to beginner and scholar alike, this book provides further delineation of the relationship between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Christianity's formative years in Palestine. Included in this volume are Prof. Eisenman's first two ground-breaking works: Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran and James the Just in Habakkuk Pesher. The foundation pieces of his new approach to the Scrolls and "Palestinian Christianity", they triggered the debate over their relationship to Christian Origins generally ultimately leading to the freeing of the Scrolls early in the 1990’s - a struggle in which he played a pivotal role. Also included in this volume are unpublished papers and essays, written and presented by him at international conferences in the past. These include "Paul as Herodian", "Rain Imagery at Qumran", and "The Final Proof that James and the Righteous Teacher are the Same" altogether providing a thorough and even more challenging presentation of the link of the Scrolls to early First-Century Christianity in Palestine. This volume also contains new translations of three key Qumran Documents: the Habakkuk Pesher, the Damascus Document, and the Community Rule, all almost only available in the sometimes inaccurate and often inconsistent renderings of Consensus 'Scholars' missing the electric brilliance of the writers of the Scrolls. Now, for the first time, the reader will have a chance to see the difference between these and a translation that grasps the apocalyptic mindset of the authors of the Scrolls. Subjecting the archaeology, paleography, and other external dating tools of Qumran research to rigorous criticism, Prof. Eisenman presents a fascinating and compelling picture of a nationalistic, xenophobic, and militant "Messianism" very different from the way we currently view Christianity - in fact, the literature of “the Messianic Movement in Palestine" itself. Not only does this book challenge preconceptions, it sets forth the detailed arguments necessary to connect "the Righteous Teacher" at Qumran to "the First Christians" and even the family of Jesus itself. In so doing, it connects the ideological adversary of this Teacher, "the Spouter of Lying" - in some cases even denoted "the Joker" - with Paul.

History

World

The New Jerusalem: A Millennium Poetic / Prophetic Travel Diario, 1959-62

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

Robert Eisenman is the author of The James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls series (2012), The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ (2006), James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls (1998), The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians (1996), Islamic Law in Palestine and Israel: A History of the Survival of Tanzimat and Shari’ah (1978), and co-editor of The Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1989) and The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (1992) The Dead Sea scrolls were discovered in a desolate, and place called Qumran on the north-west shore of the Dead Sea, between 1946 and 1956. Over 970documents were found in 11caves. The scrolls have courted controversy ever since because of their Biblical and extra-Biblical content, and the question of who actually wrote theta continues to be disputed till this day. Because the scrolls were possessively kept secret for a long time, conspiracy theories arose with some claiming that the Vatican was suppressing information found in the scrolls that was damaging to the church, á Ia Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. In reality, it was greed and a turf war between scholars that kept the scrolls hidden from the public—scholars wanted to be the first to interpret the texts, for obvious reasons. Today, you can view the fragments of the scrolls on the Internet. "We said (the scrolls) should be open to anybody," said Prof :Eisenman. "It should he free for anyone religious, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or whomever to look at the scrolls for themselves. And the Israelis didn't want that. They wanted their scholars to see the documents and write the principal works so that their version would be the official interpretation.” The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Roots of Christianity and Islam: Re-Erecting the Fallen Tent of David in the Land North of Damascus represents a small part of Prof. Eisenman’s groundbreaking work in deciphering the hidden history and influence the Dead Sea Scrolls have had on the world’s three major religions; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Roots of Christianity and Islam: Re-Erecting the Fallen Tent of David in the Land North of Damascus

James was a vegetarian, wore only linen clothing, bathed daily at dawn in cold water, and was a life-long Nazirite. In this profound and provocative work of scholarly detection, eminent biblical scholar Robert Eisenman introduces a startling theory about the identity of James—the brother of Jesus—who was almost entirely marginalized in the New Testament. Drawing on long-overlooked early church texts and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Eisenman reveals in this groundbreaking exploration that James, not Peter, was the real successor to the movement we now call Christianity. In an argument with enormous implications, Eisenman identifies Paul as deeply compromised by Roman contacts. James is presented as not simply the leader of Christianity of his day, but the popular Jewish leader of his time, whose death triggered the uprising against Rome—a fact that creative rewriting of early church documents has obscured.Eisenman reveals that characters such as Judas Iscariot and the Apostle James did not exist as such. In delineating the deliberate falsifications in New Testament documents, Eisenman shows how—as James was written out—anti-Semitism was written in. By rescuing James from the oblivion into which he was cast, the final conclusion of James, the Brother of Jesus is, in the words of the Jerusalem Post, apocalyptic—who and whatever James was, so was Jesus.

James, the Brother of Jesus Lib/E: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Blackstone Publishing

This poetic diary documents Robert Eisenman’s life-changing backpacking journey through Europe, the Middle East, and Asia in the early 1960s. Eisenman’s search for meaning took him to San Francisco and its Beat culture, to Paris, to Lebanon, Israel, and far beyond. The author's keen eye catches it all: pre-hippie hotels, midnight encounters with beautiful women, “India’s ceaseless fever,” the lure of distant cities and landscapes. Alternately hopeful and critical, these poems vividly etch the pleasures and perils of a bygone era and their profound effect on one young poet.

The New Jerusalem: A Millennium Poetic/Prophetic Travel Diario 1959-1962

North Atlantic Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Eisenman, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Eisenman, Robert

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Eisenman, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians: Essays and Translations

James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls I: The Historical James, Paul the Enemy, and Jesus' Brothers as Apostles

James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II: The Damascus Code, the Tent of David, the New Covenant, and the Blood of Christ

James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher

Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians, and Qumran: A New Hypothesis of Qumran Origins

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians: Essays and Translations

The New Jerusalem: A Millennium Poetic / Prophetic Travel Diario, 1959-62

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Roots of Christianity and Islam: Re-Erecting the Fallen Tent of David in the Land North of Damascus

James, the Brother of Jesus Lib/E: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The New Jerusalem: A Millennium Poetic/Prophetic Travel Diario 1959-1962