Civilization #24: Resurrecting the Gnostic Jesus

Jewish prophets, popular preachers, and communities under foreign rule anticipate a divine intervention that will end history and restore Israel.

Jesus, his followers, and later Christians interpret the crucifixion as a psychological and moral release that enables ordinary people to start again without paralyzing shame.

The gospels portray Jesus as the divine Son of God, born of Mary, teaching disciples, and commanding a movement that reaches beyond Judaism into the wider world.

The lecture presents Jesus as a gnostic teacher who reveals a hidden cosmology to his closest followers and to readers of the Gospel of Thomas.

Jesus, his disciples, and the public audience receive different layers of teaching in the lecture’s reconstruction of early Christian practice.

Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes compete within Judaism while Pontius Pilate governs Judea as a Roman official with a record of brutality.

A Jewish teacher from Galilee, shaped by John the Baptist and remembered by early followers, stands at the center of the limited historical record about Jesus.

Jesus, his early followers, and the apostle Paul stand as distinct agents in the lecture’s account of how Christianity forms.

Greek philosophers, Persian dualists, Indian traditions, Roman schools, and Jewish prophets all compete for attention in the Levant during Jesus’ lifetime.

Roman authorities, Jewish crowds, and Jesus’ followers interpret a public execution within a climate of prophetic expectation and political tension.

The lecture voices a skeptic’s perspective that questions the moral logic of Adam and Eve, divine punishment, and the need for a sacrificial redemption.

Persian rulers, Greek successors, Seleucid kings, and Roman generals reshape Judea while Jewish elites negotiate survival through translation, revolt, and accommodation.

Jesus, the Jerusalem priesthood, and a Roman centurion become key figures in a gospel scene that redefines access to God.