The Jesus Dynasty

The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity
AuthorJames Tabor
LanguageEnglish
PublisherSimon & Schuster
Publication date
April 4, 2006
Pages378
ISBN978-0-7432-8723-4
OCLC64487282
232.9 22
LC ClassBT270 .T33 2006

The Jesus Dynasty is a 2006 book written by James Tabor in which he develops the hypothesis that the original Jesus movement was a dynastic one, with the intention of overthrowing the rule of Herod Antipas; that Jesus of Nazareth was a royal messiah, while his cousin John the Baptist planned to be a priestly messiah.[1]

The book explores speculative ideas, like the Talpiot Tomb possibly being Jesus' family tomb and the theory that Roman soldier Tiberius Julius Abdes Pantera might have been Jesus' father, though no definitive conclusions are reached.

The book received mixed reviews. Arthur J. Droge praised its bold reconstruction, while Richard Wightman Fox found it left readers unsure about the historical basis of the Jesus dynasty. Critics like Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte accused it of generating controversy rather than disseminating knowledge, whereas Jeffrey Bütz appreciated it as a valuable contribution to historical Jesus studies.

  1. ^ Risa Levitt Kohn, Rebecca Moore, A Portable God: The Origin of Judaism and Christianity, pages 168-169 (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007). ISBN 978-0-7425-4464-2