Jesus and His Rivals
F05
Bradford Verter
Aphrodite was born of the foam of the sea, according to Hesiod, but the azure waters of the Mediterranean gave birth to many gods and goddesses besides. In the port cities of the Greco-Roman world mingled devotees of Isis and Sarapis, Mithras and the God of Moses, whose True Name one dared not pronounce. Gentiles perceived the Essenes, Zealots, Pharisees, Sadducees, and other Jewish sects as no less arcane than the countless mystery cults salting the Empire, whose initiates were bound by oaths of secrecy. In Qumran and Nag Hammadi, far from the shadow of those who tended the Imperial Cult (Ave Caesar!), clustered bands of sectarians-renegade Hebrews and gnostics both ascetic and libertine. Itinerant magicians, healers, oracles, and prophets wandered the lands exorcising demons, effecting erotic unions, and proclaiming the end of days. This was the context in which Jesus was born and Christianity formed. We shall supplement our close readings of primary texts (Apuleius, the New Testament, gnostic writings, the Greek magical papyri) with contemporary scholarship on gender construction, apocalypticism, martyrdom, and other topics.