Jesus the Man : New Interpretation from the Dead Sea Scrolls by Barbara Thiering

Reviewer: Tim O'Neill from Sydney, Australia February 28, 2000

Barbara Thiering, an amateur scholar from Sydney, has based a ponderous thesis which reinterprets the whole history of the origins of Christianity on the premise that the Dead Sea Scrolls are contemporary with the gospels instead of over 100 years older. This idea, contradicted by every other researcher into the Scrolls, may have held some water before the Scrolls were carbon dated but it is baseless now. This doesn't stop Thiering from writing a book which would be junk as a fantasy novel and is total junk as (supposed) non-fiction.

Thiering piles ridiculous assertion upon ludicrous nonsense and justifies it all with her 'pesher' interpretation of the gospels. It seems the gospels can mean whatever Dr Thiering's whacko theories want them to mean. Her silly book has been laughed at by real scholars and seem to be appreciated by ignorant clowns who lap up other over-exicited historical conspiracy theories, like 'Holy Blood Holy Grail'. I would say this book should be read for amusment only, but (unlike 'Holy Blood') it isn't even entertaining on that level.

A stupid book and a complete waste of time and money. Go buy an ice-cream. Don't buy this book.