The enigma of Jesus has laid buried for two thousand years: who really was he? A man, a prophet, a god? Did he consider himself to be the Messiah proclaimed by Jewish scripture? Was he aware of the impending Passion, and in that case, what meaning did he grant it? With the use of fragments of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, Israel Knohl, director of the biblical department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, lays the foundation for a new reflection on crucial questions. In particular, he presents for the first time, extremely troubling similarities between the biography of Jesus and that of a messianic leader who preceded him by a generation: Menahem the Essene. This man, from the community of Qumran and killed by Roman soldiers in the year 4BC, Surely represents the missing link between the story of Judaism and that of Christianity, which would finally enable an understanding of the fate of Jesus.
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