The Transmutation of Jesus
A transmutation of Jesus is effected by Church lore on several levels:
(Note that some of these bullet points overlap significantly.)
• Jesus, the activist who protested against Rome, is transmuted into an alleged challenger of the rabbinic authorities.
• Jesus, the challenger against Sadducee collaboration with Rome, is transmuted into an alleged blasphemer against Judaism.
• Jesus, the neo-Orthodox Jewish teacher with a heavy emphasis on humanism, is transmuted into a quasi–universalistic preacher of humanism, who had rejected his core Judaism.
