Jeffrey J. Bütz - The Secret Legacy of Jesus: The Judaic Teachings That Passed from James the Just to the Founding Fathers

Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield (19011988) scholar, humanitarian, and Nazarene prophet

THE SECRET LEGACYOF JESUS

Many books are informative; this remarkable book is also important. Rev. Btz traces an underground stream of Jewish-Christian (Ebionite) affirmation of the humanity of Jesusfrom his family and original apostles through nearly two millennia, culminating in Freemasonic traditions of the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution of the United States.

MARGARET STARBIRD, AUTHOR OF MAGDALENES LOST LEGACY AND WOMAN WITH THE ALABASTER JAR

I just read Jeffrey Btzs latest brilliant work and am more convinced than ever that America is the New Jerusalem. Btz lays out clearly and convincingly that the original teachings of Christ, as handed down by Jesuss brother James, impacted Freemasonry. When the Freemasons threw their support behind Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others, they were able to manifest the greatest expression of a democratic republic this planet has ever seen: the U.S. Constitution. This book is superb!

ROBERT R. HIERONIMUS, PH.D., AUTHOR OF FOUNDING FATHERS, SECRET SOCIETIESAND UNITED SYMBOLISM OF AMERICA

The Secret Legacy of Jesus is a major contribution to the study of the historical Jesus. Btz manages to deal with extremely complex phenomena yet retain an easy reading style. Such an accomplishment is made even more challenging by the scarcity of facts surrounding the Desposyni, which makes this book as much a mystery solver as a historical document. One of the great joys of reading this book is that Btz gives us a sweeping panorama stretching across two millennia. This is a must read for anyone interested in Christianity.

DR. JAMES GARDNER, AUTHOR OF JESUS WHO? MYTH VS. REALITY IN THE SEARCH FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUSAND MARY WHO? SEARCHING FOR THE HISTORICAL MARY MAGDALENE

What a pleasure it was to read The Secret Legacy of Jesus! It is well written, unconventional, conversational, and engaging. His tone and relaxed writing style convey the very tolerance and universalism that he sees in early Christianity. This is an important addition to the growing body of literature on early Jewish Christianity, a subject that has been heretofore largely ignored.

KEITH AKERS, AUTHOR OF THE LOST RELIGION OF JESUS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I first wish to acknowledge the research and original insights of all the scholars I quote in this book. It is they who have done the difficult meat and potatoes work, which I have been blessed to be able to popularize for the general public and help expose to the light of day. As in my first book, The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity (2005), I consider myself not so much an original researcher as a popularizer, who has been given the privilege of synthesizing the detailed research and findings of world-class scholars and forming it into a bigger philosophical picture.

I wish to dedicate this book to the memory of Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield (19011988), a true Jewish prophet, sadly maligned by conservative Christians, who foresaw so much of what has now become widely accepted in the third quest for the historical Jesus. Dr. Schonfield may have been the first to fully understand the Jewish nature of Jesus and his mission, and certainly he was the first to understand the vital role of Jesuss family in his ministry. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his services toward international humanity, Dr. Schonfield was a true Nazarene who embodied in his lifes work Jesuss great high priestly prayer that they may all be one (Luke 17:21).

I owe a huge debt of thanks to Dr. James D. Tabor for his enthusiastic support of my work almost from the moment my first book was published, and for his willingness to take time from an incredibly busy schedule to grace this new book with his foreword. When his groundbreaking book, The Jesus Dynasty (2006), appeared a year after mine, we were both amazed at how, working totally independently of each other (not knowing of each others work at all), we had arrived at astoundingly similar conclusions.

I wish to thank Dr. Shimon Gibson and his associates on the Mt. Zion Archaeological Expedition, Rafi Lewis and Mareike Grosser, for teaching me field archaeology in what has to be the most exciting place in the world to dig. While in Jerusalem, I was blessed to receive the help of the Rev. Fr. Pakrad Berjekian, director of the real estate department of the Armenian Patriarchate, who made it possible for me to go on a V.I.P. tour of the Cathedral of St. James with Archbishop Nourhan Manougian, Canon Sacrist, who graciously allowed me to take photographs, which have never before been published.

I owe a big debt of gratitude to Keith Akers, author of The Lost Religion of Jesus, for graciously sharing with me his yet unpublished manuscript on the Ebionites. Keiths highly detailed work and fresh insights greatly enhanced my chapter on Ebionite theology. A big thank-you as well to Brian Fegely, a Freemason and truly top-notch amateur historian, who confirmed my suspicions about a link between the Ebionites and Freemasonry, and who shared some astounding insights into Masonic ritual through the seemingly unlikely lens of Jesuss brother, James. (Now get your own theories out there in book form, Brian!)

There are a number of fellow authors I need to thank for their inspiration and support: Dr. James Gardner (for his unceasing questioning of sacred cows), Dr. Bob Hieronimus (for a fantastic radio interview), and Kathleen McGowan and Margaret Starbird (for much-needed theological renewal). I also must thank two of my students at Penn State University: Charles Kuttruff (for his years of wisdom and providing me with insights on the Christianity of the Founding Fathers), and Kimberly Luckey for her astute proofreading of my manuscript (and corrections to bad Latin and misunderstandings of Catholicism!).

I sincerely thank everyone I have worked with at Inner Traditions International, who make publishing a book feel like you are working with family and friends: Ehud Sperling, Jon Graham, Rob Meadows, Patricia Rydle, Cynthia Fowles, Bill Pfau, and especially my editors, Jeanie Levitan, Mindy Branstetter, and Abigail Lewis, and art director Peri Swan for making both of my books look so great!

Finally, on a personal note I wish to thank all of my parishioners at Grace Lutheran Church in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, for their unfailing Christian love and support, and my many pastoral colleagues in the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for their open-minded support of my work. Most especially, I could not do what I do without the love and support of my sisters Joan and Edy (especially for their public relations work!), and my long-suffering, patient wife and soulmate, Kathy, and the two amazing children she helped me bring into the worldRachel and David. And, of course, thanksgiving ad majorem Dei gloriam to Messiah Jesus and his forgotten brothers.

FOREWORD

On the face of it, the thesis of Reverend Jeffrey Btzs new book might strike one as far-fetched if not downright absurd, namely that the true teachings of Jesus were passed in some underground fashion, down through the ages, and ended up shaping the vision of the Founding Fathers as they forged the principles and ideals of the United States of America. Over the past decade the bookstores have been full of new titles claiming to reveal at last some lost, forgotten, suppressed, hidden, underground stream of Christianity, with connections to various esoteric traditions within Western history. The titles speak for themselves: