Finally, after 2,000 years, there's a historical explanation for the birth of Christianity. Relying on known history from that era, The Other Jesus and the Birth of Christianity details how the anonymous author of the oldest gospel in the New Testament was anxiously waiting in Rome for the promised end of the world, envisioned in 30 CE by a long-dead and otherwise forgotten prophet named Jesus. In 70 CE, the author, later called Mark, was electrified by the news that the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed and the city taken by the Romans. Not only that, but the twin disasters had also been predicted by a man named Jesus, son of Ananias, whose presence is documented in the writings of the Jewish historian of that time. Believing the two men to be the same person and wanting to let everyone know of the coming apocalypse, Mark then combined what he knew about Jesus, the unheralded prophet from Galilee, with the Jesus who made such an accurate prediction. Drawing largely on existing sacred accounts detailing the activities of ancient seers like Elijah and Elisha and on the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas, Mark hastily produced a biography that was adopted and expanded by future gospel writers, unknowingly generating what has become the world's largest religion.
