cover image The Masks of Christ: Behind the Lies and Cover-ups about the Life of Jesus

The Masks of Christ: Behind the Lies and Cover-ups about the Life of Jesus

Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince, . . Touchstone, $16 (445pp) ISBN 978-1-4165-3166-1

Picknett and Prince are the authors of controversial and provocative works, including The Templar Revelation and The Turin Shroud , that challenge popular assumptions and bring into question much of what many consider truth. In their newest volume, the authors strike boldly and unreservedly against what they see as the mythos that transformed the historical Jesus into a God, namely, the Christ. Studying the traditions and tensions that surrounded the early Christians and filtering these through the lens of skepticism, they create a picture that is both challenging and disturbing. If they are correct, then the Christ of today's Christianity is a corruption of the mission of the rabbi Jesus of Nazareth. In the end, they conclude that “it seems that even Jesus himself would once have agreed that Christians have been worshipping the wrong Christ for two millenia.” Tough words. Readers will decide for themselves whether the authors prove their case. (Nov.)