Jesus the Wicked Priest
Imprint: Bear & Company
• Decodes the Dead Sea Scrolls to reveal Christianity’s hidden Essene origins
• Reveals the Essenes as key figures behind Jesus’s trial, torture, and crucifixion
• Shows how Jesus, a former Essene himself, was deemed “the Wicked Priest” for his liberationist politics and humanist bent
• Explores the Essene and early Christian belief in reincarnation.
About Jesus the Wicked Priest
Marvin Vining has produced a fascinating and engaging book with a provocative thesis—namely that the Dead Sea Scrolls refer directly to Jesus of Nazareth and that the Essene movement that they represent opposed him as the character they called ‘The Wicked Priest.’ This sort of connection between Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, both in terms of chronology and history, has been dismissed in its more extreme forms as represented by Barbara Thiering, and in a more sophisticated version represented by Robert Eisenman by almost all scholars in the field. Vining skillfully puts the case back on the table. Although he is technically a ‘non-specialist,’ his grasp of the sources and issues is as admirable as his thesis is provocative. I believe Vining deserves a careful reading by non-specialists and those in the academy alike. He writes in an engaging and skillful way and I look forward to the fruitful debates that can potentially ensue in the field, based on his work.
—James D. Tabor, Ph.D., chairman, Department of Religious Studies, UNC Charlotte, author The Jesus Dynasty
About the Author of Jesus the Wicked Priest
Marvin Vining, an attorney and lay minister in the United Methodist Church, spent fourteen years researching and writing this book. He is a Bible scholar who holds a master’s degree in philosophy and has studied theology for many years. He lives in Mississippi.