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The Secret Legacy of Jesus: The Judaic Teachings That Passed from James the Just to the Founding Fathers
Shows how the true teachings of Jesus were passed down through the centuries and shaped the vision of the Founding Fathers
• Reveals for the first time the hidden link that connects James the Brother, Islam, the Cathars, the Knights Templar, and Freemasonry
• Shows how the Founding Fathers used these teachings enshrined in Masonic principles to build a new nation
With the success of Paul’s desire to impose his vision for the Church, the true teachings of Jesus--as preserved by his family and disciples--were forced into hiding. This clandestine movement was evidenced by such early groups as the Nazarenes, Ebionites, and Elkesaites but is generally thought to have died out when the Church of Paul branded these groups as heretics. However, despite the ongoing persecution by the Roman Catholic orthodoxy, this underground Jewish strain of Christianity was able to survive and resist incorporation into its more powerful rival. Jeffrey Bütz, author of The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity , reveals for the first time the hidden theological link that connects James the Brother of Jesus and the Ebionites with the religion of Islam, the Cathars, the Knights Templar, and Freemasonry.
In The Secret Legacy of Jesus , Bütz demonstrates how this centuries-old underground stream of Christ’s original teachings remained alive and how it surfaced again in Colonial America, where the Founding Fathers used Masonic principles rooted in Jewish Christian teachings to establish what they believed would be a “New Jerusalem.” With the rise of a fundamentalist Christianity, this potent spiritual vision was lost, but Bütz contends it can be recovered and used to bring about the reconciliation of Christians, Jews, and Muslims throughout the world.
• Reveals for the first time the hidden link that connects James the Brother, Islam, the Cathars, the Knights Templar, and Freemasonry
• Shows how the Founding Fathers used these teachings enshrined in Masonic principles to build a new nation
With the success of Paul’s desire to impose his vision for the Church, the true teachings of Jesus--as preserved by his family and disciples--were forced into hiding. This clandestine movement was evidenced by such early groups as the Nazarenes, Ebionites, and Elkesaites but is generally thought to have died out when the Church of Paul branded these groups as heretics. However, despite the ongoing persecution by the Roman Catholic orthodoxy, this underground Jewish strain of Christianity was able to survive and resist incorporation into its more powerful rival. Jeffrey Bütz, author of The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity , reveals for the first time the hidden theological link that connects James the Brother of Jesus and the Ebionites with the religion of Islam, the Cathars, the Knights Templar, and Freemasonry.
In The Secret Legacy of Jesus , Bütz demonstrates how this centuries-old underground stream of Christ’s original teachings remained alive and how it surfaced again in Colonial America, where the Founding Fathers used Masonic principles rooted in Jewish Christian teachings to establish what they believed would be a “New Jerusalem.” With the rise of a fundamentalist Christianity, this potent spiritual vision was lost, but Bütz contends it can be recovered and used to bring about the reconciliation of Christians, Jews, and Muslims throughout the world.
- GenresReligionNonfiction
400 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 6, 2010
Jesus and George Washington both on the cover? When I see Cathars, Templars, and Masons connected to "secret legacy," alarm bells go off in my mind! But don't be put off; this book is a well-written contribution, which relies on historical data rather than speculation, in a subject area in which speculation seems to be the rule rather than the exception.
This book is an intelligent and conversational contribution to the growing, but still rather sparse, literature on the Ebionites. The author explains things well and goes into some detail to make the transitions, which are considerable. The author has clearly understood the historical material well and I was surprised to learn something about the connection between gnosticism and the Masons. The essence of the tradition that was handed down is universalism and tolerance -- this is what gets both Jesus and George Washington on the cover.
My main concern about the book is that he connects the Ebionites too strongly to the temple via the book of Acts (which I view as orthodox propaganda). Thus, the Ebionite rejection of animal sacrifice tends to get downgraded -- we could have wished that vegetarianism had gotten down to the founding fathers! But most people won't have that much of a problem with Acts, so this won't be an issue. For his book to work (going all the way back to Jesus, at any rate), he really needs the book of Acts because that is where the "Temple" connection comes in, which is what his thesis needs later on in the discussion of the Templars and Masons.
Once you get to the Cathars, though, the connections seem more solid, so for sure there is more of a connection than I would have suspected from gnosticism, to the Cathars, then to the Templars, then to the Masons, and finally to the Founding Fathers. The "Christian" connection with the ideas of the American revolution is stronger than I would have suspected, although it is not the conventional kind of Christianity that you often run into today -- in fact, the thread back to Jesus seems to go through what most people would regard as heretical Christianity.
This book is an intelligent and conversational contribution to the growing, but still rather sparse, literature on the Ebionites. The author explains things well and goes into some detail to make the transitions, which are considerable. The author has clearly understood the historical material well and I was surprised to learn something about the connection between gnosticism and the Masons. The essence of the tradition that was handed down is universalism and tolerance -- this is what gets both Jesus and George Washington on the cover.
My main concern about the book is that he connects the Ebionites too strongly to the temple via the book of Acts (which I view as orthodox propaganda). Thus, the Ebionite rejection of animal sacrifice tends to get downgraded -- we could have wished that vegetarianism had gotten down to the founding fathers! But most people won't have that much of a problem with Acts, so this won't be an issue. For his book to work (going all the way back to Jesus, at any rate), he really needs the book of Acts because that is where the "Temple" connection comes in, which is what his thesis needs later on in the discussion of the Templars and Masons.
Once you get to the Cathars, though, the connections seem more solid, so for sure there is more of a connection than I would have suspected from gnosticism, to the Cathars, then to the Templars, then to the Masons, and finally to the Founding Fathers. The "Christian" connection with the ideas of the American revolution is stronger than I would have suspected, although it is not the conventional kind of Christianity that you often run into today -- in fact, the thread back to Jesus seems to go through what most people would regard as heretical Christianity.
May 31, 2014
An fascinating treatment for those of us who wonder about whatever happened to the lost streams of Church History after all the book burnings, persecutions, and other hardships. But if one believes that you cannot kill an idea then the underground stream concept makes sense. This book is an imaginative and creative theory for what happened backed by some facts, ancient and forgotten surviving texts and logic. I liked it a lot.
November 3, 2019
Bütz is a very clear, careful writer who always cites his sources and tells the full story. He has an excellent ear for unusual stories which keeps the book quite interesting, but he never fails to distinguish between what is documented and what is speculation. I learned a lot from the first three-thirds of the book and was very grateful for the connections Bütz draws between Jewish Christianity and Islam, which I found very perceptive. I was inspired to learn more about the Cathars and Freemasons, although I am skeptical about what Bütz has to say about the Freemasons in particular.
September 21, 2014
This is an interesting look at the history of the church in the time period immediately following Jesus' death that then follows the somewhat speculative path of Jewish Christianity up through the time of the Founding Fathers. It is different than many of the other books I've read, specifically in that the author is much more willing to go out on a limb and follow a speculative path with his conclusions. He relies heavily on sources that are outside the scope of generally accepted/agreed upon texts/interpretations of texts. Whereas other authors I've read discard works where a general consensus has not been reached to present an argument, Butz has not only included them, but drawn some of his conclusions based on them. This doesn't necessarily make them wrong, of course, simply outside the scope of the general consensus. It's wonderful to see what other sources are out there that are still being debated/discussed. I don't necessarily agree with everything Butz has presented, but I don't think I've ever read a book where that was the case. And, as this book is not sold as simple religious history (what I normally read), but also in the secret society genre, I knew what I was getting in to from the start. Despite the title, most of the book deals with tracing the history of Jewish Christianity in the early part of the Common Era, and very little is devoted to secret society speculation in modern times, which I find preferable as the early history is where my interest lies.
August 28, 2012
Interesting. Reached out in theory further than I could actually believe in a few spots. But otherwise a good thinker.
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October 1, 2012still reading this quite enlightening
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews