THE SECRET FAMILY OF JESUS

In Channel 4's The Secret Family of Jesus, Robert Beckford explores the historical evidence for claims that Jesus had brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles and nephews, as well as a deep friendship with Mary Magdalene. Beckford and many other theologians believe that Jesus did indeed have an extended family that survived some 300 years after his death. However, they have been airbrushed from history and excised from the Bible as the result of a power struggle in the early church.

* The idea that Jesus was a divine being is backed by the claim that his mother Mary was a virgin and that his birth was the miraculous work of God.

* There is evidence from the Gospels and other documents that Mary and Joseph had other children besides Jesus, and that he grew up in an ordinary Jewish family, surrounded by brothers and sisters.

* For most Christians Mary's virginity is central to their faith, and many consider it heresy to suggest that Jesus was not her only child.

* After Jesus died, those descended from his family and friends, led by his brother James, saw the original Christian message as a renewed version of Judaism, and first and foremost wanted to persuade other Jews to join them.

* In opposition to Jesus' family, Christians led by Peter and Paul wanted to establish a new religion to include non-Jews.

* Peter and Paul's version won out. They placed more emphasis on Jesus' divinity rather than his humanity, and wrote the human story of Jesus' family out of Christian history.

* Peter and Paul's version of Christianity developed in opposition to the Jewish Christianity of Jesus family and friends and resulted in anti-Semitism down the ages.

* According to the earliest, gospel Mark, Jesus was a disciple of John, who taught and baptised him, and not the other way round.

* Jews and Muslims see Jesus as a prophet – a human being with a powerful message to change the world – rather than the son of God.

* Some say that the historical evidence of Jesus' humanity and teachings invalidates 2,000 years of Church teaching that has given more emphasis to his divinity.

* Some argue that Jesus' humanity and revolutionary teachings – his blueprint for a 'Kingdom of God on earth' – are the foundations of Christian belief

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