The Natsarene
and hidden gnosis
(PDF)

by René Salm

First time publication anywhere:

The Acts of Mark

For several years now I’ve been in possession of a remarkable ancient Greek Christian text which, to my knowledge, has not yet been translated into any modern language. It is the Acts of Mark, generally known (if at all) as the “Acta Marci” (Praxeis kai thaumata… Markou). Among many other interesting elements, the Acts of Mark relate that Mark was a Levite (Chp. 2), that he was at first a disciple of John the Baptist (Chp. 5), and that he traveled to Gaul (Chp. 8). A Greek linguist has graciously agreed to translate the first five chapters, which I am now able to present on this website. This is the first time this provocative work is accessible to the reader of English, even though the Greek text has been available for several decades (see link “Notes” above for discussion).

The Acts of Mark is the first text in a series of new material that will appear on this website, including important and virtually unknown works which may have significant implications for our understanding of early Christianity.

Please follow the links above for the text of the Acts of Mark, as well as for a discussion and considerations regarding its dating.—RS

Ditlef Nielsen
The Old Arabian Moon Religion and the Mosaic Tradition (1904)
Translated from the German by René Salm. PDFs of translations are free.

This forgotten book lends powerful support to the hypothesis that the Christian Jesus is largely based on ancient myths and beliefs,
most particularly on proto-gnostic (and later marginalized) elements found already in the lunar religion of Midian at the time of Moses.

· Chp. 1, “The Conception of God.”
 · The lunar god of love, Wadd, is man’s celestial advocate.  · The moon is ‘hidden’ for three sacred days each month.  · Hidden knowledge and the ‘Son of God’ · The sacred meal, and healing through sacrifice in ancient South Arabia. · Hammurabi, Harran, Nabonidus and the lunar-solar conflict. · The later ‘moon-worshipping’ Harranians were gnostic followers of John the Baptist (“Sabians”, “Mandeans”). · In the Sabaean religion of ancient South Arabia the messiah was human and ‘only-begotten.’

· Chp. 2,“Sacred Times.”
The second chapter discusses some ancient themes which influenced Christianity, such as the “three days” of lunar darkness (cf. Jesus in the tomb), and the critical prehistory of the semitic root n-ts-r. Pre-Israelite elements of the sabbath and the flood story are also investigated.

· Chps. 3–4 + Addendum, “The Natsarene”
Chp. 3: “Sacred Places and Symbols.”
Chp. 4: “Moses in Midian.”

NEW · Chp. 5, “Wandering in the Wilderness”
Elements of old arabian lunar religion infuse the Exodus account, particularly the biblical events at Mt. Sinai which, Nielsen shows, was not located within the peninsula known by that name but in northern Arabia. The case grows that the religion of Moses was lunar and gnostic, passed on in later generations by the Levites. Those Levites were radically disenfranchised by the xenophobic priesthood centered in Jerusalem which created the Torah, the Temple, and the Judaism that we know today. Marginalized elements in the Dead Sea Sect, in early Christianity, and in the Mandeans, ensured the survival of the gnostic-Levite thread in esoteric channels.

· David Fitzgerald, “Ten Beautiful Lies About Jesus” (2010) PDF. This essay received an Honorable Mention in the 2010 Mythicist Prize contest (since discontinued). It reviews the case for Jesus mythicism in an easy-to-read style and is a good starting point for those new to the subject of Jesus mythicism. Fitzgerald has expanded the essay into a book, Nailed: Ten Christian Myths that show Jesus Never Existed at All. A review of the book is here.

· Peter McKenna, “Jesus Nazóraios: hidden truths revealed?” (2010) PDF. This 17-page paper (not in print) also received an Honorable Mention for the 2010 Mythicist Prize contest. McKenna reviews the term Nαζωραιoς and its cognates. In reference to Mt 2:23, he asks “'What does Nazóraios mean?” He shows that it cannot mean “of Nazareth” and argues against the connection with Heb. netser “branch” (Isa. 11:1), for Matthew was not drawing from a Hebrew text but from the Greek Septuagint. A compelling parallel, however, is to the Nαζωραιon found at Judges 13:5. McKenna notes that “the phraseology used to describe the nazirite Samuel is also echoed in the gospels” to describe Jesus, meaning “perhaps a holy one set aside for God as a sacrifice.” Philo’s views on the nazirite, and the Gospel of Philip’s views on Nazara (“truth”) open new paths to understanding the terms, which the evangelist Matthew creatively adapted in “a wider process of historicising [Jesus who] had previously been exclusively spiritual.” McKenna touches upon Mandean usage, and closes with a useful bibliography.

· The changing face of mythicism
A statement by Frank Zindler, editor of American Atheist Press (June 2011)

René Salm

·  A New Account of Christian Origins, Chp. 1, “Pre-rational Religion” (Nov. 2010; 51 pp).
Parallels between paleolithic religion, the shaman, and Jesus of Nazareth; the importance of the near-death experience and altered states in the emergence of religion. Order.

·  The Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus (American Atheist Press, March 2008, 386 pages).
No longer in print. Discounted copies are available here.

· Individual chapters of The Myth of Nazareth are also available as chapbooks in the prepublication edition (Kevalin Press):
· Chapter One, “The Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages” · Chapter Two, “The Myth of Continuous Habitation” · Chapter Three, “The Hellenistic Renaissance Myth” · Chapter Four, “The Time of Christ” · Chapter Five, “Gospel Legends” · Chapter Six, “Nazareth and Nazara.” Order.

· Addendum to The Myth of Nazareth (16 pp). Discusses the Nazareth Village Farm Report (2008), too late for inclusion in the book. Order.

Page updated 2/19/2012