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The Two Jesus Boys
And the Messianic Expectations of the Essenes
Paperback
August 2019
9781912230273
More details
- Publisher
Temple Lodge Publishing - Published
1st August 2019 - ISBN 9781912230273
- Pages 166 pp.
- Size 5.5" x 8.5"
$19.00
“Matthew counts 42 forebears, starting with Abraham via David up to the son of Joseph, whereas Luke leads back to the ancestors via David and Abraham to the primordial patriarch Adam. Only with the names between Abraham and David to the lists (almost) coincide. With David’s sons the line divides: the one goes via David’s son Solomon, the other on via Nathan.... How, then, is the double genealogical tree explained?” — Christoph Rau
The two contradicting genealogies of Jesus in the Gospels have long puzzled biblical scholars. Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual research led him to a controversial theological conclusion—that there were two Jesus boys born into two holy families.
Two boys were necessary, he says, as part of the spiritual preparation of forming a suitable human body for the incarnation of Christ into the earthly realm. Both apocryphal texts and the writings of the Essenes (as discovered at Qumran by the Dead Sea) now appear to support this view, with references to messianic figures from both royal and priestly lines. Various authors have developed Rudolf Steiner’s observations, although much of such literature lacks the rigor of accurate and broad scholarship.
This volume, The Two Jesus Boys, is not just a derivative rehash of those previous publications but offers a fresh investigation of primary sources, coupled with an objective determination that allows the facts to speak for themselves. Christoph Rau thus reaches the unavoidable conclusion that Rudolf Steiner’s presentation of a chronology of the two births needs revision. Further, the most recent discoveries and interpretations of Essene scrolls reveal that the Jewish sect expected not one but three Messiahs.
Rau quotes from and analyzes numerous documents from the landscape of early Christianity and Judaism. His findings provide a secure foundation for the historical existence of two Jesus boys in the prelude to Christ’s incarnation on Earth, as well as a revelation of the Essenes’ long expectation of three Messiahs.
This volume was originally published in German as Die beiden Jesusknaben und die Messiaserwartung der Essener: Geleitwort von Vicke von Behr (Verlag Johannes M. Mayer, Stuttgart, 2010).
C O N T E N T S:
Introduction
1. The Riddle of the Two Genealogical Trees
2. Two Childhoods
3. Astonishing Discoveries
4. The New Insight is Cosmically Anchored and Confirmed in Writing
5. Contradictions—Reasons and Objections
6. Preparation for the Unique Union
7. The Mystery of the Twelve-year-old Jesus
8. The Actual Chronology as the solution to the Contradiction
9. The Death of Zechariah—a Milestone for the True Dating of Events
10. Zarathustra and the Star of the Wise Men
11. Zarathustra’s Becoming and Progress
12. Krishna and the Heavenly Adam-soul
13. John and the Earthly Adam-soul
14. Buddha and the Nathan-Jesus Boy
15. Two Prophecies of the Messiah and their Fulfillment
16. The Three Messianic figures in the Essene Writings
17. The Letter to the Hebrews—an Early Answer to Essene Expectations
18. The Further Effects of the Messianic Prophecy
Epilogue 1909 – 1950 – 2009
Appendices:
1. The Childhood of Jesus According to Matthew 1–2
2. The Childhood of Jesus According to Luke 1–2
3. The Protevangelium of James
4. From the Quaran
Bibliography
Christoph Rau
Rev. Christoph Rau (1928–2018) was born in Gross Naundorf, Wittenberg, Germany, and raised in a Protestant rectory. After military service and imprisonment, he completed his high school diploma at the Kreuzgymnasium Dresden, followed by studies in theology in Berlin and Rostock and music training in Leipzig. After protests against the paramilitary training of students, he fled to West Germany overnight and began training in Stuttgart to become a priest for The Christian Community. For decades he researched the structure of the Gospels, publishing his results in monographs on Matthew, Mark, and John (1972) and his comprehensive work, Die Vier um den Einen: Wesensart und spiritueller Hintergrund der Evangelien (2008), published in English as The Four Gospels: Their Essence and Spiritual Background (Lindisfarne Books, 2024). He also coedited German translations of the New Testament by Emil Bock (1980) and Heinrich Ogilvie (1996) and edited the literary estate of Michael Bauer in five volumes (1985–1997). He also wrote a biography, Michael Bauer und seine Lebensbegegnung mit Friedrich Rittelmeyer (Michael Bauer and his life encounter with Friedrich Rittelmeyer, 1995).
