The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity

by Keith Akers

This portrait of Jesus concentrates on ethics, as opposed to theology, claiming Jesus' preaching was first and foremost about simple living, pacifism, and vegetarianism, and that he had never intended to create a new religion. Jewish Christianity has a history which can be traced from the Essenes and John the Baptist, through Jesus, to its disappearance into Islamic mysticism in the 7th or 8th century.

Genres: Religion, Christianity, History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2000

Reviews

[Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an interesting and novel exploration of early Christianity, focusing on an obscure sect called Ebionites, which this author calls Jewish Christians. Jesus was Jewish, after all, and this book makes an impressively strong yet humble case that he very much meant for his teachings to stay in a Jewish context.

More interesting is that this book argues that Jesus and his Ebionite followers were in fact advocates for animal rights, nonviolence, simple living, and vegetarianism. Segments of this is still visible in the Bible, and when you see everything in its historical context, as this book spells out, you realize just how much Jesus' message has been warped by Gentiles, in a political power grab led by Constantine. From what I read in this book, it does seem more likely that Jesus' actual message is something very different than how Christianity looks today.

Some of the claims in this book seem like a bit of a stretch, as he tries to make sense of things without having much to go on. But I admire his intellectual honesty, because he's pretty upfront about it when he speculates. He makes a lot of reasonable guesses, but they are guesses nonetheless.

If you're a Christian, this book will challenge your beliefs. If you're not a Christian, this book will give you a much better understanding of Christianity and how it got that way, as well as a new appreciation for Jesus.

[Bob Stocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't spent much time thinking about the religion of Jesus. However, I've always had a hunch that whatever the religion of Jesus may have been, it didn't look a whole lot like modern Christianity. In The Lost Religion of Jesus Keith Akers makes a strong case that the religion of Jesus embraced pacifism, vegetarianism, and simple living and that the issue that got Jesus into trouble was his vehement opposition to animal sacrifice.

The the history of early Christianity with the religion Paul replacing that of the Ebionites and other Jewish Christians was fascinating. This is a scholarly work with more scholarly arguments than someone like me really needs. However, repeated and detailed arguments may be necessary to convince orthodox Christians whose ideas on the subject are more entrenched than mine. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that many of them will read this book.

[Joseph Schrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me get a better concept of who Jesus actually was, what he taught, and what his earliest followers thought about him and his teachings. I believe that anyone who seeks to learn spiritual lessons and insights from Jesus of Nazareth would do well to read this work.

[Jan Peregrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

40-year activist Keith Akers recently appeared in the documentary Christspiracy to answer questions about why Jesus of Nazareth opposed animal sacrifice. I've read his 2000 nonfiction book The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity, which goes into more detail. He wrote another book fifteen years later called Disciples that sounds like it has more research. This research into Jewish Christianity was sourced from writings from Jewish Christians, church fathers fighting “heresy.” and observant writers like Josephus living at the time. One was opposed to the sect, as was Paul who wrote many of the letters in the New Testament.

Jesus and his disciples, including many of his followers, were Jews and became known as Jewish Christians who believed that Jesus was predicted by Moses to reestablish Jewish Law, not to abolish it. They practiced simple living, nonviolence, and vegetarianism, making Jesus an ethical vegetarian.

Akers explains that there was so much heresy, such as from gnosticism, because Jesus was the first heretic for opposing animal sacrifice at the Jerusalem Temple. He preached mercy, not sacrifice. By doing so he incurred the wrath of the Jewish priests and was crucified by them. Akers points out that the gentiles stripped Jesus of his opposition, saying it was merely about opposing bad moneychangers, and left Jesus as a teacher without a cause with no reason to be murdered.

The first four centuries of the Jesus movement was very divisive and Christianity took over Judaism after several crises happened and the Roman Empire decided to put an end to heresies by claiming Christianity as the official religion.

Jewish Christianity died out not long after because they despised Paul for destroying Jesus' message and for Paul accepting some of Marcion's gnostic beliefs. They seem to have sprung up in Islam's Sufi beliefs, though. Sufi writers have extensively written about Jesus, stories not found in the Christian gospels.

Akers suggests that a great way to practice simple living, even nonviolence, is to become vegetarians. He explains that this will also greatly help our planet's health and feeding the poor. I agree!

Jesus of Nazareth didn't intend to create a new religion and he preached that the kingdom of his god is within us. Baptism restores our souls, not the idea that he died for our sins put out by gentiles. I greatly enjoyed this radical book that finally makes sense of Jesus' ministry and why the New Testament is often confusing.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly Akers has some personal biases, but I think his effort is mainly refreshing and helpful. Concerning the Bible, Akers emphasizes that Jesus presented himself as a Jewish reformer, who viewed the Bible critically. For Jesus, real faith required discerning a primary message among the Bible's diverse accounts of wars, visions, laws and traditions. He made selective judgements of what to emphasize or ignore, which made him so highly controversial to the Pharisaical legalists or defenders of scriptural inerrancy in his time.

Akers also claims that Jesus was a vegetarian. I was not convinced either that this was true, or that it was important to the early Jewish Christians. But related to this, Akers points out something which does seem important: Jesus's opposition to animal sacrifice. And here, Akers emphasizes a side of the Gospel accounts that might shock many later Christians -- that Jesus was almost violently opposed to making his religion a cult of sacrifice for sin. Like John the Baptist he believed in baptism as a rite of repentance and renewal, but not in sacrifice or killing to buy freedom from guilt.

For his well-presented arguments on how Jesus took the scriptures, and how he viewed the whole notion of sacrifice, I think Akers' book would be stimulating for any Christian study or discussion group.

[Ben Neill · Rating 2 out of 5]

A strange alternate theory of Jesus with scant evidence.

[Lauren Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this book and the concept of Jewish Christians, the most well-documented of which were the Ebionites, years before the current film, Christpiracy, and I would say that this book is an even better, more convincing and scholarly history of the early Jesus movement. It is so revealing how many references in the canonical gospels directly or tangentially refer to them and their beliefs, and other writings of that time period, despite often being critical, still correctly reference how Jesus, his family, and his disciples all followed similar tenets. Paul's appeal to the Gentiles and the fall of Jerusalem are quite responsible for this sect disappearing as Rome took over, despite it having the closest lineage to Jesus himself. Ever wonder why Jesus preached a certain way, especially the sermon on the mount, yet his message is so often contradicted elsewhere in the New Testament? This revelatory book is exciting, fascinating, and moving. I hope Jewish Christianity can be better remembered and given its due in this day and age.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the Ebionites, a Jewish Christian group (a sect of early Christians). Akers shows that the Ebionites were non-violent (including a rejection of animal sacrifice and an embrace of vegetarianism) and shared all their possessions in common, living a life of simplicity. That much is clear. The harder case that Akers tries to make is that Jesus, too, was a vegetarian (that Jesus was into non-violence and simplicity is pretty hard to deny). It's a good argument -- though I still have some questions -- and it makes me want to read more about the Ebionites and the possibility that Jesus was himself a vegetarian, or that he held it as an ideal. If nothing else, this book has a well-done explanation of the difference between the early Christian sects, and shows how the Pauline tradition won out in the end... even though it's pretty far from the historical Jesus.