The Mythmaker

Hyam Maccoby's The Mythmaker presents a controversial historical reconstruction that challenges fundamental Christian claims about Jesus and Paul. Writing from within the Jewish tradition, Maccoby employs historical-critical methodology to argue that Paul of Tarsus, not Jesus of Nazareth, invented Christianity as a distinct religion separate from Judaism. This work contributes to debates about God by examining how theological concepts emerge through historical processes of mythmaking and religious innovation.

Maccoby contends that Jesus remained firmly within Pharisaic Judaism, never claiming divinity or seeking to establish a new religion. The author portrays Jesus as a political revolutionary in the tradition of Jewish messianism, expecting earthly liberation from Roman rule rather than spiritual salvation. According to Maccoby's reconstruction, the authentic Jesus movement, led by James and the Jerusalem church, maintained Jewish law and monotheism while awaiting Jesus's return as a human messiah.

The work's central thesis identifies Paul as the true founder of Christianity, arguing that he transformed Jesus from a Jewish teacher into a divine savior figure. Maccoby traces this transformation to Paul's Hellenistic background and psychological needs, suggesting Paul synthesized Jewish messianic hopes with mystery religion concepts of dying and rising gods. This synthesis, Maccoby argues, created a new theology incompatible with Jewish monotheism, introducing concepts of incarnation, vicarious atonement, and abrogation of Torah law.

Methodologically, Maccoby combines source criticism with psychological interpretation, drawing on Talmudic literature often overlooked by Christian scholars. He challenges the historical reliability of Acts and the Gospels, viewing them as later attempts to harmonize Pauline theology with spurious connections to Jesus's original movement. His approach reflects post-Holocaust Jewish scholarship's renewed confidence in reclaiming Jesus as a Jewish figure while maintaining traditional Jewish critiques of Christian theological innovations.

The work's significance lies in its radical challenge to Christian self-understanding and its implications for interfaith dialogue. By arguing that Christianity's core theological claims about God becoming human originate not with Jesus but with Paul's mythmaking, Maccoby undermines appeals to apostolic authority and historical continuity. His thesis raises fundamental questions about religious truth claims, the relationship between history and theology, and how new concepts of divinity emerge within religious traditions.