Another book that is so far only available in German and Dutch.
Gruber is a German writer who already wrote some books about early Christianity and ‘the Jesus Complot’ is probably his best known book. A few years ago he got a letter from the Swiss Ziegler who wrote that he has spent years on the search for the real words of Jesus. Gruber gave him a few tips and didn’t hear from Ziegler anymore. Then Ziegler’s daughter phoned Gruber telling that Ziegler had died, but that he has finished his work and that he wanted Gruber to publish it and so he did.
This resulted in a relatively thin book (144 p.) which is divided in two parts. In the first half Gruber writes about the circumstances under which the canonical gospels have been written, what sources the writers used, what happened when the church became an institution, how the texts have been manipulated and wrongly translated and how apocryphical texts were hidden or destroyed and the history of Bible-study. In the beginning it seems like Gruber wanted to completely tear-down the current Christian institution, but it isn’t really like that when you continue to read.
The second half is a short introduction by Ziegler and his text. It isn’t really as shocking as you may expect after Grubers text. Most texts are known and the picture of Jesus wasn’t as radically different as was ‘promised’. But maybe I already lost the ‘Christian Jesus image’ some time ago?
Anyway, the result is an easy-to-read book which is quite interesting if you are interested in Bible study and early Christianity.