Happy Birthday Jesus! Merry Christ's Mass! Historical Jesus Versus Theological Christ

In seminary I was told that Christianity had nothing to do with Jesus. Christianity, I was told by my elders and superiors, was a theological reflection on the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, focused on his eventual return to establish a kingdom on earth and punish the wicked.
The assistant dean of the seminary told me she was instructed by her elders when she was in seminary to 'drop the Jesus stuff' or she had no future in the Christian church. Evidently, she drop-kicked Jesus, having risen to rank of assistant dean at a prestigious seminary.
My lifetime studies of the historical Jesus and the history of Christianity have led me to the conclusion that Christian doctrines are man-made obstacles to understanding what Jesus said and meant. The Christian doctrines we are familiar with today emerged from a 4th century conflict between the Jewish and gentile wings of the movement.

The Christian church after the 4th century became a mix of gentile religions promoted by the Emperor Constantine to consolidate his power. Added to the mix were the cult of emperor worship, the cult of sun worship, the blood cult of Mithras, and the phallic cult of political elites. In addition, many local pagan gods were added as saints to win over the populace. The efforts were enormously successful, as Christianity grew from a fringe movement to the dominant force in western Europe.
The version of Jesus that emerges from this dominant force of Christianity has very little to do with the historical Jesus. In that context, what I was told in seminary makes sense. This does not mean it does not have worth, or that it is not real for people who believe in it. But it is important to know it has nothing to do with historical realities.
As mentioned in a previous blog, there is so little information on Jesus from the first century that we are just guessing. Fortunately, there is an incredible amount of information surviving about Jesus' brother James. What is highly likely is that Jesus' family controlled the movement after Jesus' death. James was stoned to death in 66 AD after entering the Holiest of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem, i.e. acting as a High Priest.
Jesus' family needs to be understood in the context of the Maccabees. They were a kingly, priestly family that sought to purify the temple and did not consider Herodian and Roman appointed high priests as legitimate.
The details in the gospels of Jesus' trial were probably taken from James' trial and make more sense in that context. Texts on James mention that Saul (Paul) was a rival and used his contacts with Herodians and Romans (these are mentioned in Acts) to have James killed.
The Jewish historian Josephus mentions that someone named Saul turned traitor and opened the gates of Jerusalem to the Romans. Texts about James call Saul/Paul the Traitor and the Enemy. Roman records show that the Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD) had an audience with Judas' (brother of Jesus) grandson asking him if his family had given up on their claim to the Jewish throne.
The answer came in 132 AD when Jewish freedom fighters again rebelled against Rome. There are links again to Jesus' family being involved. The revolt was so successful that emperor Hadrian (117-138) had to withdraw from England and bring his best legions to Judea to put down the revolt. Roman and Jewish losses were so horrific that it was only time the Romans won a war and had no victory parade afterwards.
The Jewish royal family fled to areas outside the Roman empire, settling in areas like Scotland, Ireland and Germany. Scottish kings trace their genealogy to James, brother of Jesus. The King James version of the Christian bible is named after James VI (1566-1625) a Scottish king of this line who also became King of England.
The Frankish Merovingian kings also traced their lineage to James, brother of Jesus. Most of the branches of Christianity deemed heretical by the Roman church have links to Jewish Christian groups led by people related by family to either Jesus, James or Judas.
The controversial book, The Da Vinci Code, was strongly criticized by the Roman church because it begins to shed light on these issues. To sum up, in creating their theological Christ, the Roman church did violence to the historical Jesus.
Fortunately for us, the words of Jesus, printed in red in my bible, remain to this today. There have also been discoveries in the last century of more texts containing the words of Jesus. Combined, these give us insight into the most remarkable person in human history.