Weird Jesus (please read)

Ok so what if Jesus thought that the Jews were starting to lose because of them not worshipping the greek pantheon. So he teaches greek paganism and starts a violent revolt. The monotheitic Jew who oppose him and the roman army to stop him dies of a plague. What happens next
 
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The premise is basically ASB: Canaanite polytheism was entirely forgotten by the time of Jesus, and in any case when people are dominated by a foreign power they tend not to do exactly what their ancient holy book tells them not to do. The point about Roman guards and apparently the entire population of Judah dying "in a plague" is literally ASB.
 
Well, in the first place, he wouldn't teach Canaanite paganism, since the Canaanites didn't really exist any more. If he did teach any paganism, it would be of the Graeco-Roman variety, as the Romans were actually in charge and hence could claim divine favour for their empire. And it's by no means certain that anybody would join a rebellion about this -- IOTL Judaean rebels were pretty invariably in favour of zealous following of Jewish law, rather than abandoning it. Any Jews who adopted paganism would probably just end up assimilating into non-Jewish cultures. And when you talk of the Roman army dying of a plague, do you mean the entire army? Because that's pretty unlikely. Even if the army did suffer from disease to such a level as to seriously impair its fighting ability, they'd just summon reinforcements from Syria and crush the new movement.

Basically, such a "Jesus" would have so little in common with his historical counterpart, and would have so little long-term importance, that such a TL would be functionally equivalent to a "no Jesus" timeline.
 

Philip

Donor
Ok so what if Jesus thought that the Jews were starting to lose

Starting to lose? He was born and lived under Roman occupation. It was all he knew.

because of them not worshipping the greek pantheon.

Why? This is literally the opposite of the entire Jewish tradition at the time: Break covenant with YHWH = Jewish nations falls.


So he teaches greek paganism and starts a violent revolt.

Now I'm lost. Why adopt the religion of the occupiers and then launch a revolt? Why would anyone join the revolt? Jewish hopes at the time were focused on the eminent arrival of the Messiah, God's anointed one, who would defeat the Romans and reestablish the kingdom of David.
 
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