Christianity does it have a founder? Felix van der Wissel £9.99 ISBN 1 85072 331 1 Sessions of York

THIS ESSAY DEFENDS the thesis that Jesus is not a historical person, but a myth, a myth that continues to fascinate us: The incarnation of God in the suffering of the Messiah.

It is intriguing to see that the story of Jesus' life is composed of a stringing together of pieces of Messiah predictions out of the Old Testament. This process must have originated in the early Christian communities.

The book begins with a description of how in the Jewish Diaspora a liberal spirit reigned, the accent falling on the pureness of life and not on the accurate performing of the prescriptions of the Jewish Law. This liberal Jewish monotheism appealed strongly to the pagans and many of them joined the Jewish Synagogue.

The Law of Moses, stripped of chauvinistic Jewish elements, seemed as it were appropriate for a world religion, a general acceptable value system. However the resurrection of the Jews, the taking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, caused an enormous shock. This resulted in a fundamental reorientation and Gnosticism in its multiple sects then became the dominant religious approach, of which the communities of the new alliance, the later Christians, formed an important variant.

As the Rabbinate banished the Christians from the Jewish synagogue a firm organisation was needed. So, the authoritarian (Roman Catholic) Church came into being. In the eyes of the church a vague, mystical figure as it's founder was less desirable. This led to making the mythical Jesus an historical person, who was a contemporary of John the Baptist. A Christian canon was composed: our Old and New Testament: next an unambiguous credo is fixed. So Christianity, originally a spiritual movement, fell into dependence of the letter, against which the gnosis had protected it.

In short, an erudite and easy readable book. Among the many which have appeared over the last ten years about Jesus, it occupies its own special place.

Felix van der Wissel is a Dutch Quaker who is a member of the Meeting in Paris (France).