Jesus the Magician


Jesus the Magician: Charlatan or Son of God? is a 1978 book by Morton Smith arguing that the historical Jesus was a magician who "sprang from a Galilean strain of Semitic paganism".

Background

The idea that Jesus was a magician did not originate with Morton Smith. It was previously voiced by the philosopher and critic Celsus as we know from the rebuttal authored by the Christian apologist/scholar Origen: “It was by magic that he was able to do the miracles”. Hans Dieter Betz observes that "from early on even Jesus of Nazareth was implicated in that he was said to be mad or a magician possessed by Satan" and R. Joseph Hoffmann writes that it is well attested that "the early Christian mission was advanced by the use of magic."
Smith was featured discussing his theories in the controversial television documentary series, Jesus: The Evidence.

Reviews

The relationship between magic and religion is hotly contested in scholarly circles. With regards to this theory about Jesus, H.S. Versnel makes the observation that "Once again magic is not always magic, depending as it does upon the authority of the person who is using the term." Archaeologist William G. Dever argues that magic is "precisely what religion is, or at least was, however much that may offend modern sensibilities."
Barry Crawford, currently Co-Chair of the Society of Biblical Literature's Consultation on Redescribing Christian Origins, in his 1979 review states that "Smith exhibits an intricate knowledge of the magical papyri, but his ignorance of current Gospel research is abysmal", concluding that the work has traits of a conspiracy theory.
Kirkus Reviews describes the book as "carefully researched, elegantly written, and thoroughly prejudiced."

Editions