New Fiction Asks, Were Jesus & John Essenes?

Were Jesus and his cousin John (later known as the Baptist) members of the mysterious Essenes? Dr. Pelham K. Mead III discusses matters that relate or may be related to the fact; the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls are demystified and put in their proper historical and human dimensions in his new novel "Jesus and John." It is a very well informed, vital new fiction that the cannon proper may welcome as a bright new light on its dim, musty passages...

The novel "Jesus and John" delves into the childhood years of Jesus and his second cousin John the Baptist. It researches how Jesus came to be such a great miracle medical healer and how John the Baptist got his spiritual training. Both men may well have joined the Essene societies near them. John could have joined the Qumran Essene community by the Dead Sea which was a monastic community. Jesus, living in Northern Galilee, could have chosen to join the secret Essenes on Mount Carmel which was walking distance from Nazareth where he lived.

The Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran reveal the gospels and prayers of the Essenes which parallel the teachings of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. John the Baptist's lifestyle was copied after the prophet Elijah, and Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated a more liberal Essene lifestyle of simple life, prayer, and the coming of the Messiah or the Righteous Teacher. Jesus and John's involvement with the Essene communities were always kept a secret so that the enemies of the Essenes (the Pharisees and Sadducees) would not be able to take out their anger on these vital preachers to improve their and the faith's chances for the future.

The Essenes were a congregation of the most learned men of a dangerous, violent era for men of faith, knowledge and forward-thinking intelligence. Were Jesus, John the Baptist, and the New Testament their final, lasting legacy to a mankind that would suffer the fires of extreme doubt and endless warfare to be able to assume its mantle as God's true inheritors on the earthly kingdom in what could probably be the near future? Mead offers a rarity of thought and archaeological data in this vividly imagined novel the better for readers to have an informed opinion of the human dimensions of the tantalizing Bible mystery...

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About the Author
Dr. Pelham K. Mead III's previous novels include "Autumn Winds over Okinawa," 2011, (Historical Fiction, 2001, Xlibris Publishers); "The Chinese Crystal Ball" (Mystery, 2012, AuthorHouse Publishers); "The Junior High" (Fiction, 2012, Xlibris Publishers); and the "The 23rd Psalm" (Science Fiction, 2013, Xlibris Publishers). The author graduated from Freeport High School, Freeport, N.Y. in 1961. He took his BS in Physical Education and Health from Springfield College, Mass. in 1966. His MA in Education came from the same institution in 1967. He earned 21 credits in the sixth level Administrative Certificate program from New Paltz University, N.Y. and in 1992 took his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Columbia University. His outstanding new novel "Jesus and John" will be published in 2014 by Xlibris.

Jesus and John * by Dr. Pelham K. Mead III
Publication Date: November 27, 2013
Trade Paperback; $19.99; 154 pages; 978-1-4931-2939-3
Trade Hardback; $29.99; 154 pages; 978-1-4931-2940-9
e-book; $3.99; 978-1-4931-2941-6

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