The Secret Initiation of Jesus at Qumran - The Essene Mysteries of John the Baptist (Paperback)

CHRISTIAN STUDIES / GNOSTICISMIn his earlier book The Mystery of the Copper Scroll of Qumran, Robert Feather analyzed the Dead Sea Scroll engraved on copper that is considered the work of the secretive, devout Jewish sect known as the Essenes, who lived at Qumran around the time of Jesus. In The Secret Initiation of Jesus at Qumran, Feather now presents persuasive, powerful evidence illustrating the strong link between the Qumran Essenes and teachings of the Christian Scriptures, demonstrating that both John the Baptist and Jesus were intimately involved with this community. He further supports the claim that early Christians continued a belief system centered on a form of monotheism first formulated by the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten and uniquely espoused by the Essenes at Qumran. To assist his research into the Essene community's way of life, Feather met with Jozef Milik, previously a Catholic priest and one of the scholars who worked on deciphering the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1950s. Feather learned that during Milik's work somewhere near the Qumran ruins, he had excavated a headless corpse that he believed to be that of John the Baptist. Feather tracks down the site of this grave and gives an eyewitness account of the final burial place of John the Baptist, offering physical and photographic evidence never before published. ROBERT FEATHER is a metallurgist, engineer, journalist, andscholar of world religions. He is the founding editor of The Metallurgist, editor of Weighing and Measuring, and the author of The Mystery of the Copper Scroll of Qumran. He lives in London.