London: Jesus Christ was the son of a middle class architect and not a carpenter and an "incorrect" translation had lead to this confusion, a biblical scholar has claimed.
According to Adam Bradford, rather than being born in a stable to a carpenter father, Jesus was actually the son of a successful, middle class and highly intellectual architect.
It's a somewhat different version of the greatest story ever told about Jesus' life, The Daily Mail reported.
In his new book, The Jesus Discovery, Bradford also claimed that between the ages of 12 and 30 -- the so-called 'missing years' of Jesus' life for which little is known -- he was studying at religious schools and became the highest-ranking rabbi in Judea.
Bradford made the claims after analysing the Bible's original Greek and Hebrew scriptures to try to establish the truth about Christ's background.
According to him, an incorrect translation of the Greek word 'tekton' to describe the profession of Joseph, Jesus' father, is one of many mistakes that have led to a fundamental misunderstanding of Christ's character.
"While 'tekton' is usually said to mean carpenter, it more accurately means master builder or architect. As an architect, Joseph would have had a higher social status that enabled him to better educate his son," Bradford said.
Besides, in most English translations of the Bible Joseph is described as a 'just man'. But Bradford says the word 'man' is not in the original Greek text and the word translated as 'just' really means a senior religious scholar involved in the judiciary.
"If Jesus was the son of a poor itinerant carpenter with some radical ideas nobody would have been that concerned about what he said.”
"But because Jesus was trained to become the most educated Jew of his time, it gave him the chance to exert extraordinary influence and let him get away with acts that normal Jews would have been imprisoned or chastised for.”
"Christ enjoyed social privileges unavailable to an uneducated itinerant carpenter. Not only was he able to clear the official Temple market on two occasions without interference but he was also able to teach unhindered in the Temple courts and synagogues.”
"Throughout the Bible he is addressed with formal titles of Rabbi and Doctor of the Law -- the highest position in Jewish society -- even by his enemies."
The radical revision of Christian history would suggest that, in preaching the spurning of worldly possessions for an austere life, Jesus may have been speaking from experience.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, April 04, 2010, 10:50