In this episode of Pulling the Threads, we sit down with biblical scholar Dr. James Tabor for a wide-ranging and provocative conversation that peels back centuries of theological tradition to uncover the historical roots of Christianity. This is a journey that dares listeners to reassess what they believe and why.
The episode begins with personal reflections. Jeramiah shares how his upbringing in a “high-control environment” fostered a deep distrust of religious authority, false prophecies, and institutional dogma. Dr. Tabor recounts his background in the Churches of Christ, a tradition rooted in restoring first-century Christianity. Early exposure to Greek and Hebrew texts eventually led him to embrace a thoroughly Jewish view of Jesus—as a Torah-observant Jew who celebrated Passover and Sukkot and never founded a new religion.
They critique how religious dogma often overrides honest analysis. Tabor’s scholarly work—particularly his involvement with the Dead Sea Scrolls—offers insight into the world of Second Temple Judaism. He explains the significance of the Qumran community, which anticipated a prophetic “Teacher of Righteousness” similar to Moses. Collaborating with Robert Eisenman, Tabor helped bring forward texts like the Messianic Apocalypse, which parallels Isaiah 61 and Luke 7—connecting ancient messianic expectations with early texts.
A major focus of the discussion is the Ebionites, a Jewish sect Tabor believes preserves the truest legacy of Jesus’s original followers. Unlike the divine Christ of Pauline Christianity, the Ebionites saw Jesus as a mortal prophet and Temple reformer. They rejected Paul as a heretic and emphasized ethical living, sometimes including veganism. Highlighting how the Ebionites’ rejection of sacrificial worship aligns with modern critiques of the Hebrew Bible’s editorial history. Tabor notes their theological overlap with the Dead Sea Scrolls—shared communal living, and apocalyptic hope.
Tabor explains how textual criticism helps strip away later redactions and recover original voices. Removing Pauline overlays from texts like 1 Peter often aligns them more closely with the theology of James. Likewise, excising Christian additions from Revelation reveals a pre-Christian apocalyptic framework. The Ebionites also believed the Hebrew scriptures were corrupted with “false pericopes” added to justify sacrifice and centralized Temple authority—echoing debates in modern scholarship over source layers in the Torah.
The episode also explores the historical tensions between Jewish followers of Jesus and Rabbinic Judaism. The Birkat HaMinim, a curse added to Jewish liturgy targeting “heretics,” marginalized groups like the Nazarenes. Tabor posits their ideas may have influenced early Islam—especially Muhammad’s initial Sabbath observance and Torah alignment. Over time, Pauline Christianity—particularly in its Marcionite and gentile-friendly form—supplanted the original Jewish Jesus movement.
In a fascinating tangent, Tabor discusses the Moses Scroll (Shapira Scroll), a Paleo-Hebrew text once dismissed as a forgery. Now reconsidered by scholars like Edan Dershowitz, the scroll could be the oldest version of Deuteronomy, offering a Torah stripped of sacrificial mandates. Tabor’s team is actively researching its authenticity.
Looking ahead, Tabor teases his forthcoming course, Christianity Before Paul, which will explore early leaders like John the Baptist, James, Peter, and Mary Magdalene as apocalyptic Jewish reformers—not church founders. His book Restoring Abrahamic Faith summarizes this worldview, and his upcoming work The Lost Mary will reframe Jesus’s mother as a central figure in the earliest Jesus movement.
The episode concludes with promises of future collaborations: deeper dives into Paul’s influence, Ebionite theology, and Dr. Tabor’s experience advising during the Waco siege. Listeners are encouraged to visit jamestabor.com and his YouTube channel for more.