Discovering the Truth about the Historical Jesus: A Multi-Faceted Approach

By Bruce Simmons

The recently published work by George Wilkinson, “Jesus is the Criminal from the Planet Uranus,” which offers a revisionist explanation of the basis of the historical Jesus story that has been a centerpiece for the Christian religion for 2000 years, has recently been reviewed by Stephen Michael Tomlinson. As a reviewer, Tomlinson exercises a very skillful approach in that he understands that a major revisionist work of this kind must necessarily be multi-faceted and holistic in nature. In his review, Tomlinson recognized that this innovative work by Dr. Wilkinson, which was in turn heavily influenced by the earlier work of Dr. Paul Brunton, combines several different areas of inquiry and multiple scholarly disciplines into one. One of these is what Dr. Albert Schweitzer first identified as the “quest for the historical Jesus” over a century ago, a field of historical and theological inquiry in which Schweitzer remains a pioneer. Historical Jesus studies have long been controversial because of the fact that most inquiries of these kinds dispute the traditional Christian narrative of Jesus being the incarnated divine son of the ancient Hebrew god Yahweh, who was in turn born of the Virgin Mary, crucified by Pontius Pilate, and who rose from the grave three days after his death.

Instead, historical Jesus studies have at time postulate that Jesus was alternately a revolutionary, an apocalyptic prophet, a sage, a rabbi, a faith healer, an exorcist, a magician, a socialist, a feminist, a pacifist, a humanitarian, or some other attribute or set of attributes. Certainly, claims of revisionist historical Jesus scholars have been met with hostility by proponents of Christian orthodoxy because of the challenges that they have issued to the historic Christian faith. Indeed, during the period of the Enlightenment in the eighteenth and nineteenth century various scholars emerged that denied the historicity of Jesus Christ altogether, insisting that Jesus must have been a purely mythical figure akin to Hercules or Romulus. In fact, mythicist perspectives on the historical Jesus question have once again emerged and become somewhat influential in the early twenty-first century, although such perspectives remain on the fringes of historical Jesus scholarship.

Yet the perspective that has been offered by Dr. Wilkinson is that ironically accepts the legitimacy of the view that Jesus Christ was indeed a historical figure. However, the thesis advanced by George Wilkinson is that Jesus was neither the “son of Yahweh” of traditional Christian theology nor a mere mortal who espoused revolutionary ethical or social teachings of some particular kind or another. Instead, Dr. Wilkinson postulates that Jesus was a real, living being but that he was not a mere mortal. Instead, he was an extraterrestrial figure from the planet Uranus, and was in fact considered to be a criminal personality on his native planet. The thesis that has been advanced by Wilkinson is important not only for its challenge to both historical Jesus studies and to orthodox Christian theology, but also for its contribution to multiple other disciplines of a historical, scientific, and theological nature.

Human beings have long speculated about the possibility of life on other planets in both this solar system, and in other solar systems. Throughout history, extraterrestrial visitors to planet Earth have left behind a range of clues of their presence. One of the most significant examples is the Great Pyramids of ancient Egypt that were most likely developed by visitors from elsewhere given that the technological capabilities of the ancient Egyptians were not such that they could have invented such structures on their own initiative and efforts. Many researchers have made a compelling argument that the ancient Egyptians were provided with assistance from extraterrestrials during their visits to Earth. Another well-known incident involves the likelihood that an alien spacecraft underwent a crash landing in Roswell, New Mexico in the period immediately following World War Two, probably in 1947, and that the remains of the passengers have subsequently been hidden away in government laboratories. A wide range of individuals have claimed to have had the experience of being visited by extraterrestrial beings.

The thesis that is provided by Dr. Wilkinson helps to reconcile traditional theological views about the supernatural, with scientific inquires concerning the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Could it be that the gods that are spoken of in many ancient religions were in fact neither gods nor mortal human beings, but representations of extraterrestrial life? Certainly, such a phenomenon would explain the supernatural powers and capabilities that are attributed to such figures. Certainly, it is no more far-fetched to claim that Jesus was capable of displaying supernatural powers because he was an alien from another world than to claim that he was a divine son of an ancient god with a human woman. Indeed, the hypothesis that has been advanced by Wilkinson offers a great deal of explanatory power with regard to other religious figures as well. In his work, Dr. Wilkinson explores that possibility that the Buddha was likewise an alien personality as well, most likely from the planet Neptune.

The religiously faithful should not necessary balk at the thesis that has been offered by Dr. Wilkinson. Instead, George Wilkinson’s meticulously conceived argument and analysis indicates that believers may actually be able to grow in their faith because of the insights that he has provided. The true message of Jesus Christ was not the brotherhood of man, or the salvation of the soul, but of the vastness and richness of the eternal cosmos and all the inhabitants contained therein. By denying the dogma of the Christian faith, Dr. Wilkinson has provided Christians and others with a deeper understanding of their world.