Was Jesus a Psychopath?

I just finished reading Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend by Barbara Oakley, and after reading her description of various personality traits exhibited by psychopathic and/or "borderline" world leaders, business leaders, religious personalities, and so on, it occurred to me that there's a good model for the "real historical Jesus" in this.

Consider that Mao Zedong was just about worshiped as a "god", as was Kim Il Sung. According to Oakley, both "borderliners" and many psychopaths want adoration. In John, Jesus met Andrew (Simon Peter's brother) when he was baptized. Did Jesus join John's organization? Were Andrew and Phillip already members? If Jesus was like most power-hungry psychopaths, he would have made a beeline for the power involved in this organization. Could he have become a section leader, or whatever it was called?

Reconstructing Jesus' Career (An Online, parallel bible may be found here.)

The story of Jesus' career in Mark shows clear signs of being "topical" rather than chronological. The "timing" is for the Proselyte's journey through Jesus' teaching, not Jesus' actual career. Even the timing of his death, which doesn't match John (being the day after the Paschal sacrifice rather than the day of it) is clearly symbolic: it equates the Eucharist with the Paschal feast. As Papias relates:

Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a regular narrative of the Lord's sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements. (From Wiki)

Mathew and Luke clearly follow Mark in this, as they have taken much of Mark's text into their own.

John is different, although his setting of the Crucifixion on the day of the paschal sacrifice is also clearly symbolic: Jesus is the "Lamb of God", God's firstborn son sacrificed for his people in an act reminiscent of the sacrifice of lambs during the Exodus. Thus, we really can't even be sure Jesus died at Passover at all, since both our sources are riding a symbolic hobbyhorse.

Despite its sometimes symbolic timing, John's "Gospel" is probably more reliable, or rather less unreliable, than Mark and the other synoptics for timing, especially when there's no obvious motive for tweaking it. Both, however, need to be evaluated based on the likelihood that any particular event would have been "too well known to dink with": A well-known oral tradition could at best have been "respun". It couldn't have been flatly contradicted.

Consider the "Cleansing of the Temple": Mark places it late in Jesus' career, both because everything in Jerusalem is late, and because it's part of the reason the "authorities" want to crucify him. John places it very early, for no obvious reason, thus likely enough because that's when it happened. Now, the temple was a huge place, and the court of the gentiles, where the moneychangers and sellers of animals were located, took up a great part of it.


Figure 1: plan of the Temple. (From TempleMount.org.)

Could one man have actually driven out all the moneychangers and animal vendors? Doubtful. But if Jesus had led a bunch of John's followers on a "raid"; well, imangine: he stands on one wall of the Court of the Gentiles carrying on for about 10-15 minutes, perhaps braiding his whip while ranting, then jumps down and attacks. At that point, all the followers he brought with him pull out whips and do likewise. Tables falling over, coins rolling everywhere, animals running around, everybody grabbing for rolling coins: a riot. Great fun for a bunch of rebels.

What does this have to do with Jesus being a power-hungry psychopath? Quite a bit, actually. We have very limited information just what John the Baptist was about, but it seems plausible enough that making this kind of trouble wasn't part of his agenda. Jesus could well have hijacked a bunch of his more excitable followers for an adventure that gave him lots of "cred" with the whole crowd while putting John (well known to the authorities) in a vulnerable position. Since Jesus was newly joined, it's likely he wasn't known, and the authorities would probably have blamed John anyway, since he was the best known.

The next incident I want to discuss is at the beginning of Mark (1:14-21):

1:14 Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,

1:15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel.

1:16 And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishers.

1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

1:18 And straightway they left the nets, and followed him.

1:19 And going on a little further, he saw James the `son' of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending the nets.

1:20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.

1:21 And they go into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught.

The first thing is, we have no real description from the "Gospels" of why John was arrested, but it seems likely enough that it was the "raid" on the Temple. With John out of action, Jesus was free to collect some of the people who had been on the "raid", and continue to make trouble. What sort of trouble? Perhaps they told the following story (recounted as "true" by Mark):

6:17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her.

6:18 For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.

6:19 And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him; and she could not;

6:20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was much perplexed; and he heard him gladly.

6:21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee;

6:22 and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with him; and the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.

6:23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.

6:24 And she went out, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptizer.

6:25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou forthwith give me on a platter the head of John the Baptist.

6:26 And the king was exceeding sorry; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat, he would not reject her.

6:27 And straightway the king sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,

6:28 and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the damsel; and the damsel gave it to her mother.

If there's one point that Oakley makes very clear, it's the way that psychopaths and "borderliners" can play people off against one another, and manipulate rumor to their own advantage. Consider how this rumor, if spread immediately after John's arrest, would have benefited a psychopathic (or "borderliner") Jesus: John's in jail, but everybody thinks he's dead. Herod (Herod Antipas, king of Galilee, son of Herod the Great) was being blamed for his death, portrayed as completely without scruples but weak enough to be manipulated by a dancing girl.

Everybody's angry and leaderless, and there's Jesus ready to lead. By the time John's friends get him out of jail, if they ever do (even Josephus says he was executed), Jesus has already established himself as a leader on his own, having hijacked many of John's followers.

Thus, the beginning of a psychopathic ministry, not unlike those of modern televangelists.

Skipping directly to the end of his life, two points. First, Jesus was executed for being the "King of the Jews":

19:19 And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

19:20 This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, `and' in Latin, `and' in Greek.

19:21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.

19:22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. [John 19]

Was Jesus the King of the Jews? Consider, from Mark:

14:3 And while he was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster cruse of ointment of pure nard very costly; `and' she brake the cruse, and poured it over his head.

14:4 But there were some that had indignation among themselves, `saying', To what purpose hath this waste of the ointment been made?

14:5 For this ointment might have been sold for above three hundred shillings, and given to the poor. And they murmured against her.

14:6 But Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.

14:7 For ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye can do them good: but me ye have not always.

14:8 She hath done what she could; she hath anointed my body beforehand for the burying.

Although many theories have been made regarding the identity of this woman, could she have been a prophetess? The bible of that time made many mentions of prophetesses. If so, and she proclaimed Jesus King, legally he was. There's precedent in II Kings, chapter 9.

We've all heard about Barabbas whom the crowd demanded be released instead of Jesus:

15:7 And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.

What insurrection? The word (Stasis) was also used for riots. Did Jesus start a riot?

Finally, consider the crucifixion itself: it's well known there were two "thieves", one on either side of him, but they actually weren't thieves, but "lestas", ("λῃστάς"), a word used for both bandits and rebels/revolutionaries, including rioters. Here's the relevant phrase in greek (Mark 15:27 from GreekBible.com): "Καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ σταυροῦσιν δύο λῃστάς, ἕνα ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ ἕνα ἐξ εὐωνύμων αὐτοῦ." ("And with him they crucify two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left.")

Overall, then, we have the picture of a power-hungry psychopath who got his patron (John the Baptist) arrested and executed, grabbed control of his organization, had a career of some length as a religious leader, got himself proclaimed king, started a riot, and was executed, along with some of the other leaders. He was charismatic and encouraged his followers to worship him. After his death, his followers claimed he had returned from the dead.