CHURCH of Scotland minister Dr Gordon Strachan says it’s quite likely that he did – and while the alleged son-of-a-god was over in Blighty he may have visited Glastonbury.
Strachan makes the claim in a new film entitled And Did Those Feet?
Jesus probably visited Glastonbury, says Scottish cleric
He believes it is “plausible” Jesus came to England for his studies, as it was the forefront of learning 2,000 years ago.
Dr Strachan today told BBC Radio 4′s The World At One:
Coming this far wasn’t in fact that far in the olden days.The Romans came here at the same time and they found it quite easy.
By EasyBoat, presumably.
Dr Strachan added that Jesus had “plenty of time” to do the journey, as little was known about his life before the age of 30.
The legend that Jesus Christ came to Britain was popularised in a poem written by William Blake in the early 19th Century and made famous as a hymn 100 years later.
Now the first words of the hymn – And did those feet? – are the title of a new film based on a book researched by Dr Strachan, who lectures on the history of architecture at Edinburgh University.
It is generally suggested that he came to the west of England with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, who was here for tin.
Dr Strachan claimed Jesus Christ could have come to England to further his education.
He needed to go around to learn bits and pieces about ancient wisdom, and the druids in Britain went back hundreds if not thousands of years. He probably came here to meet the druids, to share his wisdom and gain theirs.
Among the places Jesus is said to have visited are Penzance, Falmouth, St-Just-in-Roseland and Looe, which are all in Cornwall, as well as Glastonbury in Somerset – which has particular legends about Jesus.
St Augustine wrote to the Pope to say he’d discovered a church in Glastonbury built by followers of Jesus. But St Gildas (a 6th-Century British cleric) said it was built by Jesus himself. It’s a very very ancient church which went back perhaps to AD37.
The film is being screened tomorrow in central London.
Can’t go as I’m washing my hair and defrosting the freezer.
Hat tip: Marcus & Steven
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
November 26th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Barry. You haven’t got any hair!
Or do you keep it in the freezer?
November 27th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Jesus went to Glastonbury??
Well I don’t think Download or Bloodstock would be his thing
November 27th, 2009 at 2:28 am
‘He needed to go around to learn bits and pieces about ancient wisdom…’
Sorry, but what exactly did the Almighty (Son of) God have to learn that he didn’t already know, being the Creator of EVERYTHING, including all knowledge and wisdom?
I find it fantastic that they could find ‘evidence’ that a likely fictional character went anywhere…oh, hang on, it is fiction, so your characters can go wherever you say they do!
November 27th, 2009 at 4:22 am
The Mormons say Jesus came to the States, too. But he floated down on a cloud of mumbo-jumbo, rather than having walked.
That Jesus sure can get around, eh?
November 27th, 2009 at 6:55 am
But if you take the byebull literally Jesus is everywhere. A case for a quantum being where space-time are all the same thing and things like distance are relative. I’d love to see the math for that one!
November 27th, 2009 at 8:58 am
This would explain some of the bits removed from the original gospels:
‘And the Lord said, the weather out here in Galilee is nice but it’s a bit samey, all this sunshine day in, day out.’
‘And Jesus railed against the disciples, saying unto them: You liked the loaves and fishes, why are you now refusing my Tizer and Greggs Pasties?’
‘And the Lord had a quick bunk-up with Mary Magdalene, who did bicker with Jesus long after, but when he asked her what was wrong she sayeth: Nothing, I’m FINE. In that tone of voice. You know.’
‘And Nazareth Town crashed to a six-nil defeat against Tiberius Wanderers: and Jesus wept.’
November 27th, 2009 at 10:04 am
The amusing thing about mythology is that it allows endless speculation, but some people – usually religious types – conflate speculation with fact; here, with this film, we have a classic example.
Over-hearing the tour guides at Glastonbury Abbey [near where I live] you wouldn’t be amazed by the misinformation the gullible lap up as fact. The Glastonbury thorn allegedly grew when Joseph of Aramathea stuck his staff in the ground and is claimed to be 2000 years old – more like 30 or 40 if you look at it! Also, the soap dodgers who frequent Glastonbury actually believe King Arthur is buried there!
November 27th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Incidentally, this bit: ‘Dr Strachan, who lectures on the history of architecture at Edinburgh University’.
Does he take such a cavalier attitude to his proper job? ‘The Dome first appeared in Atlantis around 12,000 BC.’
November 27th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Britain was at the forefront of learning 2000 years ago? Really? I always thought that Greece was doing pretty well at the time, as was Rome but over here we were still living in huts while Greco/Romano culture was streets ahead with architecture we still mimic today. And this guy teaches history?
November 27th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
This is rather crazy stuff. What is the evidence basis except that the bible says nothing about Jesus for 30 years? Very odd.
http://carnifexinsania.blogspot.com/
November 27th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
@valdemar. Are you being facetious? I have not come across the claim that the Atlanteans had domes (there certainly seems to be no evidence that they did to my knowledge), but of course, they did invent the PYRAMID, as we well know, and passed on that knowledge to many other cultures around the world. I feel sure that Dr Strachan apprises his students of this fact!
November 27th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Is whoever used the offensively Christian dating system, AD, that insults the 5.5 billion people on this planet who do not believe they are living in the “year of the master”, unfamiliar with the scientifically neutral equivalent, CE, for “Common Era”?
I take it the persons who referred to Atlantis as if such a place actually existed are being facetious?
November 27th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
So, did Jesus sponge off his family to finance this trip to further his education or did he do something useful, like make crosses for the Romans?
Judging by his knowledge of botany (eg when fig trees are in season) I doubt he could have lived off the land.
November 27th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Dr Harwood: please refer to recent posts!
November 27th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
@barriejohn
Hi Barrie,
I was wondering if it would be ok to have a chat about something web related with yourself. Drop me a line at atheistcorner@hotmail.co.uk if you are interested.
Cheers,
Rog.
November 27th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
We don’t know if Jesus went to Glastonbury but we can be pretty certain he went to Heaven.
*gets coat and leaves*
November 27th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
http://www.progressiveliving.o.....usalem.htm
I hadn’t seen the poem before so I looked it up. Apparently Blake wrote it in response to the evils of commerce and industry going on in the country, not to actually suggest Christ physically walked on English soil.
If people want to write fanfic about the guy, let them. But hopefully people aren’t taking this for truth. Plausible, maybe. Factual, probably not.
November 27th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
When I heard Gordon Strachan mentioned I thought they were referring to Gordon Strachan the footballer. However, the longer this went on I realised it couldn’t be “Wee Gordon” as he is sometimes known affectionately because the comments were so silly. Gordon the footballer is far too down to earth for this.
As for the ignoring of the Graeco-Roman culture the reason for that is probably because that culture did not have a single, personal and – major defect – Christian god.
November 27th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Did no one else notice the idiocy of the claim that “Jesus” built a “church” at Glastonbury, while still a young man? This would be several years before “Christianity” had, according to the Gospels, been actually founded! (Oh, yes, the Christ-child was omniscient, wasn’t he? I forgot that!!)
November 27th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
barriejohn…’(Oh, yes, the Christ-child was omniscient, wasn’t he? I forgot that!!)’
Yes, but more importantly he was a chippie or a joiner or something!
November 27th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
bloody foreigners coming over here and taking our jobs
November 27th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
The Ancient Britons were probably just hanging around at the Stone Circles drinking mead and smoking weed, abz! Nothing changes!!
November 27th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
PS I’m already thinking up storylines for the PREQUEL of The Life Of Brian!!Anyone with me there?
“What do you mean – building churches for the poor Britons? There’s plenty of work to be done here, young man, if you’ve got time on your hands! Charity begins at home you know!! He’s a very naughty boy…”
“No, you’re NOT going to Glastonbury again. The last time you went you got soaked to the skin. You’ll catch your death of cold in that climate! Ask your uncle to take you to see the games in Rome next time!!
November 27th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
@1minion
I had to suffer “Jerusalem” for many years as our “school song”. We were told the mills were metaphorical and actually referred to the church-dominated universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Which is odd, since we were supposed to try and get in there.
November 27th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Dr Harwood: The blog on which the comments re Atlantis were posted referred to the film 2012 (21st inst). We did, in fact, establish that the Atlanteans had introduced the ancient Mayans to digital clocks, and that the world would therefore be coming to an end in 8888! I trust this clears up any misunderstanding – we’re not stupid you know!!
November 27th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
For Dr Harwood: AD = After Datum.
According to the Nazorean Essenes (http://essenes.net/) Jesus spent his early years in the East imbibing the wisdom of the gurus. Got about a bit didn’t he!
November 27th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Off topic, but:
You might like to check out this weeks ‘unreported world’ on 4od – it’s about how extremely religious Jews are causing lots of trouble for not as religious Israelis.
November 27th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Is anyone here aware that you can fit the words of cockney music hall song ‘My Old Man Said Follow The Van’ to the tune of Jerusalem? There is also a well known hymn called Bread of Heaven which fits the words of Yellow Submarine and Play that Funky Music White Boy. Some people say that I have too much time on my hands.
November 27th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
We used to sing “While Shepherds Watched” to On Ilkley Moor Bart ‘at, Stonyground! It would be nice to think that perhaps Jesus did too when he visited our shores!!
November 27th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
There was yet another story only the other day about a pensioner who popped out to buy a newspaper and, several hours and a few hundred miles later, thought he should ask for directions, as it did occur to him that he might have taken a wrong turning along the way somewhere (I’m not making this up, you know!). Now, there is on Salisbury Plain a place called Palestine (I pass it when visiting Swindon, and you can look it up if you don’t believe me), and I did wonder whether Joseph of Arimathea, being a rather elderly gentleman, might have looked at his copy of Mapa Mundi, or whatever, and become just a little bit confused himself, eventually pitching up, with his party, on the shores of Britain. Just a thought!!
November 27th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
“We did, in fact, establish that the Atlanteans had introduced the ancient Mayans to digital clocks.”
That statement does not come across as self-evident satire, and has all the appearance of the writer’s own belief. Simply citing a fantasy movie does not make clear that the line was a quote from the movie. We’re not mindreaders you know.
November 28th, 2009 at 3:27 am
On the remote chance that anyone out there believes there really was an Atlantis: The book that offers the most plausible argument that the Atlantis myth had a historical basis was Peter James’s The Sunken Kingdom. James was less than convincing. I wrote in Indian Skeptic (Madras), “While a city so devastated by an earthquake that it wound up at the bottom of a newly created lake may be rare, it is far from being so improbable that it must have been the source of the myth of a continent that sank into the sea…. his theory assumes that a Lydian legend involving Tantalos and Tantalis became corrupted in oral transmission into Atlas and Atlantis–and that can never be proven.”
While James’s speculation about Atlantis is (barely) plausible, other parts of his book make Immanuel Velikovsky and Charles Berlitz look like clear thinkers.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Christ – the whole tone of this blog is ironic. The founder actually encouraged the use of ridicule and sarcasm in the attack on irrational belief. Time for a little more decorum, I feel, Barry!
November 28th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Sorry to enter this topic so late, but when I started to read it…it smelled a little like the “religion nobody talks about which is British Israelism.” I am a little surprised that nobody has mentioned this.
I promise you that if you start to dig into the subject you will find a lot of interesting “stuff.” Just Google British Israelism for yourself and enjoy!
November 28th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
What I really want to know is if Dorothy really went to Oz, or was it all just a dream?
Friends of Dorothy need to know.
November 28th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
You have read “The Power of Women” by Guy Bellamy haven’t you (if you haven’t – try him, he’s very amusing)? This is a blatant rip-off.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
You’re right, Brian Worley. The British Israelites are still going strong! A lot of aristocrats and other establishment figures used to believe all that nonsense, eg that the word Saxons originally derived from the phrase “Isaac’s sons” (I am NOT making this up!). White, Christian Europeans are all descendents of the “Lost Ten Tribes of Israel”, of course, so have a stake in God’s ancient promises to that nation. Closely allied to this was the wonderful belief of “Pyramidology”. My late friend was very friendly with Jim Rutherford (killed, tragically, by a hit-and-run driver some years ago), the son of its leading light, Adam Rutherford, and I have a copy of his book “The Great Pyramid – The Bible in Stone”. Up until the time of his death Jim was still selling Pyramidology literature from his home and conducting tours to Egypt, even though he didn’t believe any of the nonsense himself! There’s a very good page on Wikipedia about Pyramidology, which is also worth looking at. Basically, it is a belief that the Great Pyramid held within its structure the key to future events. As with all such theories (see Nostradamus et al), it is absolutely wonderful at “predicting” the events leading up to the time of the interpreter (whoever that might be) but equally HOPELESS at predicting what events are going to follow that particular era!!
November 29th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Final paragraph of the Pyramidology book which I have:
“When, in early 1918, we were hard pressed by Germany and almost on our beam ends, the nation at last fell on its knees, the tide turned, and from that day victory was assured: so will it be in the war of Armageddon.”
Better start praying, brethren!
November 29th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Dr Harwood: We in England have for years been subjected to the inane ramblings of Graham Hancock, an “historian” whose only academic qualification as far as I can determine is a degree in Sociology! He has written several books on subjects like the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Ark of the Covenant, and so on, and in particular in support of his pet theory that the Atlanteans passed on their ancient technological knowledge to early man. Strangely enough he has also featured in TV documentaries on such subjects, and has been given the opportunity to expound his bizarre theories in national newspapers, doubtless at great profit to himself. I believe that most English readers of this blog would know to whom I was referring in my remarks! He made an official complaint over the way that a BBC Horizon programme criticised his ideas, but only one point of his was upheld out of eight (so he naturally claims on his website that they “found in his favour”), and a modified version of the programme was then broadcast. I did quote him recently on here (and this is a good one!):
“If I’m right and our whole conception of prehistory is wrong…”
As I said before – spot the deliberate mistake!!
November 30th, 2009 at 2:26 am
Barriejohn, I am pleased to see that your alert to this! I will look that Pyramidology up! There are groups of these in America, especially in the Pacific Northwest.
Lately, I have been looking into the subject a little deeper than before. I have been reading Arthur Koestler’s wonderful “The Thirteenth Tribe” and the remarkable Khazar Empire that somehow avoided conversion to Christianity and Islam. Only 70 something pages deep so far.
I’m curious, was foul play suspected in the tragic death you mentioned?
The racist Christian Identity movement is involved in this stuff as well. This religion sure would fit nicely (convienient) with some establishment political ideology it seems. I hope that someone might add something to our mini discussion here?
December 1st, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Sorry for the delay in posting this reply, Brian, as I was unaware of your latest comment!
In answer to your question, I don’t think that there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Jim Rutherford, as Britons are almost oblivious of this British Israelism nonsense. I do know that it is very widely held in America, and was myself almost hooked by Herbert W. Armstrong and his Worldwide Church of God when a young Christian! I used to listen to his broadcasts (from Pasadena, Cal. then) on Radio Luxembourg in the evening. (British readers will know what I am referring to there – it was a commercial station which we used to tune into to listen to the latest pop records, when the BBC aired little such music. The religiots, and Football Pools “wizards” etc, supported the station by buying time for their programmes or advertising slots. Billy Graham’s Hour of Decision was broadcast every Friday evening, and although I am now an atheist, I still consider remember many of his sermons, and honestly consider him to be the best public speaker I have ever heard, without a shadow of a doubt.) I even signed up to Armstrong’s Plain Truth magazine before I was shown the error of my ways. (I made the unforgiveable mistake of stating publicly what a great Bible teacher he was!) It wouldn’t surprise you at all to know that almost all the people who went on Jim Rutherford’s escorted trips to Egypt were Americans, and I assume that THEY were the buyers of the books which quite literally filled his home, as well. What might surprise you, though, is the fact that so many English aristocrats and royals also believed this tosh. It is said that King George VI was a believer, and that wouldn’t surprise me one little bit. Don’t forget that, even when I was a young man, they kept banging on about how the War was as good as lost before the Dunkirk evacuation, but that a National Day of Prayer, and the subsequent divine intervention ,turned the tide! Even our present Queen seems to think that there is something “mystical” about her anointing at Westminster in 1953, and Prince Charles, of course, has the most weird “New Age” ideas. (None of the royal family appear terribly “bright” either, I must add!) It wouldn’t come as a shock to me to learn that they really do believe that there is an unbroken line from the Queen back to King David, daft as that idea seems to us, and that all those promises to Abraham are to be fulfilled through the British people and ruling family!!
December 1st, 2009 at 8:15 pm
@Brian Worley: I have just written a very long reply to your comment re British Israelism, and it has disappeared! If it doesn’t show up later I might have another go some time, but I can’t face writing it all out again now!
December 1st, 2009 at 11:36 pm
It’s magic!! (Pity I didn’t get the opportunity to edit, though!)
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 am
Barriejohn, I appreciate the info. I believe there is a lot more than what we might know around the British Israelism belief and power politics in our world.
I looked up Pyramidology and “red flags” went up when I saw Charles Taze Russell’s name involved (Jehovah Witness). I’ll just leave it at that.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:39 am
Glad you got to read it, Brian!