Billede
En højt placeret præst er blevet tvunget til at stoppe sit arbejde som underviser i biblen takket været en bog, som benægter eksistensen af Jesus Kristus.

Fader Tom Brodie er blevet fjernet fra sin stilling i Limerick efter offentliggørelsen af sin bog Beyond the Quest for the Historical Jesus.

The Irish Sun skriver, at præsten blev fjernet fra sin stilling ved Dominican Biblical Institute i Limerick, som han hjalp med at oprette.

Avisen har opnået adgang til dokumenter, som bekræfter, at akademikeren også er blevet forbudt at give foredrag, at undervise eller at skrive, mens undersøgelsen er i gang.

Rapporten siger, at Fader Brodie har stillet spørgsmål ved Jesus' eksistens siden 70'erne, men først har offentliggjort sine synspunkter nu.

Bogen, som det tog 12 år at skrive, kom som et shock for hans foresatte, da den blev offentliggjort i oktober.


Father Brodie claims in the book that many of Jesus's acts were a rip-off of the Hebrew Bible or, in some cases, of earlier texts.

A well-placed source told the Irish Sun:
"Tom's book has caused quite a stir and some considerable upset. The whole premise of his book has been questioned by biblical scholars. He was asked to step aside from his ministry and the Provincial Council unanimously backed that decision. A committee is now examining his work and will meet with Fr Brodie to discuss it."
Another source said:
"The theory is a bit strange, a bit out there. He was 12 years researching it and nobody knew he would come out with something like this."
Fr Gerard Norton, his replacement at the Institute, told the Irish Sun that Fr Brodie had resigned at the end of his term. He said:
"He had reached the end of his term in office, and had served three terms instead of the usual two.

"He said he was not going forward for another one. His resignation was accepted."
The paper made efforts to contact Fr Brodie through the publishers of his book but these proved unsuccessful.