Secrets of Christianity

He lived in ancient Israel, he was called the "Good Shepherd", he was killed by the Romans and he rose in three days. But he's not Jesus! Shockingly, an ancient stone tablet that has emerged from the Jordanian antiquities market seems to suggest that there was a dying and rising Messiah before Jesus.

It is commonly assumed that the Apostles Peter and Paul spread Christianity across the planet, turning a tiny religious sect into the world’s largest religion. Is this possible? Can two people really have had such global influence? Long ignored archaeological evidence – found beneath the ashes of Pompeii and Herculaneum – seems to suggest that what put the fear of God into pagan Romans was not Jesus, Peter or Paul. It now seems that the event most responsible for Christianity’s conquest of the Roman Empire was the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

There is a quaint perception that Jesus spent his entire ministry - prior to going to Jerusalem where he was crucified - in northern Israel, walking along the shores of a tiny fresh water lake called the "Sea of Galilee". But is this historical reality or theological fantasy?