Good point, Snowbird. I have no evidence to suggest that Mary Jo is right about this. Only her words to that effect. Hers is just one viewpoint expressed among an ocean of such. She is supportive of Christianity in what I have read so far, not against it. She has done considerable research to write this book. Still, she could be lying admittedly. She does not seem to have an axe to grind in the matter. I am not assuming that she is absolutely correct, though she lands in close proximity to my viewpoint on this one point.
Common sense tells me that more evidence would have to come into play than the words of two or three dead supporters of a Jewish rebel in the midst of chaotic political turmoil of the day. A day in which admittedly there was an openness, in at least some factions of Judaism, for the appearance of a 'Messiah' or 'Christ' to provide relief from Roman rule. It would not seem unusual for some to take advantage of the favorable political atmosphere to promote their particular answer to that hope. Those words, by those long dead supporters, have transformed the world in many ways. But that does not make them attributable to the Son of God, as Messiah and King for all of mankind, just because a few catholic bishops elected to include them in a canon later dubbed the Holy Bible.
Jeff