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Schonfield was a Jew who termed himself a " Nazarene," meaning that he believed, as a Jew, that the Messiah, as predicted in Judaism's Hebrew Bible, had come in the person of Jesus Christ. He believed, furthermore, that Jesus was aware of and believed in himself as born to fulfill the role of the Jewish Messiah, and consciously made the effort to see that the prophecies were fulfilled in his daily life (and death); that Jesus did not intend to found a new religion, but intended instead to lead to the fulfillment of God's covenant with the Jewish people as documented in the Hebrew Bible; that Christianity, the religion, was the product of Jesus's followers, especially as proclaimed to non-Jewish people, at which point the connection to Jesus's original purpose was lost.
This disconnection from the original message occurred over a period of time, under great distress ( warFor other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). War is conflict, between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of weapons. Other terms for war include armed conflict hostilities and police action''. See Lims, loss of nationA nation is an imagined community of people created by a national ideology, also known as nationalism, to which certain norms and behavior are usually attributed. Added to this is usually the idea that a national (a person of the national ideology) shouldhood, slaverySlavery is involuntary servitude, enforced by violence or other, clear forms of coercion. It is sometimes regarded as an expectation associated with other relationships, such as marriage and/or other family relations, military service, or debt relationshi, exileSee Exile (disambiguation) for other meanings. To be in exile means being away from your home (i. city, state or country) and being either explicitly refused permission to return or being threatened by prison or death upon return. Personal exile Exile has from JerusalemCapitals in Asia For alternate uses see Jerusalem (disambiguation Jerusalem ( Modern Hebrew: Yerushalayim Biblical Hebrew: Arabic: al-Quds see also Names of Jerusalem) is an ancient Middle Eastern city of key importance to the religions of Judaism, Christ and PalestineFor varying definitions, see definitions of Palestine. Palestine ( Latin: Syria Palaestina Hebrew: Palestina Eretz Yisrael Arabic: Filasin , is a region in the Middle East extending inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its political sta), and for a multitude of reasons. Among those who are mentioned as having distorted the message is St. Paul who Schonfield depicts as mentally ill and as believing himself to be the Messiah. Schonfield believes that Jesus, himself, had nothing but good intentions in living his life out as predicted for the Messiah; Schonfield questions the result of the distortion at the hands of some of his followers, and at the hands of some who used this burgeoning new religion for less than honourable purposes.
Schonfield encourages believers in Jesus to take a critical view of what is told to them about him, and to endeavor to learn about the historic Jesus, how he fit into his times and land, and what was the purpose of his original message— faith in the Scriptures, living the exemplary life according to them, and for the purpose of alleviating misery, and making a difference to humanity.
Schonfield wrote commercially successful books in the fields of history and biography as well as religion, and he wrote a new translation of the New Testament entitled The Authentic New Testament. In 1965 he published the controversial The Passover Plot, a book whose thesis is that the Crucifixion was part of a larger, conscious attempt by Jesus to fulfill the Messianic expectations rampant in his time, and that the plan went unexpectedly wrong.
Schonfield followed The Passover Plot with a sequel in 1968, Those Incredible Christians; this was also termed a "shocker", but had less impact than the earlier one.