Film director’s book claims Jesus son of Roman soldier

“Basic Instinct” director Paul Verhoeven has written a book that suggests Jesus might have been fathered by a Roman soldier who raped Mary.

An Amsterdam publishing house says it will release the Dutch filmmaker’s “Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait” in September.

Verhoeven is best known as the director of blockbuster films including “Basic Instinct” and “RoboCop.” But he is also a member of “Jesus Seminar,” a group of scholars and authors that seeks to establish historical facts about Jesus.

Marianna Sterk of the publishing house J.M. Meulenhoff said the book includes several ideas that run contrary to Christian faith, including the suggestion that Jesus could be the son of a Roman soldier who raped Mary during a Jewish uprising against Roman rule in 4 B.C.

The book also claims that Judas Iscariot was not responsible for Jesus’ betrayal, she said.

Verhoeven’s claims have been greeted with some skepticism among those who have dedicated their careers to studying the life of Jesus.

William Portier, a professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton in Ohio, said the Jesus Seminar is known for making provocative claims, but “they are real scholars – you have to deal with them.”

However, he said Verhoeven’s ideas sounded “pretty out there.”

John Dominic Crossan, a Jesus Seminar founder, said that while Verhoeven was a member in good standing, there is little evidence for the view that Jesus was illegitimate.

Crossan said the claim is first reported in a polemic written in the second century against the Book of Matthew, intended for a Jewish audience.

“If you wanted to do a hatchet job on Jesus’ reputation, this would be the way,” he said.

Verhoeven hopes the book, which will be translated into English in 2009, will be a springboard for him to raise interest in making a film along the same lines, Sterk said.

Verhoeven, 69, has dreamed of making a movie about Jesus’ life for decades, Sterk said.

Asked whether it would be difficult to follow Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ,” she said Verhoeven knows he may be somewhat late to market.

“He is painfully aware of that,” she said. “However, he has quite a different angle.”