The Two Jesus Boys: and the Messianic Expectations of the Essenes

The two contradicting genealogies of Jesus in the Gospels have long puzzled biblical scholars. Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual research led him to a controversial theological conclusion―that there were two Jesus boys born into two holy families.

Two boys were necessary, he says, as part of the spiritual preparation of forming a suitable human body for the incarnation of Christ into the earthly realm. Both apocryphal texts and the writings of the Essenes (as discovered at Qumran by the Dead Sea) now appear to support this view, with references to messianic figures from both royal and priestly lines. Various authors have developed Rudolf Steiner’s observations, although much of such literature lacks the rigor of accurate and broad scholarship.

This volume, The Two Jesus Boys, is not just a derivative rehash of those previous publications but offers a fresh investigation of primary sources, coupled with an objective determination that allows the facts to speak for themselves. Christoph Rau thus reaches the unavoidable conclusion that Rudolf Steiner’s presentation of a chronology of the two births needs revision. Further, the most recent discoveries and interpretations of Essene scrolls reveal that the Jewish sect expected not one but three Messiahs.

Rau quotes from and analyzes numerous documents from the landscape of early Christianity and Judaism. His findings provide a secure foundation for the historical existence of two Jesus boys in the prelude to Christ’s incarnation on Earth, as well as a revelation of the Essenes’ long expectation of three Messiahs.

This volume was originally published in German as Die beiden Jesusknaben und die Messiaserwartung der Essener: Geleitwort von Vicke von Behr (Verlag Johannes M. Mayer, Stuttgart, 2010).

Rev. Christoph Rau (1928–2018) was born in Gross Naundorf, Wittenberg, Germany, and raised in a Protestant rectory. After military service and imprisonment, he completed his high school diploma at the Kreuzgymnasium Dresden, followed by studies in theology in Berlin and Rostock and music training in Leipzig. After protests against the paramilitary training of students, he fled to West Germany overnight and began training in Stuttgart to become a priest for The Christian Community. For decades he researched the structure of the Gospels, publishing his results in monographs on Matthew, Mark, and John (1972) and his comprehensive work, Die Vier um den Einen: Wesensart und spiritueller Hintergrund der Evangelien (2008), published in English as The Four Gospels: Their Essence and Spiritual Background (Lindisfarne Books, 2024). He also coedited German translations of the New Testament by Emil Bock (1980) and Heinrich Ogilvie (1996) and edited the literary estate of Michael Bauer in five volumes (1985–1997). He also wrote a biography, Michael Bauer und seine Lebensbegegnung mit Friedrich Rittelmeyer (Michael Bauer and his life encounter with Friedrich Rittelmeyer, 1995).