"Christianity’s Origin as a Flavian Secrecy Cult" sets out a thought-provoking case that the familiar story of Jesus, especially as told in the Gospel of Luke, was not a product of grassroots faith but a carefully designed Roman project. According to Menasgotz, the Flavian emperors — Vespasian and Titus — crafted this narrative as a way to pacify the Jewish population after the war in Judea, win over the Roman legions, and secure their own rule in a time of political chaos.

Michael Menasgotz' central claim is that Christianity began as a secrecy cult, modeled on traditions like Mithraism. New followers would first hear about Jesus as a miracle worker and prophet who preached peace and acceptance of Roman authority. As they advanced, they’d be introduced to the idea of Jesus as the son of God. At higher levels, initiates would learn that the story of Jesus was actually a coded account of Titus’s own life and victories. Only at the very top would the full truth be revealed: the story was a sophisticated myth, designed to promote loyalty to the Flavians and, ultimately, emperor worship1.

Menasgotz lays out several types of evidence to support this theory:

Parallels particularly between Jesus and Titus: The book details how the journeys and actions of Jesus in Luke closely mirror those of Titus during the Jewish War, with both figures visiting the same locations and performing similar acts, often in the same sequence. He shows the same is true in the detailed accounts of John (in Luke) and John (in Jewish War). These similarities, Menasgotz argues, are too precise to be accidental.

Hidden meanings and riddles: Many of these parallels contain deeper messages, designed to point initiates toward the divinity of Titus and Vespasian. For example, both Josephus (the historian) and Jesus are depicted as prophesying the destruction of their city, being betrayed, confined in a tomb-like space, and later raised up—details that seem crafted to echo one another.

Mutual parody: Menasgotz claims that Luke and the Roman account "Jewish War" don’t just contain parallels in one direction —they mutually parody each other. He shows for example that Josephus (in Jewish War) is a carefully concealed parody of Jesus in Luke. This, he argues, is only achievable by someone with editorial control over both documents, which means both texts were created together, and since Jewish War is explicitly from the Roman Government, so is the story in Luke.

The APTVS pattern: When the locations of these parallels are plotted, they form the Latin word "APTVS" - the Latin word for "apt" Menasgotz suggests this pattern is deliberate, providing further evidence of design, and explains what the letters appear to stand for, and how they seem intended to be portrayed as a constellation of stars forming the name of a god - a 'Logos' as the Gospel of John puts it.

Passover ritual echoes: Both Luke and "Jewish War" contain passages that reflect the steps of the Passover ritual from Exodus 12, with their placement reinforcing the APTVS pattern. A key point is that every element of the ritual is evoked in both stories in locations that are unambiguous and unarguable, and in every case they match the APTVS pattern - the odds of this as a fluke being astronomically low.

Statistical analysis: The book includes several statistical arguments to show that the number and arrangement of these parallels are vastly beyond what could be expected by chance. For example he shows that the level of detail and precision in the pattern means that for it to be a case of 'finding patterns in noise' would necessitate there to be a lot of 'noise' to select from i.e. Luke would need to contain about 2000 coincidental yet noteworthy parallels with Jewish War, in turn requiring at least 4000 verses, which is physically impossible because Luke only has 1151 verses. 

Menasgotz is careful not to overstate his case. He does not claim the Flavians invented Jesus from scratch—he acknowledges that earlier Christian writings, like Paul’s letters, predate their reign, though these don’t contain the familiar details of Jesus’s life. Nor does he argue that the entire "Jewish War" was written alongside Luke, only that the accounts of Vespasian and Titus’s victories were crafted with this purpose in mind.

For readers interested in the intersection of religion, history, and politics, Menasgotz’s book offers a detailed and challenging perspective, and certainly an entirely new lens on the origins of Christianity and the power of narrative in shaping belief