What were Jesus and early Christians like?

[watchamadoodle]

Could Jesus have lived much earlier than the typically ascribed period, already mythologized by the time the epistles were written and then revised by the Gospels to fit into a more recent and relevant setting?

I've wondered about the "Teacher" revered by the Qumran sect. Apparently they felt the Temple was defiled. Jesus condemned the Temple. Jesus was crucified 40 years before the Temple was destroyed (similar to the 40 years in the desert). There is the nativity story about fleeing to Egypt. We have the Therapeutae in Egypt. Then later we have Egypt as a center for Gnosticism and Monasticism.

I guess that is all just disconnected clues. I don't know what it means.
EDIT: I suppose the story of fleeing to Egypt doesn't imply anything about the actual history of Christianity. I remember now that it was a "fulfillment" of prophecy. (Sorry this post is so disorganized.)

As Bart Ehrman wrote, and I can understand why, "The real problem with Jesus is not that he is a myth invented by early Christians—that is, that he never appeared as a real figure on the stage of history. The problem with Jesus is just the opposite. As Albert Schweitzer realized long ago, the problem with the historical Jesus is that he was far too historical."

That's how I feel too.

Maybe some new Early Christian writings will turn-up in the papier-mâché mummy masks.