Jesus

Dr. Crossan's hugely popular book has come to represent the much larger war of words between "conservative" and "liberal" Christians and the scholars who argue their respective viewpoints. As a lapsed Catholic and former altar boy struggling for twenty years with my beliefs, I have only one thing to say about this allegedly "non-Christian" book: It completely renewed my faith. It took away all the miracles, all the divine interventions and all the dogma of worshipping someone just because our traditions say we should. Yet what remained was the portrait of a humble man whose brilliance and humanity was two thousand years ahead of his time. Armed with nothing more than intelligence, love and the radical but essential truth that we're all in it together, this completely human Jesus changed the world solely through his divine message alone. I take it on faith that THAT Jesus is someone whose message is worth living and dying for. Thank you Dr. Crossan for restoring my faith as never before and for elevating Jesus of Nazareth to a height far higher and far more noble than my tradition ever dared to.

Tom Hinkle's review below is long on criticism of Crossan's work but offers absolutely zero evidence to contradict anything Crossan says. Hinkle seems offended that Crossan does not give Jesus a special place. Crossan's work is a work of history, not of faith. Any reasonable historian, looking at the evidence, would conclude similar things to Crossan. Take the crucifixion. The Romans used this form of execution as pure terror, and part of the terror was in the utter destruction of the body. Of the THOUSANDS crucified, only one skeleton of a man that was actually crucified has been discovered. Why? Because all the others were eaten by wild dogs. It is a leap to think that somehow everything ended up different for Jesus, complete with an elaborate tomb in a beautiful garden, especially in light of scripture's own rendition that all the disciples had run away in fear.You do not have to agree with Crossan. You might be completely uninterested in what he has to say, and that is fine. If you believe, your faith is your own, and one historian's take on the life of Jesus is not an assault on your belief. But roundly dismissing a work of history, without offering countering historical arguments, is nonsensical. For those interested in A historical view of Jesus, this is an excellent book. Even for people who are believing Christians, Crossan's work may be of interest, because he paints a vivid historical picture of the times during which Jesus lived, summarizing the work of Josephus well for non-specialists. But take the book for what it is, not what it is not.

This is perhaps the easiest book to understand Crossan's insights of the Historical Jesus. He uses the same frame of reference of previous works (Antrhopology, History, Literature), but unlike his other books this is readable, and one can appreciate his insight into the life of Jesus, whether we agree or disagree with his conclusions. In my case, "Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography",was a helpful introduction to other Crossan's major works.

One who feels he has cornered the market on religious truth will not take kindly to having anyone disagree with his interpretation of the Bible. Such a person is poorly equipped to review a this book.A book about belief has value if the ideas resonate with the reader and provide insight into our place in the world.There's no way anyone can know exactly who Jesus was, what he said and what he did. Everything we have on Jesus has been colored by interpretation. Crossan takes a historical approach, and this will be refreshing to people who are tired of interpretations that simply except every passage as truth but twist the meaning to reflect their wishes."A fool believes every word, but the reasonable man looks for proof" - Proverbs 14:15. You can't look for proof if you don't read many sources and judge for yourself.

Crossan is skeptical about the historical Jesus. He studied cross cultural anthropology, Greco-Roman-Jewish history, and literary work. Crossan explores and compares the story of Jesus' birth. He points out many discrepancies between the Gospel of Matthew and Luke. Jesus is also compared to Caesar (similarity in births),the Cynic, and to Sophia.(Jewish Wisdom). His careful analysis of the crucifixion,burial, and resurrection of Jesus, concludes that the story is not accurate. In his conclusion, Jesus' image was based on individual Christian perceptions after his death.