The Essential Jesus

Written in a style more easily understood than the Nag Hammadi Library translation. Coming to an art gallery near you :)

It is hard to be objective about a text such as this, being a Christian myself. In trying to be objective, I keep finding things that are not here that I would consider essential.John Dominic Crossan, a former Roman Catholic priest turned academic 'faithful sceptic', has been a member of the Jesus Seminar since its beginning. He has written extensively on the life of Jesus, public perceptions of Jesus past and present, and now this slim volume that is a part of the Essentials series (see my other reviews; titles such as the Essential Kabbalah). As a guide for meditation and contemplation, this volume works very well. It introduces the reader to many of the statements by and about Jesus, as newly translated by Crossan. The reader must be careful here, however, to be open to the new translations with a critical and discerning eye. Crossan gives and example of how he translates:'I seek to be at the same time minimal and poetic. For example, the twenty-one words of Luke 9:58 and Matthew 8:20 are verbatim the same in Greek. They are translated in the older and newer Revised Standard Versions with twenty-one words as, respectively:Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.My own translation [operating within principles he explains, largely those of minimal and poetic] is this (with fourteen words):Every fox has a denEvery bird has a nestOnly humans are homeless.'This is a fascinating view and reframing of a traditional text, but is it in fact true to the meaning of the Gospel? Each reader must decide that individually.The concerns about translation and limitation aside, this is a wonderful collection with which to meditate and get a sense of the spirit of Christianity. Crossan has a brief essay of historical introduction and translation principles, but, by and large, lets the texts speak for themselves, accompanied by artwork taken from the first few centuries of Christianity (stone, painting, etc.).For instance, no. 33:'The Kingdom of God is like this:A fisherman drew his full net from the seaAmong the many small fish was a single large oneHe grabbed hold of it and threw back all the rest(But how is the Kingdom of God like that?)'This piece faces a picture of a communal meal, a typical eating scene taken from the catacombs, a festive meal with joyful people. Crossan often asks inviting the reader (as the final question in the example above indicates) to really reflect on what has been said, rather than leaving it there as valid and true, but unexamined.Crossan also provides notes on the texts and the artwork to satisfy the academically inclined. I find that some days I want to use these, and other days just want the texts themselves to speak to me. This is a very down-to-earth book. It does not get into high Christological issues, but rather looks back to an early church view when Jesus was remembere

Having read Crossan's "big" books, I picked this one up on a whim (hey, it was cheap). I figured it would be predominantly redundant, given that highly popular model of "publish scholarly work, follow with a couple spin-offs for lay audiences" that's making the rounds these days.Not so -- this is much more than a Jesus Seminar pamphlet of "authentic sayings of Jesus." As a previous reader mentioned, there's one quote per page, but there are endnotes with a couple paragraphs of commentary per quote, plus a decent forward on the Kingdom movement vs. the Jesus Movement. More on the art at the end.I found the vast majority of the quotes to be aptly chosen and thought provoking. I think it is a mistake to consider them "light." I sat there with a couple bibles and a couple different volumes of commentary dissecting each one. It's great for people like me who got wrapped up in theological niceties and historical circumstance, only to find ourselves losing touch with what Jesus _said_. It brings us back to the word whilst still humoring us with wholesome academic goodness.Assuming my situation is not a singular phenomenon, of course.The plates are indeed reletively poor reproductions, but such is the nature of inexpensive mass production. There are also even more lengthy endnotes on the 25 plates reproduced in the book, plus descriptions, locations, context, etc. of a good 40 more that do NOT appear in the book. It's certainly a good starting point for doing further research on early Christian art -- for the price, having that reference alone is worth it.Taking price/performance into account, it's a five starer. Granted, I would have liked a little more commentary on each quote (which raises more questions than it answers, though assumably this is the point in the process of provoking thought), but we can't have it all, now can we?

This book is simply an extremely basic view of Crossans much larger book "The Historical Jesus". For those out there who don't have the time, patience, or just plain level of understanding to read four hundred and fifty pages of scholarly language can find this an excellent introduction to the works of Crossan. It is also very useful for the Christian without a lot of time or attention span. I gave this to a Christian friend of mine who is severely dislexic and cannot read the bible easily. Crossan breaks everything into well spaced easily readable texts. This book is great for people who have difficulty reading for any reason and does not require a great attention span. The book can be set down and picked back up at the drop of a hat and the reader will miss nothing. I found this especially useful reading for when I was travelling as I would often break from it to look out the window or talk to the driver. Of course, it lacks the depth of Crossan's "Historical Jesus" upon which this book is mostly based; but not everyone wants that much depth.

Without a doubt, the most learned scholar on the topic of Jesus Christ. What Crossan does in this book is interpret the sayings attributed to Jesus through the eyes of the 1st century A.D., not through 20th century eyes. He puts the meaning of the Gospels in the context of the 1st centruy. Social: Jesus and most everyone else with the exception of the ruling class were peasants - illiterate and uneducated. Political: Judea was a Roman province and many resented their occupation of the Holy Land. Economic: in the split between the "Have's" and "Have Not's", Jesus and his followers were the Have Not's. Many of Jesus's parables don't seem to make much sense, are contradictory or seem not relevant to today. But once you read them armed with the Socio-Politico-Economic underpinnings of the 1st century A.D., you get a much clearer and deeper understanding of his teachings. Although many Catholics that feel threatened by Crossan's (a former priest) academic work on Jesus, Crossan devotes the forward of the book explaining how he can reconcile his Catholic faith with 20th century secular study. At the time of Christ