Power Tactics of Jesus Christ, and Other Essays

An insightful and provocative, albeit pseudocynical collection of essays on psychothrapy, factors that facilitate change, and insight into the minds of change agents. I sgrongly recommend this book and Haley's other writings for people interested in careers in helping people. Haley is not like many writers in this field, and has a facinating point of view for the reasons people behave the way they do and how they can best be helped to redefine their own futures. Not for the timid or squeamish, and try not to be put off by Haley's pseudo-sarcasm; his intent is honorable -- to challenge the thinking of the learning "helping professional."

Haley's collection of Essays is difficult to evaluate because the material is so varied. Let's go right to the meat - his essay on the "Power Tactics of Jesus Christ" for which the entire book is named (though it is a mere 36 of 160 pages). This is a provocative and insightful essay which should be read by any student of Jesus, regardless of their degree of scholarship. It clearly rates a "5" and makes one wish that Haley had spent more time expanding this essay than adding the others. Readers of this essay will make the mistake that Haley is offering a "psychological" or "psychoanalytic" interpretation of Jesus' behavior. Nothing could be further from the truth. Haley's essay focuses on what he calls "power tactics" and his treatise is about Jesus "as an organizer and a leader of men." He then proceeds to describe how Jesus attained prominence and "power" (which Haley defines as the ability to influence your destiny), and he offers paralells to other mass movements (e.g., Lenin, Hitler, Martin Luther King). Haley's point of view is unique, and he provides many illustrations which speak to the validity of his approach. There are two weaknesses in Haley's work. First, he takes the Gospels as if they were historical biographies, and many of his illustrations are based on passages that almost every scholar recognizes to be later additions (e.g., Matthew 10:16 - "Behold, I send you forth as sheep..."; Matthew 16:17 "...thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church..."). Because these passages do not reflect the historical Jesus, Haley's illustrations and conclusions tell us more about the Gospel writers than they do about Jesus. Second, Haley's work is merely descriptive, with no attempt to develop a theoretical structure with which to view the behaviors he identifies. A more valuable essay would have offered the behaviors and then related them to personality dynamics (e.g., Jesus acted in this manner due to his early childhood experiences having been born a mamzer in a strict Essene environment...). Having said this, the essay demands to be read. What about the rest of the book? Forget it! Haley ranges from boring to absurd. His claim that psychiatric patients are systematically beaten makes one wonder if he is merely being cute or whether he really believes this, in which case we have to wonder why Haley's name was not more prominent in the reform movement. Read the Jesus essay. Ignore the rest. Send Haley a letter or an e-mail and ask him to expand on this essay.

This deceivingly small book is very profound, and impacts professionals and Scholars alike, leaving the Psychoanalysis student to a precarious decision: Should I act on What I Just Read? Certainly Top Honors go to Power Tactics, since this book is a compilation of loosly associated Essays, with a distinct Psychoanalitic Focus, and depicts the life of Christ, from Charirside, and analyses "historical" data as well as Bible quotations, that when interpreted from a Psychoanalytic point of view, the author, makes interesting observations and explanations while exploring Christ's behaviour and responses, which effectively takes him, (Or Mr. Haley would have us believe)through the self-imposed role of Trial and later Immolation. Deductions are similar to those of the Bible, but the "Motivation" as I understood from the author is a Formula for Revolution. The last essay in this book, Entitled "The Art Of Being a Schizophrenic" is particularly interesting reading, and gives an insight into a Chronic, Mental Illness that can have such an impact on the family, Community, and Society at large. A difficult book made easy, thanks to the elocuence of Dr. Haley. and I believe any College student or Mental Health Professional will benefit from his insights. Have read it several times, and would like to acquire an original Harcover, if it was ever published.

This excellent little book, is composed of several chapters, most appear to only have a superficial relationship with the topic, only to realize at the end, the possible implications of following behaviour as Christ did two millenia ago. This is interpreted by the author, pointing correlations with the esscence of Freudian Psychoanalisis, the author skillfully interpreting Christ's behaviour before crucifixion, in a Psychoanalytic interpretation, and the intentional maneuvers that gave Christ an advantage over his Roman captors. This in turn, reveals amazing insights for Contemporary Judeo-Christian philosophy, and meshes seamlessly with the topics, offering Psychoanalytic theoretical relations, and the impact such behaviour would have in current society, as described in the last Chapter: "The Art of Being Schizophrenic". Each chapter is an excellent small story that stands on its own merit. However, to appreciate this thought provoking book, it is necessary to have an open mind as well as the ability to discern nuances otherwise lost in obscure religious rhetoric.

The title essay, "The Power Tactics of Jesus Christ," is the most obviously shocking work in this collection. Haley proposes one of the most original interpretations of the Bible I've seen: a psychological analysis of Jesus' actions, assuming only that he was a man trying to build a mass movement to topple a power structure. He discusses the "surrender tactic" of turning the other cheek, which is actually a subtle way of forcing one's enemy to capitulate (although he notes that although Jesus instructed his disciples on the value of this tactic, he never used it himself.) I won't spoil the other revelations; suffice to say that Haley grounds all of his conclusions on the literal text of the Bible. His writing is lucid and full of wry humor. Other essays include "The Art of Being a Schizophrenic" and "The Art of Being a Failure as a Therapist". He takes potshots at the new paradigm of drugging mentally patients until "their eyeballs float and they are unsure of what is up and what is down," and he gently mocks the pompousness of the erstwhile psychoanalytic community. During their meetings: "Attempting to outdo one another in explanations of the bizarre insides of patients, each speaker is constantly interrupted by shouts from the back of the hall such as, 'Not at all! You're confusing an id impulse with a weak ego boundary!' or 'Heaven help your patients if you call THAT cathexis!' Even the most alert analyst soon develops an oceanic feeling as he gets lost in flurries of energy theories, libidinal drives, instinctual forces, and super ego barriers." Haley has an incisive mind, is not afraid to poke fun at himself, and this book reveals him as one of those "kindly, benign humanists" of analysts that he admires so much.