What Jesus Meant

"The only Jesus we have is the Jesus of faith." Without faith, there is no reason to trust anything the Gospels say, but with faith, we trust the Gospel in all that is meant. Gary Wills, in his thought-provoking "What Jesus Meant," attempts to spell out what Jesus meant by reviewing the Gospel life of Jesus at all its various levels of symbolization. Fundamentalists who view the Gospels literally may find Will's book disturbing. Wills is clear that this is not a scholarly work but a devotional work following St. Anselm's "faith out on a quest to know." The book is organized in chronological order of Jesus' life - The Hidden Years, The Work Begins, The Radical Jesus, Against Religion, Heaven's Reign, Descent into Hell, The Death of God, and the Life of God. Will's interpretation of what the Gospels tell us about Jesus and what Jesus meant is supported by scripture and the insights of others (St. Augustine, G.K. Chesterton, and more). Some notable highlights include; * "Christ was certainly not a Christian." * Jesus of the gospels is scandalous. * Jesus was an extremist. Love is the test. Love is everything. It is radical love, exigent, searing, terrifying. It is an awesome test of love that Jesus brings to bear on our lives. The church's later treatment of the gospels is one long effort to rescue Jesus from His extremism. * The most striking, resented, and dangerous of Jesus' activities was his opposition to religion as that was understood in his time. This is what led to his death. He called authentic only the religion of the heart, the inner purity and union with the father that he achieved and was able to share with his followers. * Jesus was sent to express, vindicate, and extend the Father's love. * Jesus entered into the full tragedy of humanity, its bewildered helplessness, its shame, its sense of inadequacy and despair. * Jesus does not come to do a human favor, but to declare His authority over life and death. * Heaven's reign is Himself, the avenue of access to the Father. He partly opened up that access on earth, but the process will be complete only in the Father's bosom when history ends. I found "What Christ Meant" to be an excellent book, opening up my thinking about what Jesus meant as it relates to Christianity today. We have much to learn from finding our way back to what Jesus really meant.

Who and what was Jesus? What did he teach? What were his intentions? There are nearly as many answers to these questions as there are people answering them and the reviews here reflect that diversity. I have been a passionate reader of the New Testament since high school and have reflected on the life of Jesus and debated its meaning both with myself and my friends since junior high. Raised Southern Baptist, I was taught to read the New Testament for myself and not merely at the direction of others and even my time in divinity school (the nondenominational Yale Divinity School) made me trust others more than myself. I was delighted in reading this book to find very much the Jesus that I also encountered in reading the New Testament. Like Wills, I have been horrified at the domestication and puritanizing of Jesus by organized religion. I was delighted in reading this book to find ably described the Jesus of faith that I also had found. Of course, that a Baptist and a Catholic can find the same Jesus can possibly only occur of the Catholic isn't a very compliant one, and many of the reviews here express the dismay some readers have felt in reading so many views in opposition to the Roman Catholic tradition. I have no problem with this because it has always been obvious to me that Jesus detested religious ritual and ceremony, established no priesthood or hierarchical clergy, and certainly never established anything like the papacy. I was fascinated, however, to find Wills holding positions similar to my own on a host of issues. He apparently has as low an opinion of the papacy I do (I hail from Little Rock, Arkansas, home of one of the two cardinals opposed to the dogma of papal infallibility in the late 19th century). I have not read Wills's book on why he is a Catholic. I am curious to do so. I would very much like to know why he remains a Catholic when his views concerning Christ and his teachings seem so thoroughly in line with Protestantism. The Jesus that Wills sees is not a very proper Jesus. He would probably be expelled from Bob Jones University because he spent all his time with unsavory individuals. As Wills indicates, today he would probably avoid protestant ministers, Catholic bishops, and especially televangelists like Pat Robertson. Instead, if he were to appear suddenly in America he would probably be found surrounded by the destitute and poor, gays and drug users, people on welfare, immigrants, the mentally ill, the homeless, and Muslims. These were his people. He constantly expressed his dislike of the wealthy, the self-righteous, the morally judgmental, the deeply religious, and those who divided society into desirable and undesirable elements. I think Wills reading of Jesus' wonderful inclusiveness is wonderfully true to the New Testament. Jesus was obsessed with those who had suffered the most at the hands of proper society and I think it is this aspect of his life that makes so many people read THE GRAP

I very much enjoyed this book. It's a quick but thought-provoking read, and I plan to re-read it in the near future. In part because of his expertise in Koine, the original language of the New Testament, Wills is able to breathe life and provide insight into many well-known Biblical passages. The viewpoint is from that of a devout believer. As I was reading Wills's book, I was also reading "Mere Christianity", by C.S. Lewis, and I was struck by the similarity in outlook of the two authors. Although I recognize that some of the passages critical of church hierarchy in general and Pope Benedict XVI in particular will ruffle some feathers, Wills did not seem to stray from Scripture or interject modern political sensibilities into the Christian message. In fact, the hypocrisy of attempting to use Jesus' message for worldly purposes is one of the book's major themes. "What Jesus Meant" would be a good companion volume for anyone who is working through the New Testament.

Wills discusses how both liberals and conservatives have tried to misappropriate what Jesus said to advance their causes. To me it is interesting that, as the role of religion has declined (more in Europe but--to some extent here in the U.S. as well), opportunists have moved in to take advantage of the vacuum to impose their own agendas. Wills points out the essential and radical elements of Jesus' message: "Here it is. Period. Deal with it." Clarifying and sobering. His book is a serious challenge to postmodernists who comfortably and arrogantly assert that Christ's message is whatever we "feel" or "wish" it to be....shading and editing so that it comports with our own biases and defenses.

Garry Wills is a historian specializing in the first 100 years of America (see "Lincoln At Gettysburg"-1992 and "Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence"-1994 among his other works). He is also a practicing Catholic who has written about "Saint Augustine" (1999) and "The Rosary" (2005) and other works about Christianity. His newest endeavor, "What Jesus Meant" explores what it means to be a follower of Jesus. This slender volume can be read at one sitting but will cause the reader to ponder the author's title. Many Christians forget that Jesus hung out with society's outcasts of his day, had few possessions, was apolitical, and yet his radical message of love and redemption, healing the sick/raising the dead and challenging the religious structure of his day contributed to his crucifixation. Image Jesus among us today: eating with prostitutes, AIDS victims and drug abusers: claiming no party affiliation; condeming the wealthy; and challenging the rigidity of the institutional Church while calling the reader to give up all your possessions to follow Him. Mr. Wills writes as a believer to explain the faith while accepting the historical Jesus. For the reader who desires to move beyond Mr. Wills' brief introduction to Jesus, please read any of the works by either John Meier (especially his three volumes entitled "A Marginal Jew"), Ray Brown ("The Death of the Messiah") or Gunther Bornkamm ("Jesus of Nazareth").