Who is Jesus?: Answers to Your Questions about the Historical Jesus

COMMENTARY: Dominic Crossan is an emeritus professor of biblical studies; in 1985 he helped found the Jesus Seminar group. Born in Ireland, he entered the Servite Order in the Roman Catholic Church in 1950 at the age of 16, then, in 1957, he was ordained a priest, but left the Order and the priesthood in 1969 to marry and to avoid conflicts of interest between institutional loyalties and scholarly honesty. This book was written to present important ideas developed more fully in "Jesus: a Revolutionary Biography", which was itself a briefer version of "The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant." Thus, to make a précis of material that has already been condensed and simplified by the author may serve only to whet curiosity, illustrating some of the ideas deserving of further reading. Each chapter begins with selections from letters written to the author by readers with a wide variety of responses to his writings. Also each of the nine chapters is written to answer a key question (given in caps below). CHAPTER 1: The first chapter addresses 'WHY NOT JUST READ THE GOSPELS?' The assumption inherent in this question (that reading the Gospels is sufficient to understand who Jesus was and what Jesus did) is shown to run into difficulties: first, the four NT Gospels don't agree with one another on many details; second, there were a number of other Gospels written about Jesus that were used as references by the writers of the NT Gospels or appeared independently and circulated in the early churches along with the four. Examples of the former type are: the Q Gospel, a reference text that both Matthew and Luke refer to, and The Gospel of Thomas, a sayings of Jesus collection found in Egypt in 1945. Modern biblical scholars use cultural, historical and textual analyses in attempting to reconstruct a consistent picture of the historical Jesus. The very fact that so many Gospels and versions of Gospels were in circulation in early Christian communities suggests that a given version best met the needs and notions of a particular group; thus implying that each version was produced more to fit the author's purposes than to represent a scientifically factual or exhaustively verified historical record. CHAPTER 2: Responds to the question: 'SON OF GOD; SON OF THE VIRGIN MARY?' The birth stories are considered to offer little light on the real person, Jesus, who walked the dusty roads of Galilee. Their value is other than literal historical fact (Mark. for instance skips over them and begins his Gospel at the time Jesus meets John the Baptist.) Crossan likens them to overtures to a musical, giving hints of the significance of what is to follow. The birth stories given by Luke and Matthew are radically different but represent each author's similar idea of Jesus' significance. Luke's version links John's birth to that of great heroes of Israel's past, but presents Jesus' birth as the even greater promise for the future. Matthew tells Je

Based on your faith tradition, many of you feel like you know the answer to the question posed by the authors of this short but fascinating book. For those who are seeking answers, or seeking to expand their knowledge of the history behind their faith, this book should be very helpful. Crossan is one of the founders of the Jesus Seminar movement--a group of religious historians who have worked for years to understand the historical underpinnings of the Christian scriptures, otherwise known as the New Testament. He began his religious life by serving 20 years as a Roman Catholic monk. A condensation of Crossan's more exhaustive and scholarly works, the book is formatted in easy to digest chapters, each divided into sections--the first being excerpts from letters to Crossan about his previous works, and the section being Crossan's answers to a series of short questions suggested by the letters. Crossan's conclusion is that most of the New Testament lacks the historical confirmation to be taken as "literal truth". Considered as "symbolic truth", the New Testament stories about the birth, life, teachings and death of Jesus offer as powerful message today as they did to the people of Jesus's time. Crossan summarizes with two phrases--"common eating" (a place for everyone at the table) and "free healing" (care for all the sick, no matter their "social station"). This is how Jesus portrayed the "Kingdom of God" (rather than the kingdom of Caesar) on earth. These ideas were revolutionary and even seditious in the very structured world of the 1st century in the Roman-ruled land that is now Israel. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in religious matters. I'm sure it's more palatable for non-Christians like myself, or others without a strong commitment to a particular Christian dogma, but many of the letters in the book were from "committed Christians" who felt the book deepened their understanding of their faith, so I think anyone could get something out of it.

This is a question-and-answer format about what we can really know about Jesus from the historical perspective. Warning: if you aren't ready to have your faith shaken up, and are a hard and fast believer in the church, don't read this. If you are interested in exploring what the first century was really like and your idea of Jesus and Christianity doesn't fit with what your church is telling you, this book may provide an eye-opening, soul-searching experience for you. Those of you who are ready to search behind the stories of the Bible, give this book a try. It opens up a whole different way of thinking.

After reading reviews of several of Crossan's books, I decided to start with this one, since I wasn't sure of my ability to plow through a complicated, highly scholarly text. Now that I've read it, I want to read more. At several points in my reading of this book (which I had trouble putting down) I found myself saying "Yes, I agree" or "I don't like that he says that." He explains his personal beliefs and the cultural, literary, and historical evidence that led him to those beliefs in a way that does not offend me, even when I disagree.My spouse is reading it now, and I look forward to lively discussions. The book is full of food for thought.