Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity

by Paula Fredriksen

Book Overview

In her new book, the acclaimed historian of Christianity gives us a portrait of Jesus that departs radically from the traditional. Paula Fredriksendraws on the narratives of all four evangelists, both... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679446753
• ISBN13: 9780679446750
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.7" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Allow One A Brief Rave

The book is so extraordinary as to be almost unique among the Quest for the Historical Jesus literature. Whatever one may think of its conclusions, it is powerfully written and exquisitely argued. But its strongest accomplishment for me was that it recreates the Jewish milieu of the First Century with cinematic power. The grandeur of Herod's enlarged Temple, the multitudes in Jerusalem for the various feasts, the impact of ritual and sacrifice upon the life of Jews not only in Palestine but throughout the Roman Empire -- all of this is beautifully described. Of course Jesus is placed within it, and our sense of him as part of this complex Jewish world is greatly increased and deepened. The bibliography is rich. The ideas are challenging. I don't personally agreed with the conclusions at the end, but I keep the book nearby, checking it on any number of questions as to purity laws, customs, etc. I actually check other biblical scholars against it. I hope Fredriksen gives us more books. Her gifts are great. Is this still brief? Ah, well, it's a rave. I was true on that score. Anne Rice, New Orleans, La.

An Historical Jesus Born of Common Sense

The words that come to mind having absorbed the arguments of Paula Fredriksen in "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" are "common sense". In her book she has not fallen prey (like so many in historical Jesus studies) to the predatory gaze of "method" neither has she been overly waylaid along the way by a need to pander to various "audiences" either contemporary or ancient. She has done history - Jewish history - and, in my opinion, done it well. Her Jesus is "a prophet who preached the coming apocalyptic Kingdom of God." She follows this tack not least because it enables Jesus to cohere with his immediate mentor, John the Baptist, and the movement that "sprang up in his name" - the first Christians. Fredriksen believes that in many ways what Jesus preached was revolutionary only in the sense that he talked about God's kingdom NOW rather than SOON - it was a matter of TIMETABLE and not CONTENT. Thus, Fredriksen contributes another Jesus to the current round of thoroughly Jewish Jesuses.A key and noteworthy aspect of Fredriksen's work is the insight that the itinerary of John, as against the Synoptic Gospels, may be closer to the truth. That is, Jesus was known in Judea and Galilee rather than just Galilee. This allows her to say that Jesus, being known in and around Jerusalem, could be seen as a one man threat in a sense, rather than the leader of a revolutionary movement or army. Thus, when the time came to do away with Jesus his followers were left alone since they were never perceived as the threat Jesus was. This threat was due to Jesus ability to galvanise the crowds with his imminent eschatological message, a message which at his final Passover may well have been tinged with a crowd more and more convinced of his possible messianic credentials. Thus Jesus was executed by Pilate as a political insurrectionist.So what other examples of scholarly common sense might we find in this book? Well, the insight that searching for the historical Jesus now requires knowledge of the historical Galilee and historical Judaism. Further, the suggestion that Jesus is not the all-seeing, all-knowing individual some scholars (and many readers) assume him to be. Why can't Pilate's action against Jesus have caught him by surprise, for example? Further, but by no means finally, that Jesus' messianic identity might well be in some way concretised in the consciousness of those following Jesus before the crucifixion and, indeed, act as a fatal impetus towards it.So here we have a book of eminent common sense which attempts what was seemingly becoming thought impossible - a reasoned and reasonable view of the historical Jesus which attempts to make sense of our historical evidence without fuss, bluster or fanfares of publicity. I judge that Fredriksen has done as good a job as we can expect against the current background of research - and in a way that is both readable and enjoyable. As a current postgraduate student specialising in the historical Jesus,I recommend t

A new look at the historic Jesus

Biblical scholarship, both Old and New Testaments, fascinates me. It is with a great deal of pleassure, then, that I read works devoted to this subject, particularly if they are understandable to a layman such as myself. This newest work is a perfect example of the best type of writing in this field: it breaks new ground for me, and I understand it because the writing isn't geared only for the "inner circle" of scholars in the field. The author delves deeply but clearly into the times and the sources, and supports her hypothesis quite strongly. I know that there are probably many people who disagree with what she states, but she has her ground and she stands it well. I take no sides in the ongoing controversy; I just enjoy reading all sides to the arguments, and this work is an excellent addition to the literature on the subject of the historic Jesus. Whether or not the author is correct in her position we will never know, because of the 2000 year time difference from the life to the writing, but we can speculate, and the author does her speculating well. This is a book well worth reading; you don't have to agree with its conclusions to admire the scholarship that went into composing it.

A seminal work of scholarship.

As far as I'm concerned Paula Fredricksen provides a fresh and convincing thesis in this work en route to capturing the historical Jesus.To say that I was impressed with her even-handed academic approach would be a gross understatement. With the care and meticulousness of an anthropologist at dig site, Fredricksen excavates for the historical Jesus working from a premise that denies the all too obliged notions of the "apocalyptic messiah" or Gallelian sage. It is with this approach that she acquires the foundation for a clear and bias-free perspective( or at least as bias-free as it it possible to get). She treats the historic record with the exacting precision and care of a surgeon, and arrives at the historical Jesus not through the prizm of the narratives (the Gospels) or through that of his proverbs, but through the seemingly inexplicable occasion of his death.Frederiksen is perhaps most to be complimented on her evaluation of the variations of Jesus depicted between the Gospels; not using these inconguencies to dismiss them, but offering them as items to be used to juxtapose against other documents that reflect the 1st century Jesus (the dead sea scroll for example). This is an impressive technique, which has the result of more accurately capturing the historical Jesus.Above all of this, the book is very cogent and not a difficult read. This is perhaps its best quality.

Sabotaged by Reviewers

Regardless of what one thinks of Fredriksen's hypotheses, this is serious scholarship and should not be belittled by an intemperate Jehovah screed or fatuous pedantry over the usage of "enormity".It seems to me that the questions of whether Jesus's message is apocolyptical or ethical, and whether or not the resurrection was contrived to explain away an unexpected crucifixion, boil down to the perennial debate about whether Cristianity should be represented by a cross or a crucifix. Frankly, I rather prefer to think of the Jesus who, being a prophet of the people chosen by God to deliver His message, preached that if we don't love, keeping all the other commandments won't get us to heaven.Now, I don't think this agrees with Mrs. Fredriksen's thesis, but it doesn't diminish my regard for this well reasoned, well researched and well written book.