Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels

by Michael Grant

Book Overview

The author looks at the gospels with an historian's eye, in search of the authentic Jesus. He seeks to separate those portions of the gospels that refer to the true career and teachings of Jesus, from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684148897
• ISBN13: 9780684148892
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 261 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent but Neglected

This is an excellent work by the great classical scholar Michael Grant, a champion of Western Civilization. Writing with a deep knowledge of the ancient world in which Jesus of Nazareth lived, Grant offers a convincing naturalistic portrait of him. The greatest strength of Grant's book is its status as a serious and lengthy biography of Jesus written from the standpoint of an historian. Almost every other available biography of Jesus is written by a Christian theologian of some sort or another. Even liberal, skeptical, naturalistically-minded theologians or other Christian scholars harbor deep emotional bonds to Jesus, such that they occasionally describe him as "the Lord," or allow him at least an occasional miracle, or idealize him to perfection or near-perfection. Grant steers clear of this. Moreover, unlike many liberal Jesus scholars in more recent decades, Grant does not dubiously resort to the newly discovered Gospel of Thomas, or to other Gnostic gospels, as sources for his portrait of Jesus. Nor does Grant, when examining the resurrection story, deny the probability of an empty tomb, as most liberal Jesus scholars today do. Instead, he accepts the strong tradition that the tomb of Jesus was found empty on the third day. But he concludes very reasonably that someone or other "had taken the body" (p. 176). One of the best parts of Grant's book, in my view, is a chapter titled "What Were the Miracles?" Other readers, I notice, have also found that chapter especially compelling. In it, Grant systematically analyzes the miracle stories of the gospels. He gives many persuasive naturalistic explanations for the events in question, for example, cases in which the suggestive power of Jesus, working in tandem with the superstitious beliefs of the common people, cured them of "hysterical and obsessive ailments, paralysis," etc. In other words, hypochondria and psychosomatic afflictions were the root causes of such problems. I might add that some or most such "healings" may well have been only partial or temporary; we have no follow-up medical reports. Likewise, Grant writes that "the 'lepers' were not necessarily lepers at all," but were probably people afflicted with "less serious diseases of the skin." As for the few "resurrections" of the dead that Jesus is supposed to have performed, Grant suggests they were coma-resuscitations if anything real at all. One simply must realize that premature announcements of death were quite common in antiquity, before modern hi-tech equipment permitted the monitoring of the vital signs of sick people. Grant also wisely concludes that these "miraculous" acts of Jesus were relatively few in number, later multiplied by rumor and hero-worship to the dozens related in the gospels. As for the several non-healing, "nature" miracles (Jesus walking on water, turning water into wine, etc.), Grant lays bare their symbolic and fictional character. (See also Randel Helms's book Gospel Fictions on the borr

Excellent but Neglected

This is an excellent work by the great classical scholar Michael Grant, a champion of Western Civilization. Writing with a deep knowledge of the ancient world in which Jesus of Nazareth lived, Grant offers a convincing naturalistic portrait of Jesus. The greatest strength of Grant's book is its status as a serious and lengthy biography of Jesus written from the standpoint of an historian. Almost every other available biography of Jesus is written by a Christian theologian of some sort or another. Even liberal, skeptical, naturalistically-minded theologians or other Christian scholars harbor deep emotional bonds to Jesus, such that they occasionally describe him as "the Lord," or grant him at least an occasional miracle, or idealize him to perfection or near-perfection. Grant steers clear of this. Moreover, Grant, unlike many liberal Jesus scholars in more recent decades, does not dubiously resort to the newly discovered Gospel of Thomas, or to other Gnostic gospels, as sources for his portrait of Jesus. Nor does Grant, when examining the resurrection story, deny the probability of an empty tomb, as most liberal Jesus scholars do. Instead he accepts the strong tradition that the tomb of Jesus was found empty on the third day, concluding very reasonably that someone or other "had taken the body" (p. 176). One of the best parts of Grant's book, in my view, is a chapter titled "What Were the Miracles?" Other readers, I notice, have also found that chapter compelling. In it, Grant systematically analyzes the miracle stories of the gospels. He gives many persuasive naturalistic explanations for the events in question, e.g., cases in which the suggestive power of Jesus, working in tandem with the superstitious beliefs of the common people, cured them of "hysterical and obsessive ailments, paralysis," etc. In other words, hypochondria and psychosomatic afflictions were the root causes of such problems. I might add that some or most such "healings" may well have been only partial or temporary; we have no follow-up medical reports. Likewise, Grant writes that "the 'lepers' were not necessarily lepers at all," but were probably people afflicted with "less serious diseases of the skin." As for the various "resurrections" of others that Jesus is supposed to have performed, Grant suggests they were coma-resuscitations if anything real at all. One simply must realize that premature announcements of death were quite common in antiquity, before modern hi-tech equipment permitted the monitoring of the vital signs of sick people. Grant also wisely concludes that these "miraculous" acts of Jesus were relatively few in number, later multiplied by rumor and hero-worship to the dozens related in the gospels. As for the several non-healing, "nature" miracles (Jesus walking on water, turning water into wine, etc.), Grant lays bare their symbolic and fictional character. (See also Randel Helms's Gospel Fictions on the borrowing of Old Testament passages

Great reconstruction of an historical Jesus

This has got to be one of the best books I have read on the subject of the historical Jesus. Grant stays mostly impartial throughout the book, although he does continuously put things in light of his own view of Jesus, who he believes was an apocalyptic preacher. Frankly, after reading this book, I'm quite surprised more scholars DON'T proffer this view. As to an earlier reviewer's claim of misinformation, the fact is that the most recent Bible scholarship agrees with Grant on most of those issues. I sincerely wish that Grant will update his text in the next edition to include more recent scholarly work. What I most liked about this book was the lack of pushing a political or religious agenda. Many many books about the "historical" Jesus start with a claim and then try to find the evidence to back it up. Grant seems to do what all good historians should: look at all the evidence and derive a conclusion from it. Of course, from a strictly historical point of view, things must be interpreted through a naturalist world view, and this is what will most likely offend most traditional Christians who take the supernatural aspects of the Gospels as literal events inside history. Overall, this is a very interesting read if you would like to learn more about the history behind the Gospels.

Apocalypse Now

The great mystery of history is how the life and teachings of an obscure Jewish Rabbi inspired a world religion. Speaking as an historian, Michael Grant examines the life of Jesus, eschewing the spiritual, and puts forth the plausible opinion that Jesus's Ministry was based on the belief that the Kingdom of God --the end of the world as we know it -- was at hand. The Jews, or at least the elect of the Jews, would be liberated from oppression, the oppressive Gentiles would be punished, and God would rule. Jesus, he speculates, went knowingly to his death to further the imminent apocalypse. Grant's views help explain Jesus's indifference toward worldly things. Why worry about possessions, religious laws, and rendering taxes unto Caesar when the end is near? This leads the author also to maintain that Jesus's Ministry was based on a mistake -- the end didn't come, and hasn't yet come -- and that he was "a total failure turned into enormous triumph" after his death. As a person, Jesus comes across as somewhat abrupt and intolerant, especially with his intellectually-challenged disciples. These are pretty strong and controversial views but Grant maintains his historical detachment throughout. One can never be sure whether he is a believer or not. I thought the book would have been better had it included more background on the four gospels -- Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John -- which are almost the only sources Grant used to interpret the life of Jesus (he finally gets around to doing so briefly near the end of the book.) He perhaps presumes more familiarity with the Bible than some of us, including this reader, may have. But all in all this is a most interesting book and the interpretation of Jesus is very convincing. Smallchief

The New Testament as an historical document

Grant has managed to treat the life of Jesus as one would treat any historical figure. He has sidestepped centuries of interpretation and misinterpretation, and presents a portrait of Jesus based on the actual historical evidence. It is not the Jesus we are used to, and Grant's own interpretations challenge many common assumptions