The Life of Jesus

by Ernest Renan

Book Overview

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879757043
• ISBN13: 9780879757045
• Release Date: December 1991
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 237 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Jesus: an extraordinary man!

Renan was thrown out of the "Collège de France" for having written that Jesus was an extraordinary man. He is THE, or at least one of the most important founders of the secular interpretation of Jesus, amazingly derived essentially from John's Gospel rather than from the Synoptics. His book is an important landmark to have, if not on our bookshelves, at least in our memories. For the happy few, it's easier as always to read in the original French rather than the translated version. Writing styles have also considerably changed since the romantic literature era. And many ideas and discoveries have been made since Renan's mid-nineteenth century days and he would have loved all the material disclosed a hundred years later by the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi library as well as all the archaeology related in the "Bible Unearthed". The book may seem a bit outdated today, but what insight and intellectual courage! Aware of many unresolved problems, Renan prophesized that the correct interpretation of the bible would come from a layman using a critical approach and is devoid of any desire to destroy the dogma or to protect it. If we follow his recommendations, we have to look for someone who wants to discover the real meaning (I'm sure that the Jesus of the Gospels is just as alien to Church readings as to scholarly revisions) of these ancient texts and who is neither a Christian apologist nor an already convinced atheist. Who will square the circle?

ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL 19TH CENTURY "LIVES OF JESUS"

Ernest Renan (1823-1892) was a French philosopher and writer, who was best known for this 1863 book. The book presents a very (some would say "excessively") "emotional" telling of the life of Jesus (remember that it was written at the height of the "Romantic" era in literature), and it became a best-seller in France. The book was intended as the first book of a history of the origin of Christianity, of which this volume "treats of the particular fact which has served as the starting-point of the new religion, and is entirely filled by the sublime person of the Founder." As an example of the "emotional" character of his writing, here is a scene from the crucifixion: "The sky was dark, and the earth, as in all the environs of Jerusalem, dry and gloomy. For a moment, according to certain narratives, his heart failed him; a cloud hid from him the face of his Father; he endured an agony of despair a thousand times more acute than all his torture." Here are some other representative quotations from the book: "That the Gospels are in part legendary, is evident, since they are full of miracles and of the supernatural; but legends have not all the same value." "I beg those who think that I have placed an exaggerated confidence in narratives in great part legendary ... To what would the life of Alexander be reduced if it were confined to that which is materially certain?" "We do not say, 'Miracles are impossible.' We say, 'Up to this time a miracle has never been proved.'" "Jesus despised all religion which was not of the heart ... We should seek in vain in the Gospel for one religious rite recommended by Jesus." Although stylistically much different from how we would write today, this influential book remains a crucial book for students of the historical Jesus, biblical criticism, and the early Christian church.

Hold on there a minute...

This is one of the very first attempts at a real Jesus, one who speaks to us through himself, and not through one of the many churches who shout his name...thereby drowning all thought. It's superbly written by a leading Hebrew scholar of his day. I gave it five stars for two reasons. One. To try to reflect its worth more accurately than the above review. Two. It bloody deserves it.