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

by Richard G. Watts and John Dominic Crossan

Book Overview

This fascinating book makes the results of a lifetime of scholarship readily available to nonspecialists who want to meet the historical Jesus. Eminent biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0664258425
• ISBN13: 9780664258429
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Precis of "Who Is 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

Intro to Crossan

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.

Thought provoking book

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.