Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Account of Jesus Life and Times
Review: Desire by Thomas Cahill is an excellent account of Jesus life and times. Cahill gives background information regarding contemporary Jewish/Greek/Roman society and then addresses Jesus as presented in the 4 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Cahill also touches on John the Visionary's Book of Revelation and Jesus effect on us in the modern age. Cahill presents Jesus as one who primarily taught love, compassion, good works for the poor and downtrodden, and explains why all of this results in his execution. A very good book for believers and non-believers.
Rating: 
Summary: Why Mr, Cahill, I declare.
Review: First, we meet in Connemara with how your Irish did what they did. Next we rendezvous in Palestine, with the everlasting hills. There's talk, Mr. Cahill. The neighbors are talking. I'm delighted with the scandal, actually, and scandalous it is. Some folks I know, dear and precious folks, would have you stuck on a spit and roasted till dry for parts of "Desire of the Everlasting Hills." And because I enjoyed the book immensely, I'd be roasting right next to you. Don't get me wrong: some of your book had me up in everlastin' arms, but not enough to prevent them slapping on the basting sauce. The above was personal, Mr. Cahill only. Here's my review. If, like me, you laughed when you read the cover flap, that "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" is meant by the author as an act of reconciliation between Judaism and Christianity, and like me, you thought, "two chances of that, Tommy boy, fat and slim"... but you were curious just how he was going to do it...I'm telling you, read it. You may wind up rotating over open flames, or maybe you'll be the one with the basting brush. Either way, it's a great read. Like any teacher worth his salt, Cahill begins with a foundation of information upon which he builds his framework. This foundation of Jewish history and world culture is not only fascinating, but absolutely necessary. In his wonderfully gifted way, Cahill as teacher builds "line upon line, precept upon precept", giving the reader the feeling that he is saying, "Hang with me, I'm going somewhere with this." The reader who hangs with him is taken places sometimes difficult to go. What Cahill says about the Gospel of John alone is enough to have some folks toss more wood on the fire. (I was reaching for the wood even while I was roasting.) Because next the confounding man, in that luxuriant prose of his, will lead the reader to places of truth so dead-on that after railing him in one breath, you're cheering him in the next. I can't figure the man out, but I adore him. He's some kind of champion for God. He faces, unafraid, subjects many scholars skirt (like the miracles of Jesus), and he has the unmitigated chutzpah to go places many will not. (Hence the need for the barbeque sauce.) This book is a vehicle. A vessel. Whether it's a vessel of "noble use or common", I suppose that's up to the reader. Or God. I found within this vessel some mighty good stuff. He has me looking at my Jewish neighbor with different eyes, like maybe we're related or something. At the least, this book gave me things to think on. And if that's what reconciliation means...why Mr. Cahill, I do declare.
Rating:
Summary: Profound
Review: This is the answer to all those questions most people had as they questioned the Christian messasge as presented by the established church. I hope it is read by everyone who has ever had an interest in the evolution of religion as we know it and tried to pierce the fog and find the Christian message. I am going to order several copies for my friends.
Rating:
Summary: Jesus is MINE!
Review: I enjoyed reading Desire of the Everlasting Hills, and all of this series of Cahill's books. Cahill does not hide the fact that he is giving the reader his view of history. Many historians present their view of history as fact rather than interpretation. They take themselves too seriously. Cahill writes for the contemporary reader and seems to worry not at all if his works will have a place in literary history or the classroom. I suspect he has as much fun writing as most of his readers have reading these snapshots of history. I find the books as informative as they are entertaining and I don't feel obligated to defend the scholarship or perspectives of the author. I am amused with the reviews of his Jesus book. His earlier books drew almost no criticism from readers. Most knew little of the topics covered. Because so many believe THEY know Jesus, amateur reviewers armed with the certainty that Cahill doesn't understand Christ or the New Testament often criticize this last book. JESUS IS MINE, say these critics, how dare you hold him differently! There is enough Jesus for all of us. We should be Christian enough to share, and enjoy our differences.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Historacle Prelude to Christ
Review: The strength of this book lies in the historacle lead up to the birth of Christ. Not being well versed in that time period, I appreciated the portrait Cahill draws of the changes in empires and the tugs of secularism on the Jews. He did well in putting the birth of Christ in a historacle context. However, after the event of Christ's birth, Cahill devolves into his own interpretation of the gospels and interjects his own liberal understanding of the trinity, the divinity of Christ and the apocalypse, among others. What began as an interesting historacle portrait quickly became a detailed study in the language and wording of the gospels. These studies are justifiably important, but Cahill is ill equipted for this type of biblical interpretation. His historacle study in interesting and informative, but his book changes halfway through and Cahill departs from his strengths and employs questionable interpretations to material that speaks to the core of Christian beliefs. There are other books that the reader can reference for a better understanding of the subject matter that Cahill tries to tackle.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Series
Review: After having read "How the Irish Saved Civilization" and "Gifts of the Jews", I eagerly grabbed "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" as soon as I saw it. I wasn't disappointed. It's the best of the three. What Cahill does better than anybody I've read before is to put the ancient characters he's writing about into a historical context that makes sense to the modern reader. After reading this book, I felt I knew such famous historical personages as Paul, Luke, and Alexander the Great. Although Jesus himself will never be truly knowable, this book certainly asks the right questions for the reader to decide for himself. I've never seen the New Testament presented in such a relevant manner to the modern age. Truly fascinating, thought-provoking stuff from Cahill. I can't wait for the next 4 volumes.
Rating:
Summary: Great History; Weak in Theological Points
Review: "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" is the third of Thomas Cahill's "Hinges of History" series of books. This one covers the central figure in world history, the person around whom the calender is arranged--Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Cahill does an excellent job in researching and reporting history. One of Cahill's strengths that I enjoy is his method of weaving historical events together so that you know from whence the main theme of his book arrived. A weakness in Cahill's books, however, is his reliance upon those in the historical-critical (liberal) camp on matters of theology and belief. At times it would be preferable if Cahill either stated what the various scholars believe concerning certain beliefs, or just not comment on the religious aspects and focus solely on history.
Rating:
Summary: A Hill Top View
Review: Thomas Cahill has consolidated from the best of modern scholarship a climatic and refreshing view of Jesus that is simply exhilarating. His treatment of the teachings and miracles of Jesus, the horrible and shocking way in which he died, the trauma and then deep conviction his followers had in his resurrection, and the different tones with which so many authors recognizably portray the same man is literary and scholarly profound. Yet he is unpretentious. He presents us with a window through which the deepest meanings of biblical literature can be perceived. Cahill draws the reader to the place where these writings still do change the world we live in, one individual heart at a time. Jesus and the movement that came after him responded to the cry that Cahill calls the desire of the hills upon the Earth: that no longer they be the sponge that soaks up the blood of humanity's crimes against humanity; that no longer we call "great" the butchers of our race. Jesus, whom with all respect he reminds us was a devout Jew, gave humanity a new and good and redeeming vision. This vision turned the values of the Greco-Roman world upside down. Social justice; equality of class, race and gender; compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and caring for the poor and week and oppressed, thanks to Jesus these became the highest values and the very conscience of Western Civilization. There is much discussion about the historicity and divinity of Jesus. What Cahill points out is that even though there are many conflicting doctrines of faith regarding Jesus and many attempts to tame him, once all the arguing is done, the razor-sharp literature he inspired is still there. His works and teachings and his subsequent death-and-resurrection stand on their own. They simply will not go away. They have rung the bell of the human heart. As an undeserving gift for our benefit, Cahill helps us listen. "How beautiful upon the hills are the feet of those who bring good news".
Rating:
Summary: Cahill gives us a look from many perspectives
Review: Cahill has brought us a view of Jesus from the perspective of several people, and their views reflect their different personalities as well as their own view of Jesus--views which differ as much as the personalities of the men who speak of him. And then, of course, there is Cahill's personality and his view, which must intrude into his writings as well. Neither Luke nor Paul, of course, knew Jesus first hand. Their impressions are based upon what others told them of him. Paul met him for the first time as an apparition, on the road to Damascus. Luke, the physician, came along long after his death. Cahill says, "[N]one of the disciples who gathered around Jesus and then formed the early Church--considered Jesus to be God. This would have been blasphemy to them. Their belief in Christ was, after all, a form of Judaism; and Judaism was the world's only monotheism." "By the end of the first century, however, the Fourth Gospel, the one attributed to John, had reached its final form;" (Note that Jesus had been dead for sixty or seventy years by then) "and here we find, for the first time, Jesus acclaimed as God." John the Evangelist, says Cahill, whose Greek is too good for him to have been the same John who authored the book of the Revelation. There is much to be gained by reading this book, whether you are a Christian or not. Cahill's scholarship is good, and his writing is clear and easily understood. You must decide whether to agree with his hypotheses. Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this simplistic review
Review: Desire of the Everlasting Hills is a somewhat interesting overview of Christianity and its impact on the world. Cahill has a gift for lively exposition. It's certainly not a boring theological composition. Ultimately, though, I found the work to be a disappointment due to the way in which the details are not brought together in a unifying fashion. Cahill divides his look at Jesus into separate chapters. There's, for example, the Jesus according to Paul(the cosmic Christ), the Jesus according to Luke(the gentile messiah), the Jesus according to John(the word made flesh). True, each NT writer brings his own perspective to the table, but one doesn't get the sense from Cahill that they're writing about the same person. The different portraits don't add up to a coherent whole. A careful reading of the gospels and Paul's epistles reveal one Jesus seen from different angles. As an analogy, take an elementary school teacher. She can be described by the various groups she interacts with: students see one side of her, fellow teachers see another, her family sees another, yet she's still the same person. It's the same with the various descriptions of Jesus.
Cahill makes a number of assertions about various details without any backup evidence. For example, he dates the 1st letter of John to the early 2nd century. Now, this may or may not be the case, but surely a little reasoning is in order. Instead, in his endnotes he refers the reader to read the works of the eminent scholar, Raymond E. Brown, not something most readers are likely to do. Another problem is that throughout the book he seems to espouse the view that Jesus was merely a human exalted by God(Adamic Christology) in contrast to the view of pre-existence Christology(the view that Jesus was God before the incarnation). I don't think this view can be wedded to what is actually written in the NT. He does provide an explanation in the endnotes, but I would have preferred a more detailed explanation in the main body of the book. Cahill does seem to assume the general reliability of the gospel accounts with a few exceptions. He also seems to accept the resurrection(of one sort or another) and other miracles of Jesus but with some reservations. For example, he writes, "...these stories accrued to Jesus in the course of development of oral tradition and that by the time the evangelists came along there were already set "wonder stories" meant to prove that Jesus was the promised Messiah. A careful analysis of the texts of the gospels, however, has convinced many scripture scholars that several, perhaps even a majority, of the basic miracle stories go back to the most primitive layer of the oral tradition - that is, to the testimony of the original eyewitnesses". He also takes brief jabs at the Jesus Seminar, Barbara Thiering, and John Spong. The best parts of the book are where he contrasts the tenor of the world before and after Jesus. He compares, for example, the warlike tendencies of the Romans to Jesus' message of love and compassion. Augustus was called the 'son of god', but he was certainly no 'Just one': compare pax romana to "peace I give to you". He describes the church as the first egalitarian society. He also includes a defense (of sorts) of Paul. Christians will be glad to know that he apparently wasn't a misogynist and he didn't endorse slavery. In fact, as Cahill explains, it was the very writings of Paul which provided the impetus to abolish slavery in later centuries. Overall the book gives a mixed result. For those interested in Jesus and Christianity this is one of many books that can be consulted, but it shouldn't be the only one.
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