Rating: 
Summary: Not for the Serious Reader
Review: Cahill's book is not for the serious reader. Cahill's "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" is full of humor and occasionally even poetry, but if fails to live up to its subtitle: "The World Before and After Jesus." The author's portrait of first century Palestine is superficial. Moreover, in his breezy and offhand style, Mr. Cahill simply dismisses or glibly takes sides in ongoing debates about the historicity of the story of Jesus' life on earth. These debates are substantial and profound, and go to the heart of the meaning of Christianity, in Jesus' time as well as our own. I enjoyed long stretches of Mr. Cahill's book for their entertainment value, but kept waiting for the author to bring his arguments together and make his point. Ultimately, I was disappointed. Readers who wish a serious and meaningful introduction to the subject of Jesus' life and death should read John Dominic Crossan's "Who Killed Jesus: Exploring the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus". Crossan's book is a serious attempt to explore the origins of one of Christianity's most shameful legacies. In so doing, it introduces the serious reader to the world of historical Jesus research. This book, along with Crossan's other books, does a much better job of describing "The World Before and After Jesus."
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I enjoyed this book as much as his two previous ones in the series
Rating:
Summary: A delight for any reader
Review: I just want to respond to the reader in Branson, MO who suggests that this book is theologically unsound. He obviously did not read the book. For instance, although Cahill does state that Christ is present in all people, he also presents strong evidence for the bodily resurrection of Christ. I loved the book and would recommend it for Christians and non-Christians alike.
Rating:
Summary: reading this book for new testament class
Review: I am writing in response to earlier comments. A review stated that Cahill's ideas don't represent Christianity. In fact they do, that is the beauty of Christianity, it is open to personal interpretation. Jesus and His teachings speak to each of us in different ways. Next time you speak of particular views not agreeing with Christianity, you should rethink your comments and say that the views expressed do not agree with your own. An open mind is the key to new knowledge and understanding.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the close minded
Review: Well I am sure that if you only accept orthodox theology, this book will either scare you or enrage you. This book succeeds brilliantly in detailing the history and customs of the "times of Jesus". Definitely informative and entertaining.The kind of book that opens up new levels of investigation for a "spiritual detective". Great book....highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Biblically Inaccurate and Filled with False Doctrine
Review: Thomas Cahill's book may do a Christian more harm than good. Cahill is obviously a learned man who examines Jesus from a "scholarly" viewpoint. He sees Jesus as only a man and certainly not God. In fact, he alludes that later Christians simply made up that Jesus was God. The problem with this approach is that, to analyze Jesus as only a man is to misunderstand Him. Jesus can only be analyzed as his total self-- God AND man, the God-man, God incarnate. Cahill's erroneous perspective leads him to many mistakes and "veiled" judgments regarding Christ. For example, in a section entitled "Where is Jesus", Cahill dismisses the traditional notion of resurrection-- i.e. that Christ rose literally from the dead and sits in heaven today-- calling this view "too cerebral to make a lasting difference in the ordinary lives of ordinary people". Instead Cahill insists on a more "feel good", "humanitarian" approach to the resurrection. Christ, he says, is really resurrected in the poor and needy, "incarnate in anyone and everyone who needs our help." This is the true value of Jesus' life to Cahill. This "social justice" approach to Jesus, concludes Cahill, is a good one because in reality he says, "nonsectarian, agnostic [scripture scholarship] has brought believers new riches." (Christians will note that this idea is in direct conflict with 2 Corinthians 4:4). After all, he continues, the Gospels are really only a tale of a "good human being" and "in the end, it has little to do with whether one believes Jesus to have been the Son of God [or not]." His plea to Christians is to "reassess Jesus" since their sectarian, religious view of Jesus as the Lord and Savior has made Christians "misunderstand Jesus in virtually every way that matters". This book is radically misaligned with Christian beliefs. It purports itself to be a "scholarly" look at the "historical" Jesus, but misses the lasting message of Jesus as Savior and Lord. There are many other mistakes, claims that fly in the face of sound, church doctrine, and frankly at times plain buffoonery-- too much to include in this review. Indeed, this may even be a dangerous book for the Christian who is not well-versed in apologetics and doctrine because Cahill cleverly disguises his bent of denying Christ's divinity until the end-- which could seriously confuse Christians. If you wish to know more about Jesus a better alternative book would be "The Case for Christ" by Strobel. Check it out.
Rating: 
Summary: The Scholarly Approach
Review: There is wide interest about the life of Jesus, Paul and other early figures of Christianity and this book offers much more information than can be obtained by simply reading passages in the Bible. However, I have certain reservations that cause me to take some of the information with a grain of salt. I recall reading an account of an interview with a famous author about his newly published book. Literary critics had developed various theories about the "deeper meanings" in a particular passage, and the author was asked which of the theories, if any, were correct. The author replied "none of them" because he had intended no "deeper meaning" in that particular passage. I am sure that if the author had died before revealing this position that the scholarly debate over the "deeper meaning" would still be continuing to this day. In science there is a vague concept I like to call "The Sufficiency of Information". It is possible to take measurements in which the readings are close to the limits of accuracy of the equipment. Trying to force meaning out of the data is in this case very misleading and close to the phenomenon of seeing faces and other shapes in the clouds. At such a point the resultant meaning is coming from the mind of the observer and not from the data itself. In Cahill's book he discusses the different Gospel versions of some of the accounts in the life of Jesus. One of these struck me particularly as bordering on the phenomenon I discussed above. Mark 10:29 "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, ... " Significance is attached and analyzed regarding the slightly differing wordings in the Matthew and Luke versions (e.g. Luke omits "sisters" and "lands", Matthew omits Gospel's"). Perhaps I am just a skeptic at heart, but it seems to me that just as one can not see the message and beauty of a painting by examining the brushstrokes under a magnifying glass, one can not appreciate the intent of the messages in the Gospels by analyzing in minute detail the particular choice of words used by the different human authors. If we believe that God inspired these messages, it seems to me that he would not necessarily consider that there is great significance in the minutia we see here, but instead would prefer that we stand back and focus on the important messages that the authors were inspired to convey. If we are not careful we may not see the forest for all those pesky trees.
Rating:
Summary: debunking the hills
Review: I haven't read tcahill for many moons but I remember ranking him on a level with Cruise O Connors the UN guy who made the Congo mess even bloodier and turned to pontification and/or self aggrandizzement. Paucity is the keyword for this effort to epater le bourgeois.
Rating:
Summary: intelligence and passion
Review: Mr. Cahills gift to his readers is a fascination with the truth. He is a shill for no one and he carefully explores all that he can find in order to fully explore where the truth lies. His explanation of the original gospel of Matthew (the Q gospel) brings an intelligence to this topic, the likes of which has not been seen before. I think ths point is very important. In Mr. Cahill, you get an objective viewpoint, and where it leads is where it leads, and his ability to separate fact from fiction make all his work a treasure.One point about the audiobook. Mr O'Byrne's performance, among others, should put to rest those who denigrate the form. I was so drawn into the reading that I received far more from hearing it then I would have from reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, Reflective, Respectful and Original -- Again
Review: Desire of the Everlasting Hills, like Mr. Cahill's earlier two books, offers more information and insight than can be absorbed through a single reading. While I don't agree with everything the author (or Paul, for that matter) has to say, all of it deserves careful thought and reflection. As in The Gift of the Jews, Mr. Cahill sets the stage for the focus of the book by reviewing events that lead up to the main events. This isn't some "Chariot of the Gods". The author provides not unfounded speculation, but scholarly explanations that are consistent with what is known about how people lived and acted 2000 years ago. Some readers may feel that -- by providing academic, popular, alternative descriptions of issues central to our religious and secular worlds -- Mr. Cahill is playing with fire. I for one welcome the light and heat these books provide. If this book helps readers understand people from other cultures, religions and times, then it can also bring us closer to understanding each other in our own time. And that might be Mr. Cahill's greatest gift of all.
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