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Summary: Rabbi Jesus Saves
Review: -Bruce Chilton answers real questions. If you read the gospels with an open mind you will find much of what is written in them a closed book. Personally, I have always found the obscurity itself to be a stumbling block. I have always been at a loss to understand many stories told in the gospels: the wedding at Caana (am I the only person who thinks it's a little weird to turn water into wine?--sort of like Mr. Wizard, sort of like David Copperfield the magician), Mary and Joseph LOSING their child (didn't that strike anyone else as weird?), turning out the money changers from the temple (how did one guy do that with Jewish and Roman guards all around?). It isn't just that Chilton makes sense out of the wild and wide sweep of the gospel accounts; he makes loving sense. For instance, he gives a probable account of what Jesus would have been taught by John the Baptist (Zecharaiah's prophecy is foremost in that teaching). I found the realization of the teacher/student relationship in this biography debastatingly beautiful. To think that any overlay of historical reality gleaned through scholarly application diminishes the story of Jesus is really the same thing as to say Jesus diminishes the law. The discipline and passion of scholarship, in this instance, really do resemble law and love.
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Summary: Losing the flavor of Christianity
Review: ...my souring impression was that Chilton has lost the esential ingredients of traditional Christianity, in favor of a chique Jewish-flavored version. He reasons away difficult but essential Christian doctrines such as the virgin birth and the bodily resurrection of Jesus. For all of his fresh erudition, Chilton is really feeding the appetites of recent Anglican theology, a new species of the liberal Protestant bent.
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Summary: Not For Fundamentalists
Review: A biography of Jesus as a flesh and blood man. That's what this book is about. Of course, there are very little facts about Jesus that we know. Much is conjecture, historical reasoning and such. But this book sheds light on the era in which Jesus lived, and some insight on perhaps what happened in his life. A thoroughly enjoyable book, but if your theology prevents you from thinking about Jesus in any other terms but the literal embodiment of God, then there is probably much in this book that will disturb you. That being said, I still have to recommend this book highly!
Rating:
Summary: Not For Fundamentalists
Review: A biography of Jesus as a flesh and blood man. That's what this book is about. Of course, there are very little facts about Jesus that we know. Much is conjecture, historical reasoning and such. But this book sheds light on the era in which Jesus lived, and some insight on perhaps what happened in his life. A thoroughly enjoyable book, but if your theology prevents you from thinking about Jesus in any other terms but the literal embodiment of God, then there is probably much in this book that will disturb you. That being said, I still have to recommend this book highly!
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Summary: what happen to the spiritual
Review: Although I enjoyed this book, it seems the author made up a grand story based on the missing years of Jesus. He presents a good background and some sound scriptures to push his theory through, but in the end...it remains one more theory. In our modern quest to make Jesus a real man...why must we forget all the unexplained events in human history...the magic...the souls that achieve a level of enlightenment that the rest of us can only imagine? It's not like this hasn't happened in all cultures all over the world. Why do insist on making things we know so little about, so mundane in order to explain them. I'm not religious but I do believe that all humans can achieve a much higher degree of life. It's ashame that the ones that have come before us and "got it" before we do must be subject to such suspicion and outright degradation. Yes, I believe that Jesus was a real man, but I also believe he knew his true nature...while the rest of us are still groping around in the dark. I would recommend this book if you are looking for a real practical and "human" answer to the mystery of an enlightened one.
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Summary: JERRY SPRINGER'S JESUS
Review: Approximately 2000 years ago John the Baptist (Immerser) presented Jesus as the Lamb of God. John the Apostle presented him as the Word of God become flesh among us. Now Bruce Chilton presents Jesus as a street begging, illiterate, deranged, bitter, bipolar, short, fat and balding... prophet of Galilee. What a bunch of HOGWASH! Where to start? Obviously Mr. Chilton is one of those Jesus Seminar boys who voted God's Word out a long time ago. But since most folks reading this review aren't interested in proselytizing I'll just stick to the book. There is a redeeming factor of this book in the "slice of life" look at some of the things people may have done in their daily routine of the time period and the look at the political situation that existed around Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod at the time around the Crucifixion of Jesus. I also enjoyed seeing the picture of Caiaphas' Ossuary (a sort of coffin like container) on page 214 of the Hardback edition. That said, as a literalist I can't endorse anything else stated in this book. How does a priest who denies the deity of Christ keep collecting a paycheck? Professor Chilton does a pretty fine job at selecting which verses in the Gospels are true and which are not. As a layman I'm not sure how one goes about slicing out sections of God's Word to protect myself so I'm glad he's done it for me. Now I gotta find a black marker to "fix" my Bible. I received this book from a secular [person], who I'm sure is more lost now than before he read the book. Thanks Prof. Chilton!
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Summary: Son of "Last Temptation"
Review: At least Kazantzakis wasn't reckless enough to call his novel a work of "scholarship." Chilton, on the other hand, is the latest in a long line of "scholars" who purport to give us unlettered lay folk the unvarnished "truth" about who Jesus was: Schweitzer, Schonfield, Allegro (you remember him: the "Jesus was a sacred mushroom" guy)and a long list of now long forgotten Church history "revisionists" . Chilton in rare spots makes some good points, but for your money's worth, pick up E.P. Sanders or even Brad Young. If you _must_ read "Rabbi Jesus," borrow it from the library.
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Summary: A Great Book.
Review: Bruce Chilton approaches the life of Jesus as a historian, looking beyond the bible to all relevant sources on the man, his society, and the times he lived in, examining and rationally ironing out all apparent contradictions that emerge, giving no source favor over the other. The story that emerges is a little different, a lot more believable, and, frankly, a lot more enjoyable. Chilton's Jesus is very much a man, with all of the insecurities, envies, misjudgments, and sadness that go along with the human condition. And yet, for all of this, he resonates with a deep sense of the divine, and an intense recognition of its presence and power within himself. These qualities make Chilton's Jesus a very appealing personality. Chilton's portrait, painted in vivid detail, is drawn from a deep well of knowledge of his subject matter, a knowledge that makes itself apparent in almost every word. Fundamentalists will hate it, but for open minded people who accept the presence of myth in the Bible, this book is a gem. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It gave me the first really believable picture of the Jesus that I always knew I believed in.
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Summary: Interpretation presented as scholarship
Review: Bruce Chilton displays his considerable familiarity with ancient languages and texts, but his "intimate biography" disappoints because it relies too extensively on the author's suppositions rather than his scholarship. Chilton writes: Jesus grew heavier over the years until he left the area in 27 C.E. Capernaum brought him times of plenty, and-- as his message became more and more popular--little requirement for manual work. The emerging paunch only strengthened his voice, however, and his thick black beard and thinning hair made for an impression of *gravitas.* Shorter than the norm, overweight, and tending to baldness, nothing about Jesus in physical terms (from what is attested about his appearance and from what we can gather from the likely results of his lifestyle) can explain his magnetism. (138) Readers who are satisfied with categorical statements and 'evidence' of this type may find Chilton's book appealing. For those who prefer substance, Crossan's _Jesus, A Revolutionary Biography_ would be a better choice.
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Summary: Interesting, though not even close to Vermes in study
Review: Bruce Chilton has added his voice to the neverending story. Weighing in on the Jewish side of Jesus, Chilton here presents Jesus as a troubled bastard son which weighs heavily on him and throughout the entire tome. Where Mr. Chilton is at his best is where he relies on his scholarship[placing Jesus birth in anothe bethlehem],presenting an interesting take on the infancy narratives. Where Geza Vermes relies on scholarship, Mr. Chilton edges at times toward flights of fancy,literally putting thougfhts in Jesus head{risky at best} entering the Kaballah into the fray{riskier],and putting unsubstantiated conjecture on the "missing years' of Jesus life. Where Mr. Chilton does well, is in putting a new look on old {the last supper]. Where he does not, is in trying to explain what he cannot support. Interesting, a decent read,though Geza Vermes and John Meir cover the same grtound, and in far better books.
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