Rating: 
Summary: A Culturally Correct Jesus
Review: Bruce Chilton has offered a plausible analysis of the gospel events in their appropriate Jewish setting, answering age-old questions about the "missing years", and helping readers to understand what Jesus might have said, and might have meant by what he said, in the context of first-century Jewish culture and religion. The author uses his vast knowledge of Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, and the Targums, the oral Hebrew Biblical tradition known to Jesus, as aids in his analysis. Woven throughout this narrative of Jesus' life are clues to what the parables meant to Jesus, what his deep spirituality and his relationship with God were like, and what he really meant when he said "this wine is my blood and this bread is my flesh". A must-read for thoughtful Christians!
Rating: 
Summary: Enlightening, vivid, human, if somewhat speculative
Review: Bruce Chilton is a professor of religion at Bard College and an expert in Jewish studies near the beginning of the Common Era. He diverges from a number of current "Questers" of the revived "Quest for the Historical Jesus"; If his portrait of the Nazarene has analogues in any other modern scholars, it is with those of Marcus Borg (Meeting Jesus again for the 1st Time) and Geza Vermes (Jesus the Jew), especially that of the latter, for few other works of modern scholarship than Chilton's so firmly entrench Jesus in his contemporary strains of Judaism--which, speaking as an historian myself, is where the Nazarene belongs.He paints a richly detailed potential portrait of a first-century Jew participating in the ritual customs of his time. He gives an extended treatise on the relationship between young Jesus and John the Baptist (Yochanan the Immerser). Chilton theorizes that this relationship went much further than a simple baptism at the beginning of Jesus' ministry; Jesus rather was, possibly, a devoted pupil and disciple (talmidim) who might have learned his spiritual dsciplines from John. Since the gospels also portray Christ as a person deeply in touch with the life of Spirit to the point of an almost all-encompassing mysticism, Chilton agrees with Borg and Vermes in designating the Nazarene as an early form of Chasid, a Jewish mystic who devoted himself to rigorous contemplative prayer and experiences of mystical communion--he explores the 1st-century Jewish esoteric practice of Merkabah (Throne of God) mysticism, a discipline which predates the Kabalah by several hundred years, and theorizes that Jesus practiced a variant of this discipline. Perhaps most enlightening is Chilton's exposition on the possible meaning of the Communion meal for Jesus which he introduced at the Last Supper--talk of consuming blood of any kind would be anathema to any good Jew of the period, so Chilton proposes an alternate interpretation which is both convincingly supported and cogently argued. Overall, Chilton displays a mastery of both ancient Hebrew and Aramaic as spoken idioms (ie. what those Gospel terms and rituals REALLY mean) and a vivid, almost point-by-point nitpicking eye for detail on virtually every cultural practice of the 1st-century Palestinian setting, plus geographical, archaeological, linguistic, and architectural knowledge which are baffling both in their completeness and their user-friendliness to the nontechnical reader. That said, sometimes where Chilton does not have details provided by history or biblical sources, he makes some generalizations or speculations which might be stretching evidence. He assumes from the Gospel narratives that Jesus was likely born out of wedlock (mamzer); when as a Jesus scholar he should know that the controversy over Christ's lineage and true nature was not an issue until after Christ was crucified and died. His inferences about Jesus possibly being bipolar seem to be forcing the hand of the historical evidence (though he is certainly not the first to attempt a psychological profile of the Nazarene!). His inclusion of a great deal of Johannine literature also seems suspect, since most scholars emphasize the synoptic Gospels as sources and see the Gospel of John as primarily a theological treatise. That said, all "historical" Jesus scholarship is, to some extent, educated guesswork, and there are few works of Jesus scholarship in current memory which have the same depth, breadth, detail, passion, and sheer power of Chilton's possible life of Jesus. This Jesus is truly human and is an almost archetypally tragic hero, who is, in the end, a casualty of a new Greco-Roman world which respects neither his deep spirituality nor his exhortation to less materialism, and a victim of an immovably conservative religious Temple state which genuinely felt itself threatened to the marrow by Jesus' movement. An exceptional read, and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Minus the Miracles...A Very Plausible Jesus
Review: Bruce Chilton's work, "Rabbi Jesus" reads like a novel as it takes Jesus from his childhood as a "mamzer" of questioned legitimacy to his death on the cross. In the process Chilton develops a very human Jesus who was deeply a part of his Jewish and Galilean environment. Using translations of Aramaic and Syriac texts, Chilton often puts a different twist on exactly what Jesus tried to accomplish and who he believed he was. He shows that Jesus went through a steady development as to his purpose and goals. Chilton takes Jesus' very Jewish vision and relates it to the sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem. It then becomes clear as to why Jesus raided the Temple and went to Jerusalem in the first place; his attempt to purify the Temple and impose a more Galilean form of sacrifice. The most fascinating parts of the book are the development and changes in Jesus' religious thinking, the relationship of this thought to his Jewish environment, the political interaction between Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas, and Herod Antipas that results in Jesus' capture and death, and Chilton's insightful interpretation into Jesus' meaning of his "blood and flesh" that became the basis of the Christian Eucharist. Like any Biblical scholar, Chilton picks and chooses which sources to believe are genuine and which are to be rejected. It would seem at times he is too willing to accept the miracles of Jesus and his followers at face value. Often this does not seem consistent with the more human picture he has drawn of Jesus. However, this is a fascinating portrait of Jesus and one that seems very plausible (for the most part). It gives us much to consider regarding this Galilean and what he tried to accomplish. By placing Jesus within the context of his Galilean and Jewish heritage it seems far more real than most others.
Rating:
Summary: Factual or Imaginative?
Review: Bruce Chilton, the author, tells us that everything Jesus did was "as a Jew, for Jews, and about Jews." Jesus, he says, was a short, plump, balding, illiterate, revolutionary rabbi whose objective was to purify Judaism in the expectation that God would then reward the Israelites by expelling the unclean Romans and other Gentiles from their land. This suggests that Jesus would be appalled if he had known that the fruit of his labor was to be the creation of a new religion: Christianity. Chilton has written a fascinating and controversial biography of Jesus. I'm not an expert and, thus, I don't have the background to judge whether this book should be taken seriously or considered a work of surmise and imagination. Chilton accepts some parts of the biblical account of Jesus' life as factual and rejects others as fabricated or inaccurate. His authority for deciding what is true and what is untrue is often uncertain - as is his reasoning. The book was worth reading, however, for the vivid picture Chilton paints of life in the Roman provinces of what we call the Holy Land. One of the best passages is in Chapter 11 in which Chilton describes the Great Temple of Jerusalem and the barbaric - I guess everyone was a barbarian in those days -- animal sacrifices carried out by the high priests. But Jesus protested against adherence to the rituals which the priests demanded - and profited from. Chilton's Jesus makes a quantum leap forward in religious philosophy by believing that "purity" comes from inside a person, rather than through sterile observance of a ritual, form, or formality of religion. That, at least, is my interpretation of what the author is trying to convey of Jesus' philosophy. As a speculative history this book is outstanding; better informed persons than me will have to judge its accuracy and religious merits.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating read.
Review: Chilton makes numerous imaginative leaps. But the possibilities he proposes give rise to numerous ways of seeing Jesus differently than we have been taught. He teaches us much about the life and times surrounding Jesus. He may even tell us more than we would have known about Jesus.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read, but . . .
Review: How many ways can we parse what we think we know about the life of Jesus? Well, here's another way. The author asks some interesting questions and offers novel answers. For instance, was Jesus literate? If not, then Jesus would have known the Hebrew scriptures though the oral tradition. How would that have impacted his life and teachings? The author proceeds to speculate, all the way from his birth and childhood right through till the end. The book has a novelistic quality that makes it a compelling read. It's even quite moving in places. And you'll learn a lot about first century Judaism. There are even interesting speculations on the sources of the miracle stories. But ultimately, doesn't all of this put the cart before the horse? Shouldn't we first make determinations about the documentary evidence from which the Jesus story is drawn - the age of these documents, their provenance, and their reliability? And from there take a close look at what the documents actually say, as opposed to what we read into them from Sunday school classes, Biblical movies, and the various tribes of scholarly thought? And if we do that, is there any one theory that compels our attention and provisional assent? I believe there is, and I have only found such an examination and theory in one book, of the many I have read on this subject. That book is "The Jesus Puzzle" by Earl Doherty. I cannot speak highly enough of this book. I urge you to read it. And visit Mr. Doherty's web site, also called The Jesus Puzzle. It provides the antidote for nearly all that troubles this labyrinthine and contentious subject.
Rating: 
Summary: revisionism at its worst
Review: I am amazed at the author's willingness to invent and superimpose his alternate realities upon the story of Jesus. While his depictions of the life and times of the people in Jesus' day were interesting, his outlandish pronouncements about Jesus' behaviors illustrate that he has a bias to present, regardless of how they might conflict with the facts. E.g. despite Luke's gospel telling us that 12 year old Jesus eventually left the Temple with his parents, returning to Nazareth, Chilton tells us that is not at all the case. Jesus instead became a runaway, joining John the Baptist's followers for a long period of time, perhaps years. (Let's not worry about the minor detail that John would have been a maximum of 13 years old). He then returned to Nazareth as a prodigal, and after gaining a reputation for good story telling, he developed poor working habits as he showed a preference for feasting with the working class. Huh? Does Chilton have insider information that centuries of scholars somehow missed?
The author's insistence upon inventing his own version of Jesus greatly inhibits this reader from believing that he can be a reliably objective instructor who could offer insight into the ministry of Christ.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Perspective, Shows Daily Life in the Period
Review: I am reading this book now. I rated it three stars for providing an interesting--if disquieting--perspective on Jesus and details of the period in which he lived. However, I don't care for the historical fiction aspects. As other reviewers have noted, the author stretches rather far--even to creating dialogue between Jesus and his mother. I'd prefer to read what the author has found in his research, some of his thinking on that (of which we get plenty), without so much of the fictional aspects. Like Father Chilton, I'm Episcopalian. I believe in the divinity of Jesus. Whether or not Joseph was the instrument of the Holy Spirit in Jesus's conception, whether or not Mary was a "virgin" in the way we understand the term now, doesn't matter to me. I'm not horrified by Father Chilton's perspective--but the book lacks the sense of reverence I was looking for.
Rating:
Summary: An Epiphany
Review: I consider this to be an excellent book about a difficult subject. The focus is on Jesus as a flesh and blood human being, which is difficult for those of us who have always thought of him only as divine. And while it is true that the author engages in suppositions throughout, the central themes and opinions set out do seem to have historical/archeological bases. More importantly, they make a good deal of sense. As an example, Mr. Chilton points out that, whatever our beliefs about the virgin birth, it is highly unlikely that the villagers he grew up amongst believed any such thing. They would have thought of him as a "mamzer" - a person conceived out of wedlock. That status would have placed him in the status of outsider in many activities of village life, including the synagogue. Viewed in that context, his concern for the oppressed and weak throughout his ministry are clearly rooted in his own, human, childhood experiences. This single small concept alone has profoundly deepened my understanding of Jesus and his teachings. There are many other such "epiphanies" in this book. Read it and grow.
Rating:
Summary: An intimate biography not a historical paper
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. I read it critically, and enjoyed learning about the author's thought process and his understanding of Jesus, even if I disagreed with some of the author's conclusions.
I am not a Christian, so I was not offended by the areas of the book that humanize Jesus in a way some fundamentalists may consider challenging to their beliefs. I think the author does a good job of letting you know when he is letting his imagination fly, as in comments like: we can picture Jesus with a little pouch belly from enjoying the hospitality of his host.......Or: now we can imagine the pouch belly is gone given Jesus' constant moving from town to town....etc. Clearly there is no scholarship behind this type of inference but it makes the narration vivid, and it allows the reader to bring in their own imagination into the life of Jesus. We cannot possibly know much about the life of Jesus outside of what is in the Gospels. We have no outside historical sources to turn to. Every scholar out there studying the life of Jesus is working on plausible inferences, and all the inferences that Chilton makes are certainly plausible. It is up to us, the readers to decide what to believe. Chilton's book is a good read, and the author has left his fingerprints all over the story, but in a very honest, open way. Personally, I disagree the most with his argument that Jesus was born out of wedlock and therefore shunned by the elders of his community during his lifetime. I don't think Chilton presented a strong enough argument for it. The fact that the Gospels try to embellish the notion of Jesus' divinity with the idea of the virgin birth is not unique in history. The Buddha is also supposed to have been conceived intercourse-free, and delivered painlessly by his mother. And there are other mythological stories of virgin conceptions of pagan gods. Therefore, that this idea became part of Christianity does not necessarily imply that it was meant to cover up a shameful event in Mary's life (possibly having engaged in sex out of wedlock.) It is plausible, but I don't think Chilton made a strong case for it.
Other ideas were more interesting to me. His explanation of the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist was interesting, as well as the notion that Jesus may have practiced meditation based on Ezequiel's visions. The relationship between Caiphas the High Priest and Pontius Pilate is also well argued and recreated. (A more realistic account than the simplistic notion of Caiphas the evil Christ Killer)
I enjoyed the most that someone who clearly has unwavering faith in Jesus and the work of the Church is so unafraid to look at history and entertain the notion of a Jewish, Human Jesus. To me this was a refreshing experience: for a Christian to look at Judaism without passing judgments, and even in an almost loving way. After I finished the book (which is hard to put down once you start) I had this nice feeling that the two religions can easily coexist without either one feeling threatened by the other. There is room in the world, and in our imaginations, for both the Jewish Jesus, the man who died, and Jesus The Christ, the Son of God who resuscitated. For those like Chilton who believe in the latter and find love and comfort in the miracle, it is indeed a blessing for them to be that much more closer to God because of Jesus. For those like me who don't believe, it is comforting to know that there is more than one side to every story, and that there are Christians who are not judging us or bending over backwards to "save us from hell."
Five stars for the book, and high five to Chilton and other like-minded Christians.
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