Rating: 
Summary: Jesus Joins You When You Read This One!
Review: Not a history scholar, I come at this book from an entirely spiritual angle. I bought it because I wanted to see if a historian found that Jesus's existence did actually add (or subtract) anything to the life of world he left behind. I also discussed the book with a historian friend who found it woefully lacking in what he calls substantiated history. But more interested in the spiritual side of theology myself, I came away from this book with more than I expected; reading it turned out to be an intense spiritual experience. (What he subtracts, by the way, was the primitive adversarial world view of taking for granted that wars solve all problems.)I was also not looking for great depth of analysis into the authenticity levels of the books of the New Testament, as there are many other books out there that provide that (Elaine Pagels, Robert W. Funk of the Jesus Seminar. . .). Though I couldn't have told you at first exactly what I was looking for (even though I tried to describe it earlier in this review), I knew when I found it--and this might sound a bit overly mystical to some--that that was it. It's what I look for at bottom in all my readings of spiritual books; and it is the goal of all mysticisms, too! I was looking for--and found--the actual living presence of Christ in this book. And that's what was there! Christ lives not only historically on the dusty paths Cahill so finely details, but in the pages of this amazing book. I met him there--"again for the first time"! as Marcus J. Borg explains in his book. "Again" because it was yet another much-needed angle of the man. "For the first time" because Cahill's view is breathtakingly fresh. This is achieved primarily by Cahill's daring in his down-to-earth style. As he says in an interview, "I get any amount of disapproval for going from what people consider to be a high and exalted style to getting down in the gutter." In his book he says this was Jesus's style of preaching--to shock people awake. Finally, the book contains some illuminating and well-explained beautiful color illustrations. The reprint of Saint Catherine's Monastery's encaustic icon of Jesus--our oldest surviving icon upon which most of our future depictions of Jesus are based, and which is likely "based on eyewitness accounts"--reaches right into your heart. I found myself staring at it for timeless moments and entering a deep velvet peacefulness, inadequately described. As in the reproduction of the icon in this book, Jesus really hangs out between its pages. I left the book confirmed of the presence of his spirit in our world today, in the details, in something as expected and unexpected as a happily profane book by the writer of yet another "gospel." Cahill is as worth reading as a holy book, if you read holy books seeking the presence of the divine.
Rating: 
Summary: Unreadable
Review: This is neither the desire of the everlasting hills nor the wishful thinking of the desperate, ignorant valleys. Mr. Cahill's enhancements and speculations are based on what? No clue here! Who was Jesus? Who the hell is Mr. Cahill?
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing, but not thorough, analysis
Review: Having read the first two books in this series (How the Irish Saved Civilization and The Gifts of the Jews), I was expecting a lot more than I got from this. I was expecting an analysis of Christianity's influence on western civilization. Instead, it amounts to an analysis of Jesus... It does not go much further in its analysis than the completion of the last books of the New Testament, sometime before 100 AD. He says that he is trying to answer the questions: "Who was Jesus? What was his effect and that of his followers on his own world? What was their impact on subsequent history?" The influence on their own world is well detailed. Cahill begins by exploring the world that Jesus was born into, from the rise of Alexander through the years of the Maccabees. He relates Jesus and his followers to their cultural environment. At times, he seems to be imparting his own views. He makes Paul and Jesus out as if they were openly preaching equality of women, for example, as one of their major themes. While I am sure the early Christian church felt that women (slaves, and other second class citizens) should be treated with compassion, the idea that they were truly equal (on Earth, at least) isn't nearly as clear as Cahill tries to make it. He virtually ignores the subsequent influences of Christianity, which is what most troubles me. He considers the "First Council of Jerusalem" to be a minor instance, when it seems as if most of the major figures of early Christianity - the ones with all the sway over how the message was preached - were present to decide how to proceed. Some of his confidence in the gospel is naive, from a historian point of view. He takes references in John's gospel to mean that the author had access to a witness who remembered great detail, rather than modification of details to fit the author's world-view. He makes no real justification for this view, other than his faith that the gospels are (relatively) accurate historical documents. What would fit more with the motif of Hinges of History would be to take these studies, and then do a focused study of how it impacted the remainder of history, which is confined to 20 pages that is more a re-iteration of previous ideas than applying the previous revelations to later events.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging and Informative, But Ultimately Disappointing
Review: Cahill is always a good read, and there is some new information and thinking here, but for Christ's sake this series is called "Hinges of History" and the subtitle to the book is "The World Before and After Jesus." There is little if anything here about either of these issues -- C'mon Cahill, is the world different after Jesus? How? Why? Those are huge questions, sure, but it is a little disappointing that Cahill never manages even to brush up against them in the entire book. Still, a good read if only because of Cahill's engaging style. On last issue. I am a Christian, and I have no idea why any Christian would not like this book or should be afraid of it, as some of the other commentators seem to be.
Rating:
Summary: A Fresh Approach
Review: I had read both of Cahill's earlier books and have been looking forward to this one. In many ways, the topic of Jesus and Christianity is much more complex than either the history of the Jews or the Irish but Cahill was not intimidated and used his fresh approach to breathe life into the story. In a postliterate, postChristian society, it is impossible to overstate the need and importance of accessible writing like this. Unfortunately, a reviewer from Missouri completely missed the point of the book, assuming that Cahill rejects the divinity of Jesus. I suspect that this reviewer tends to focus on the Gospel of John at the expense of the Synoptics. Reading Cahill's book will help readers understand what is going on here. Cahill does emphasize the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth as do the Synoptics and this will likely offend neoGnostics like some fundamentalists and new agers. Get the book and find out for yourself!
Rating:
Summary: False Doctrine--Christianity perverted...
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: Not so, Branson
Review: Desire of the Everlasting Hills is engaging and well worth the money and time. I lead a busy schedule and found it disappointing every time I put this book down because I had other things to do. As to the writer from Branson, I would just warn folks to take an even-keeled approach to this book. Yes, I found, too, that Cahill's approach to Jesus was a bit "earthy." However, the wealth of scholarly information and comparison outweighs this consideration. If you're a Christian who is afraid about what Mr. Cahill wrote and how it might alter your views, I would say you should skip this book. If you're open and want to mesh/compare/contrast this scholarly approach with your religious beliefs, read it. Your faith may be improved by it, depending on your approach. Kudos to Mr Cahill for another excellent effort!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Provocative
Review: Another entertaining and provocative book from Thomas Cahill. The author's method of showing the contrasting impressions of Jesus as presented in the Letters of Paul and each of the four Gospels, helps us to understand why there are so many competing versions of Christianity. The book will satisfy those who feel they want to better understand Jesus and the environment in which He lived. Much of the success of the book depends on Cahill's ability to fill in the blanks with an authorative voice.
Rating:
Summary: Read, learn, and enjoy!
Review: I must object to the reviewer from Branson, Missouri who has obviously never read this book and has his own agenda. This book is a scholarly, entertaining, vastly informative, and well researched history of Jesus, the founder of Christianity, and his times. I couldn't put the book down and read it straight through one Sunday. I laughed sometimes and wept at others. Cahill fleshed out the historical and religious figures of Paul, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. They became real people to me and the gospels and epistles which these men authored took on the fascination and attraction of great literature without ever losing their religious signficance.
Rating:
Summary: Engaging, riveting history of Jesus and his times!
Review: Meticulously documented and lovingly rendered, this third in Thomas Cahill's "Hinges of History" series is excellent! The ancient Mediterranean world of Alexander the Great and Augustus Caeser comes to life vividly under the spell of Cahill's pen. We understand the world that Jesus of Nazereth better because we understand the politics and culture of the period. I was raised on the Christian gospels but never before understood them and their writers as I have come to understand them after reading this book. Jesus, Peter, Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, and Paul became "real" people to me. Even if you are not a Christian or have rejected the doctrine of Jesus, you come away from this book with a new respect for his message and its effect on the ages.
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