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.
Rating:
Summary: Fun to Read, But...
Review: ...Cahill is an engaging writer, and there is hardly a dull pagein the book. Speaking of the four centuries spent by Israel in Egypt prior to the Exodus, he says, "Enslaved Israel's brush with Egyptian religion, when the Israelites in the second millennium B.C. were forced to build mausoleums for dead Pharaohs, may have been enough to keep the Jews away from all that woo-woo 'spirituality' about the Mummy's Curse and the floating and immortal souls of dead kings and their retinues. Israelite religion was about land and progeny, thank you all the same--not the unreal realms of the dead, backed up by creepy movie music." He does go a bit too far at times: ("Earth to Jesus: Hel-lo!"). Of vastly greater importance, however, is the fact that Cahill's theology and exegesis are more of the same tired old liberalism which is found in most bestselling "religious" books and which was largely discredited decades ago. Seeking to get into the minds of Jesus and Paul in order to tell us what they really said or meant while at the same time aping the old Barthian and Harnackian theologians (Paul really didn't write the Pauline epistles) makes no new contribution to Christian literature. Read this book as entertaining writing, but with a watchful eye to its teachings.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding work
Review: After having read and loved his earlier work, I thought that the subject matter, Jesus, would present Mr. Cahill with problems with regard to "written" evidence. However, he flawlessly handles and conveys a very compelling arguement for some missing gaps. Though they are no more than guesses, one can see where his thinking is going. His writing is clean and very easy to follow. I would recommend this book. Should read other works first.
Rating:
Summary: Desire of the Everlasting Hills
Review: For someone like me, who has always looked at the church and religion with disdain, and therefore largely ignored it, this book surprised me -- it fully engaged my mind and heart. Cahill took a subject both enormous and detailed, and distilled it down to its purest ideas and neatest plot line, and did it like a novelist, not a historian. The book is a gift.
Rating: 
Summary: An engaging and thought-provoking read
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which I read while on retreat at a monastery. No, I'm not very religious -- just like the solitude, and this book was a good one to keep me company. Cahill has a very engaging and readable style, and if he's not as scholarly as some would like, he taught me a lot about the time of Christ that I didn't know before. Though at times his objectivity is overwhelmed by his clear faith, and though he gives the Shroud of Turin a little more credence than I would, I felt that was okay -- I enjoyed reading the work of someone who's clearly passionate about his subject. And I wish we could go back to the faith of early Christianity -- the world would be an infinitely better place.
Rating:
Summary: Thomas Cahill's Gift to Us
Review: The third installment of the "Hinges of History" is Cahill's latest gift to us. I enjoy Cahill's easy to read style, full of anecdotes that not only gets the message across but makes you want to read more. Ignore the detractors! Read the book for it's own sake...for a fresher insight into Jesus and the followers of the early Church. If you want a literary epic read Virgil's Aeneid in the original Latin, "Arma virumque cano!" If you want a down to earth fresh look at the Life of Christ pick up "Desire of the Everlasting Hills". To the halfwits who wanted footnotes and a bibiliography, they must have closed the book before page 320 or they got it as a .99 Book Club deal, because 22 pages of this book are acknowledgements, footnotes, and references!
Rating:
Summary: Liberation ( politically correct) Theology
Review: He has worked diligently to manipulate the Bible to agree with his world view. It IS interesting that he accepts Paul's writings as accurate, but believes the book of John was contrived. He says Jesus never declares himself divine in the NT? What NT is he reading? Read "More Than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell for another opinion.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Place to Start -- And Then Go Deeper
Review: I've read Desire of the Everlasting Hills three times now, and gotten more out of it each time. I am now beginning to read a number of Cahill's sources -- helpfully provided by Mr. Cahill in his excellent Notes section at the back of the book. Very highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and fascinating
Review: This book was an excellent read that I could hardly put down. I have little to add to the comments on the scholarly nature of this book other than that I would have appreciated an extensive bibliography.
Rating:
Summary: Ignore Albert Zaccor's review
Review: For your information, John Crossan is part of the Jesus Seminar, a group of self-proclaimed Jesus pundits. This is a group that has very unconventional means of doing scholarly research on Jesus. I highly recommend JP Moreland's Jesus Under Fire. In this book Jesus Under Fire challenges the methodology and findings of the Jesus Seminar, which generally clash with the biblical records. It examines the authenticity of the words, actions, miracles, and resurrection of Jesus, and presents compelling evidence for the traditional biblical teachings. Combining accessibility with scholarly depth, Jesus Under Fire helps readers judge for themselves whether the Jesus of the Bible is the Jesus of history, and whether the Gospel's claim is valid that he is the only way to God. The Jesus Seminar is the creation of a media culture looking for a story. This book refutes its conclusions point by point.
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