Rating: 
Summary: A persuasive alternative
Review: Dr Thiering, of Sydney University, uses her lifelong study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi Gospels in offering a new perspective of what is contained in the New Testament. Firmly setting Jesus in his historical context she presents a picture of a remarkable man - but only a man.This is of course assuming Jesus actually existed and there is very good evidence to suggest that he never did (see The Jesus Mysteries by Freke). Rather it is much more likely that this is yet another incarnation of the dying-and-reviving god-man worshipped all around the Mediterranean as Osiris, Mithras, Dionysus etc. If however Jesus did exist then Thiering's theory is a more probable description of him than the classic interpretation of the Christian church which takes what suits their position as literal truth and anything that frankly doesn't as something to be understood as metaphor. What are their reasons for their choices of which passage is which ? There aren't any, other than what is expedient at that particular moment, which is why of course Genesis is a "metaphor" now (yeah now that we know better it is). Thiering's theory though does not depend on such arbitrary convention. It depends upon long and thought out scholarship and historical knowledge of the period. Thiering gaves dates and motives for the events and characters in the Gospels, pointing out that some previously humble characters were enormously influential and powerful in a politico-religious movement intent on expelling Roman occupiers from their land. Thiering's work is not revolutionary, this ground has been covered before by scholars and notably conspiracy theorists (see The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail as probably the most famous). However it is well researched and along with it's counterpart "Jesus of the Apocalypse" presents a persuasive case for a re-evaluation of the New Testament in light of historical discoveries. Thiering presents her source material, her research, her methodology and her conclusions and says basically "see for yourself if I'm wrong or not". I'm not aware of anyone taking her to task as yet, at least with anything more than pro-Christian polemic which should give you an idea of how well she has done these two books. See for yourself if she's wrong or not, you may learn something whatever you decide.
Rating: 
Summary: Read this book carefully!
Review: Dr. Thiering is a highly respected scholar that has direct experience with the Dead Sea Scrolls. What she has read there can be read by others and will give the same answer: the historical events at Qumran are identical to the events of the Gospels. If you want to understand what happened and how to read the encoded text of the Gospel, start with this book. It is a little difficult to read and deals with very complex constructions but you are rewarded mightily. If you skim it and have strong religious biases then you will think it is sacreligious. It's not; it's simply good science based on hard fact. The Dead Sea Scrolls are authentic and so is this book. Then go read "Jesus of the Apocalypse" and "The Book Jesus Wrote" for more detail and understanding. This is very impressive scholarship and anyone with an objective mind (and the time to carefully examine the text) will be stunned. If your faith is delicate, turn away. A thousand years from now this book will be considered a cornerstone of Western culture.
Rating:
Summary: Taken from pages 2k ys. old. No establishment spin.
Review: Dynomite! Dead Sea Scroll information in black and white. No St.Paul spin on it. No Church cover-up. I am waiting some equally reasoned answer to Thiering's demonstrated Pesher theory. So far Silence!!! The Shroud of Turin full of blood shed after Jesus' supposed death on the cross supports Thiering's findings.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Historical Interpretation
Review: Greetings from Dimona, Israel! Jesus the Man is a profound and awesome historical interpretation. I have read the book 100 times over and am still reading! You have given such insight and scholarly application on this subject. Dr. Thiering, this writing is a great inspiration for all of those who seek the truths of all components of history.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book........but?
Review: I brought this book at an exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Melbourne. I have always thought something was not quite right with the biblical texts as they stand, and felt that what was generally taught to the massess is not really quite the truth. I know the author has received a lot of criticism of her technique and her assertation regarding the age of the Dead Sea scrolls. Nevertheless, I found the book did help to get me thinking about Christ and what really happened. The "BUT" bit in the title was to do with that I felt that Barbara was probably going in the right direction but some things did not quite wash, especially when she starts ascertaining that Christ lived to a ripe old age and married again. But, for the most, her ascertations appear to be based on good reasoning and seem to me to make sense (most of them). Good arguments are put forth and the reader is given in the second half of the book (it is really two books in one - first, what she feels to uncovered and second, the technical stuff), the tools for researching for themselves (this I did not do)...but theologians out there would find this a valuable resource, whether to debunk or support the author's cliams. So anyway, a good read, take from it what you will, and if you want to investigate further,, then do so. Worth a read and a great discussion point with friends. A must for the book cabinet.
Rating: 
Summary: Ridiculous Nonsense
Review: I can understand why there is a market for silly books like this, since there are many people who love the idea that they are privy to the "real" story which has been ignored or covered up by "the establishment". It's the same mentality which fuels weird conspiracy theories and gnostic obsurantism. What is more puzzling is the seeming complete lack of objective scepticism on the part of many of those who have posted positive reviews here. Even if you found this odd book exciting (I found it amusing myself) and even if you found her reasoning persuasive (though there is actually little *reasoning* and a lot of bald asserting in the book), surely the fact that NO-ONE else in the academic world agrees with Thiering would ring just the teeniest-tinest of alarm bells. I would like to think that anyone with half a brain would ask themselves "Can it really be that she is the only person in 2000 years who has noticed this 'pesher code' in the gospels? Maybe there is a reason no-one else takes her theory seriously? Could it be that she is seeing things in the gospels that just aren't there? Maybe she is building an alternative story and then 'finding' the validation for it as she goes?" Surely the fact that her book is a string of assertions, piled on suppositions stacked on hypotheses, all backed up by nothing more than her entirely SUBJECTIVE interpretation of what this pesher-technique of hers "reveals" would make a few more people question her objectivity. You would think people would be more discerning, intelligently sceptical and analytical, but no - it seems there are rather more people who "WANT to believe". Despite what the book's blurb and marketing material tries to claim, Thiering has absolutely no standing in the academic world and her theory has been described by leading authorities in the field - secular, Jewish and Christian - as "a fairy tale". ... To the True Believers, all I can say is when someone like Theiring is completely rejected by every other scholar in their field, it's usually because they have got things wildly and spectacularly wrong. One of Theiring's amateur supporters once tried to compare her to Galileo, but as the philosopher Paul Kurtz once observed wryly, "To be a Galileo it's not enough to be disagreed with, you also have to be RIGHT." There is no evidence that Theiring's subjective fantasy story is anything remotely close to being right in any way. If you want to learn about the Dead Sea Scrolls the intertestamental period, buy something by Geza Vermes. Avoid this silly book.
Rating:
Summary: A Fanciful Theory by a ...Researcher
Review: I first became aware of Barbara Thiering's thesis when the ABC here in Australia screened a well-produced documentary called 'The Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls' in 1990. Many Christians at the time, including some of my acquaintance, were outraged at the documentary, which sparked a national debate -largely because the public broadcaster screened it at Easter. While the broad thesis presented in the TV documentary sounded unlikely at best to me I knew that popularisations of complex academic theories can often come across that way in summary, so when a local book review magazine asked me to review Thiering's book 'Jesus the Man' I was keen to get a more detailed understanding of her position. I should note that I am NOT a Christian - in fact I am an atheist - and that the historical background to Christianity, Intertestamental Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls are all topics I have studied for many years from a purely secular perspective. I was expecting Thiering's book to be a closely argued private theory, and though I already knew her thesis had been rejected by all other scholars (Christian, Jewish or secular), she seemed in interviews to be an intelligent and learned person. So I sat down with the review copy of her book and a notepad to take notes for my review as I read, expecting an challenging and well argued work. After three chapters I put my notepad away. Far from being a scholarly and closely argued work, this book is little more than a bizarre collection of unsubstantiated assertions, all 'revelations' uncovered by Thiering's so-called 'pesher technique'. While her highly confident style and interesting (fantasy) narrative might be convincing to non-specialists, anyone who has studied the Scrolls or the Gospels from a historical perspective will find themselves wondering whether to laugh or cry at this fairly ridiculous book. Firstly, Thiering argues that the Dead Sea Scrolls should be dated to the first century AD, despite virtually every other scholar of the Scrolls material disagreeing with her. More recently, radiocarbon dating of the Scrolls has also cast extreme doubt on this position. Ignoring this - indeed, she never acknowledges that absolutely *no-one* agrees with her theory at all, she simply ignores this fact - Thiering pushes on to argue that the 'Teacher of Righteousness' and the 'Wicked Priest' of the Scrolls are Jesus and John the Baptist respectively. For this, and for all of the rest of the fantasy story she goes on to tell in the remainder of her book, she relies on her belief that the Gospels were written on two levels - a 'surface' level and an 'encoded' *pesher* level. Thiering honestly believes that she is the first person in 2000 years to have uncovered the 'true' meaning of the gospels and maintains that her 'technique' which 'decodes' the gospels is internally consistent and can be used by anyone. While Thiering may be uncritical enough of her own thesis to believe this, no other scholars agree with her. Thiering is described as a 'leading authority' on the Scrolls in her marketing material - in fact she is regarded as an embarrassing crackpot and ludicrous ... by the academic community. Far from being 'internally consistent', he *pesher* technique has been repeatedly shown to be rubbery, subjective and able to 'demonstrate' virtually anything, however unlikely. Despite this, Thiering uses it to construct a Jesus who is non-divine, non-miraculous and highly accessible to many liberal-thinking modern readers - which is possibly why her books have sold well despite being regarded as a little more than a joke by the academic community. Non-divine, non-miraculous pictures of Jesus are common in many areas of research into early Christianity these days, but Thiering's 'technique' doesn't simply veer wildly from any reading of the gospels, it also diverges sharply from any historical understanding of the period. When her *pesher* technique contradicts historical evidence from Josephus or Tacitus, Thiering simply ignores that fact or argues that it's the ancient sources which are wrong! For a historian's view of Thiering's many flaws ....At one point in a TV debate about Thiering's views the interviewer turned from Thiering, who had just made a series of bizarre statements about Intertestamental Judaism based on her *pesher* fantasies, and asked a Jewish rabbi on the panel "What do you make of that." The rabbi was literally speechless for a moment and then said "I hardly know where to begin." This is exactly how most people who have studied this subject feel when confronted by Thiering's blithe, unsubstantiated, arrogant and downright fantastic assertions. There seems to be an audience for this kind of junk pop-scholarship, largely made up of curious but poorly read sensation seekers who like the idea of iconoclasts overturning the ideas of the academic establishment. More cautious and wisely sceptical readers might like to ponder why Thiering is completely isolated by the academic community. It may, of course, be because she is shaking their beliefs to their very foundations. Or she may be a ridiculous .... Take your pick. If you buy this book, I'd say read it with caution and then do some reading on what the rest of academia believes on this subject. And keep in mind the that enthusiasm of some of the reviewers below may be genuine, but it may also be genuinely misguided. Not recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Heaven opened up.
Review: I grew up during the 60s and 70s aware of the war, protests, racial riots, and the assassination of a President and asked then where was God. As a young man searching for the truth, I found it harder and harder to accept the beliefs of those preaching and that of an institution full of hypocrisy. I am, before and now, an atheist who has always seemed to see things a little differently than what was and is preached in the pulpit. Dr. Thiering's book has provided me with a better understanding of the early church's and Jesus' struggle to bring God to all people and not those self-professed to be the "chosen" ones. 'Jesus the Man' adds to my understanding of Christians and more clearly defines Jesus' as a man and the "head of the church." Dr. Thiering has opened a narrow doorway that may someday allow me to come to God.
Rating:
Summary: A book with a clear understanding of what really happened...
Review: I might not be nearly as eloquent as others but the only people that would object to this book are the right wing religious ignorants that exist in this world. Barbara Thiering has a clear understanding of the true meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls and also of the bible. Jesus was in fact just a man and a rebel in his time and this much is clear. I enjoyed the way that the author explained her understanding and reasoning of the scrolls and this I believe is the closest that we have gotten so far towards understanding what really happened in that chapter of history. I recommend this book to anyone with an open mind who wants to find the truth.
Rating:
Summary: Teaches how to decode the magical wording - plausible
Review: It was a huge relief to learn a way of reading the Bible as a rigorously encoded text written by people who did not believe in the surface meaning of what they wrote. She provides motives and explains why the books of the Bible were written in the odd, magic-thinking language that is so unnatural and stilted. She agrees with The Jesus Conspiracy, that Jesus was removed prematurely from the cross ("Pilate could not believe he was dead so soon.") I don't think Theiring's books so far are on the very most promising path, though her theory may have a lot to contribute about the political dynamics of the time and Jewish ideas about purity, and about reading allegorically. I have turned full attention to the mythic Jesus theory; there was no towering historical Jesus and no single person underlying the essentially mythical, composite Jesus figure. Researchers have also made great progress in the entheogen theory of the origin of Christianity. It's important to survey a wide variety of alternative Christianity theories.
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