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Summary: An astonishing vision on the birth of Christianity (not new
Review: Prof.Eisenman book has no waste.It is that kind of books that despite its length and hardness in redaction one can not leave till its end. Eisenman's theories are bizarre and totaly strange to those familiar with Helenistic and Talmudic eras in Jewish History and Christianism begginings.That is this book 's charm.I recently red (in Spanish) some of the books by french author Robert Ambelain,who claims the same theories about James and Paul that Prof.Eisenman.Did he know about this author? Ambelain s Secrets of Golgota, was published in 1974 by Robert Laffont,Paris, France. In his work The Man who Created Jesus Christ ,Ambelain claims, as Eisenman does that the figure of the Christ instead of the Jewish Mashiah intends to fit with the Hellenistic vision of the world. Nevertheless,I strongly recomend Eisenman's book, specially for showing independent criteria in searching and investigatting so difficult matters.
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Summary: A pure light of scholarship. Profound and Rare.
Review: Some readers complain that Eisenman's Book is too long, con-fused and not edited correctly. I disagree. This book clarifies, synthesizes and produces wonder at the pass of almost every sentence. Given the importance of his huge task, Eisenman's sentences and sections are usually crisp and minimal which only heightens the full impact of his evidence and implications. Most of what I find in `James Brother of Jesus' I have read in bits and pieces in other extremely speculative and much less respected works like `Holy Blood, Holy Grail', `Dead Sea Scrolls Deception,' `The Hiram Key' and Barbara Thiering's work. These works have been ignored and dismissed by the Christian establishment for a long time on the basis of weak evidence and wild leaps of imagination. They had a point. But Eisenman's work towers over anything that has gone before it in its breadth and depth of internal historical research. He brings the Christian tradition, with its shadowlands of history and myth, to a critical point with monumental power. That is, never before has the dichotomy between the historical Jesus via James and the Myth of Jesus via Paul been drawn so clearly, carefully and exhaustively. If you are a `thinking Christian', as opposed to a dogmatic apologist, read this book. The confusion in the Christian soul between the historical reality of Jesus and the existential reality of the spirit or myth of Jesus `the Christ' must be confronted. With `James The Brother Of Jesus' Christian Ostrich time is over. My only argument with Eisenman is theological and teleological. 1)Theological - by implying that the Pauline `myth' of Jesus Christ is shattered by the revelations about the real history of James, he, like many other iconoclasts, misses the point. Christianity, like all religions, is a myth that structures social relations, psychological perception, ethics, behaviours and history itself. No more, and certainly no less than any other religion. The origins of Christianity's anti-Semitism is well taken and is vitally important given the recent revelations about `Hitler's Pope'. But there has been much Good as well in this myth. 2) Which leads to the teleological question `Why write this? To what end?' Is it to rub Christian noses in the cesspool of history, as if other traditions, didn't have them? Or is it a Jack Nicholson `You Can't Handle The Truth' kind of throwing down the gauntlet challenge to Christians? Some of us can handle it, and have struggled with the dichotomy between the existential myth and empirical facts of Christianity to be able to accomodate the `twin' Jesus. In sum. - Read It!
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Summary: so far, exhilirating and exhuasting
Review: I am taking the liberty of writing some comments after reading only 376 pages of this immensely difficult work. I took a breather after page 200 and read The Rock Says just to change the pace a little. This is one of the two most difficult books I have ever attempted to read - the other being Goedel, Escher, Bach, The Eternal Golden Braid - and put this book aside on the first attempt at reading it two years ago. The author states in his preface that the work is design to inform and educate the specialist and non-specialist alike. While not making any claims to being a specialist on theology and ecclesiastical history, I have read works by John Shelby Spong, John Dominic Crossan, Barbara Theiring and several other authors; and, for what's it's worth, the New Testament. Having said all that, I still find this book enormously difficult to get through. I do not feel academically qualified to say whether I agree with his interpretation of ancient documents or his conclusions, as I do not have his capacity to absorb an enormous amount of information and his ability to read Hebrew. From what I can deduce thus far, he is presenting a very different picture of first century Palestine from what is written in the New Testament - particularly the Book of Acts - and is asserting that the Pauline tradition of Christianity, the foundation of mainstream Christian thought, could be the greatest fraud ever perpetrated upon the Western world. In fact, in his preface, he came to the conclusion that Judaism and Christianity were for all intents and purposes unsupportable. Eisenman's emerging portrait of James contains many fascinating details not reported elsewhere. For instance, while maintaining to have witnessed the Resurrection of his more famous younger brother, as the first ever elected "Bishop" of Jerusalem, arguably the holiest man of his era, HE CONTINUED TO OBSERVE THE MOSAIC LAW SCRUPULOUSLY, including the observance of Yom Kippur and the offering of sacrifice(s) and repentance in the Holy of Holies of the Temple of Jerusalem, a place to which only he had access. He made prayers and supplications before God - allegedly to the point where his knees became as callused as those of a camel - on behalf of all the faithful of his community. I have to tell you, unless I'm missing something obvious here, when I first read this two years ago that Jesus' brother was observing Yom Kippur I almost fell off my chair in disbelief. It appears to fly completely in the face of the theology surrounding the expatiatory death on Good Friday. Unless James was sadly mistaken, which I doubt, it gives one cause to rethink Pauline Christianity itself. And yet, when you read the Letter of James in light of this information, it sems to make sense. Oddly enough, this letter was castigated as containing bad theology over the centuries - by Martin Luther for one - but now one wonders whose theology is right and wrong. In any event, this book, if one has the patience to re-read it, will be thought-provoking. For those who would criticize the author's very dense exposition, I have to say that this kind of subject matter is extremely complicated and trying to answer one question usually results in two more questions. The author is at least trying to present as much information as possible, but for many potential readers, it will be too overwhelming to absorb. I would welcome a future shorter book by this author, if it ever sees the light of day, attempting to simplify his position without compromising too much on detail. If it were as readable as works by the authors mentioned above, that would be true bounty indeed.
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Summary: A mostly successful attempt
Review: I have found Prof. Eisenman's work extremely valuable. His critics are right when they point out that the book is long, repetitious, and difficult. This is why I consider the book falls a star short of a 5 star winner. But perhaps the detail of the book is necessary. In Prof. Eisenman's profession "proofs" do not exist. Only interpretations. The more detail you have, perhaps the better the interpretation. I am not sure Eisenman is always right, but he is, nevertheless, enlightening. And he, trying to recover the true story of early christianity, is closer to the truth than those who look for "Jesus, the son of God" rather than "the historical Jesus". For many, the mere fact that Jesus had a brother will be a revelation. But it is equally valuable to consider that the "Ecclesia" James (and, by extension, Jesus) had in mind was a nationalistic, apocalyptic, fanatic movement against the Empire of the time. Paul, being accomodatitious with power, rejecting the local aspects of early Christianity, and transforming Jesus into a supernatural figure, made Him universal. No mean feat, but is chilling to consider that that was not the original intention. Serious work, made by an open mind. You will require one too to painfully read it. But, when you are in pain, you must remember that the author took greater pains to write it: he had to argue against orthodoxy, even Divinity, and he was mostly successful.
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Summary: A Watershed in Modern First Century Scholarship
Review: Most people today are truly ignorant of many of the key events of first century Palestine, in spite of its importance to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Eisenman considers all available documents from this time, including many which have not been discussed outside of academic circles. It has long been observed that "the victors write the histories." Not until I read this book did I have any real feeling for what this meant in terms of our understanding of the first century. Eisenman describes the many groups of this era in terms of those which survived (the Romans, the Christians, and the Jews who were philosophically Pharisees) and those which did not (any of the other branches of Judaism, including that of Jesus and his true successor, James). Once you understand the true dimensions of this historical divide, the schism described in the second chapter of Galatians will never be the same for you. I cannot recommend more strongly that you make the effort to read this book, although I agree with the others that it is a difficult book to read.
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Summary: Great Book! Christians need to know their History!
Review: This book gives the true historical account of the Early Christians in Jerusalem under the leadership of the TRUE Successor to Jesus (PBUH), James the Just. Christians need to read this book to know what really happened to the early Christians and the formation of the Pauline/Gentile Christianity. I would have gave this book a five star rating but the author reflects the fact that a scholar can be excellent in one field but very ignorant in another. This field that I feel he needs to do a better study on is Islam and the Quran. In his book he mentions that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)is the author of the Quran, which is grossly incorrect. If he studied Islam as well as he did biblical scholarship and history, he would know that Allah (God) authored the Quran and the Hadith are the words and actions of the Prophet(PBUH). Other than that the book is a good book and I hope I can get a response by the author on that
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Summary: Incoherent
Review: They are called EDITORS - for God's sake hire one. This book was an absolutely excruciatingly painful read. Words such as redundant, boring, convoluted, and confusing immediately come to mind. What was comprehensible was, in my opinion, mere speculation which the author attempts to pass off as fact. Do yourself and us a favor, skip Volume 2.
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Summary: Perhaps the 2nd most important book after the Bible
Review: Eisenman has done his homework. He painstakingly tackles inconsistencies contained in the Bible and surprisingly exposes outright lies. Magnificent piece of work, a definite keeper. Someone should contact Eisenman and tell him to get a website as this is a work in progress that needs to be discussed.
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Summary: Worth the effort
Review: Theology and bibical study has a tradition of tough-mindedness and intellectual rigor that makes extreme demands on the modern reader who has grown up with Sesame Street and Chicken-Soup For The Lazy. Eisenman cuts the reader no slack. This volume should be read with the understanding that any commentary on the Dead-Sea Scrolls published more than perhaps 5 years ago was warped into meaninglessness by the pious orthodoxy of the guardians of those scrolls. Any reader of the King James version of the New Testement must acknowledge that James was the brother of Jesus and the designated leader of the church after Jesus departed the scene. Orthodoxy has never explained how the theology of Paul came to dominate the Christian tradition and the little letter of James is taken with such a large grain of salt. Eisenman is a giant step in that direction and deserves a respectful counter-argument from the orthodox tradition John P. Meier's 2 vol work "A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus" is a good supplement to Eisenman. Meier has more extensive footnotes with good expanding remarks on Josephus where Eisenman only cites his sources. Eisenman makes good use of "the normal canons of historical argument and literary analysis" particulary as they have developed in redaction criticism of the bible. The reader need not have a degree in bible studies to slog through this difficult intellectual swamp. But the reader will drown if they depend on a traditional Christian fundamentalist life jacket to keep their faith afloat while making this journey.
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Summary: Eisenman's opening volley?
Review: After devoting considerable time reading and re- reading Dr.Eisenman's book, I must say that it's about time a blast of common sense refreshes the rarified and stuffy air of Biblical scholarship.Eisenman's appreciation for the people of the history and their motivations, shed much light where there has been mostly shadow. His original and common sense based speculations and intuitive knowledge of human nature make James..a must read. despite the challenge to Christianity implicit in this book, Eisenman steps on as many Jewish toes as Christian, and he never foregoes an opportunity to tweak the noses of the Rabbinic Jews, by daring to question the doings of their putative leaders. As the tireless Eisenman untangles the spaghhetti of rewrites and wipes and emmendations that give us our warped view of Jesus and the Jews and the threat they represented to the established order, the Pax Romana of the first century ce. . One has only to look at the Polemics of Qumram and those of Paul to see the trail of influence. Eisenman need not be correct about every particular to have given us a brand new view of history that resonates like no other.Having been to the Dead Sea and Qumram and slept out on the plain of Moab facing the ruined escarpment of Sodom and Gomorah, and knowing the harsh necessities such conditions enforced on those who lived there- it becomes very clear that such a world was very small- the so called Essenes ( zealots/ Sicarii) were not an isolated bunch of pacifists or dropped out hermits despite the irrational insistence of the NT and the Christian fathers who claim such influential characters as John the Essene aka John the Baptist could possibly be separate from the Yahad,'the community of the righteous'. The eschatological hard rain promised at Qumram does not come with a turning of one's cheek, but with a sword and this sword pointed at Rome. One of the most important points that Eisenman makes is with regard to the family of Jesus, called the Desposyni. He shows the calculated will behind the stealing of Jesus' identity by Paul who created Christ Jesus. This happened to Jesus and his family in spades over the course of the few hundred years following.. We see the NT and many later Christian texts, remove Jesus from his family, his nation and his people, isolating him, removing him from his patrimony, setting the stage for the Church's historical crimes against the Jews. If Eisenman did nothing else but force us to to see the man behind the mask of Saul/Paul, that would make the whole course of study required well worth the trip, but indeed there is much more. If one reads Tacitus and Acts, it is easy to see how Rome's most determined enemy became by proxy the enemy of much of the world and we know the sad truth of that, the holocaust is only the most recent and severe exponent of this. It is important to think about why the Roman's 'turned' a number of the most important actors of this messianic tableaux into collaborators. Eisenman's James, the Brother of Jesus creates a tapestry, but not out of whole cloth, but rather by untangling threads and brushing away the historical detritus, the fictions and slanders that have become orthodoxy. The dogmatic slumber which the mainstream academics and Dead Sea scroll scholars have sentenced us to is over. The echoes of Eisenman will shake the crockery and destroy some illusions, but such an affect is desirable at this point. From the throne mysticism of Ezekiel and the such 'hidden ones' as Honi the Circle Drawer to the messianic exegetes of Qumram, to Mani and Mohammed, influnced by Sabaean followers of the Desposyni(family of Jesus) to the Kabbalah and Sufism in Spain in the 13th century which led to the Rennaisance, the trail of esoteric knowledge points out the direction of history, the cyclicity of history, and the potency of uncovering the truth, even at this late date, will no doubt have a salutary effect on future generations. I can hardly wait to see the promised second volume of Eisenman's paradigm breaking history.
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