Christ : A Crisis in the Life of God

Rating:
Summary: A Worthy Sequel to a Classic
Review: "In what follows, the text of the New Testament will be considered rather as if it were a stained-glass window. That is, it will be looked at and appreciated as a work of art, rather than seen through in an attempt to discover the historical events that lie behind it." [p.13]

To those whose profession is to either inflate or deflate the gospels as a representation of actual history, this literary critique of the gospel account of Jesus' life may appear to be asking all of the wrong questions. But while the historical scholars duke it out over whether the gospels can be treated as history, the meaning of the gospels, in the broader context of the relationship between God and the Jewish people (and, later by extension, to the rest of the world). After five centuries since the promise of a restoration of the kingdom was first offered and no hope of it yet being fulfilled, a redefinition of the relationship was in order.

The gospels portray a redefinition of this relationship in ways that shocked the conscience of the average Jew. Not only would God come down in the form of a man (something that hadn't been done since the days of the early patriarchs), he would come not to conquer the world, but to re-enact the Passover, only this time, God would play a completely different role: the Sacrificial Lamb. The literary methods highlighted by Miles depict a story in which Jesus reveals only a little at a time, sometimes speaking in parables and other cryptic language, in order to pique the curiosity of his audience so that they can fully appreciate what he said at the right time.

As with his earlier book, God: A Biography, Miles looks at the text without the theological gloss of later religious commentators, and analyzes the text solely for its dramatic and literary value. Miles expressly makes the point that in the gospels, everything is mentioned for a reason. For example, Miles points out that the Devil's temptation of Jesus indicates more is implied than just an interaction between the Son of God and his archenemy. The Devil's questions and tests resemble those that a people who had been waiting a long time for God to restore them would ask. The post hoc theological worldview and the misplaced emphasis on the need for historical authenticity have dulled this edge of this passage.

Miles closes the book with a defense of the literary criticism method of analyzing the gospels, which he admits is the exception rather than the rule in the historical-critical vs. Christian apologetic debate. While the paucity of helpful archaeological data does little to help solve (or refute) the historical meaning that orthodox Christianity has made the primary focus, Miles' literary method gives us an evenhanded glimpse of what the message in the gospels must have been like to the original audience, which bears much more fruitful meaning, at least to the question of why people would dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ even when they were not relying on a historical record of an actual event.

Rating:
Summary: Slightly irreverent but not irrelevant. An astonishing work!
Review: For anyone interested in the life of Christ (God Incarnate), whether Born-Again Christian, Muslim, Mormon, or Catholic this book should be read for its beautiful and fascinating research into the life of this extraordinary God-man. I have read so many books that present Jesus as a figment of the author's own imagination. Jack Miles doesn't gloss over anything that Jesus said or did, he presents the gospels almost verbatim and explores his relationship to human beings courageously and boldly. His chapter on the sexuality of the Son of God was quite shocking and reads to much into the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. I felt that this chapter was brave but not insightful; whether or not Jesus had premarital sex, and if he will have a wife in the heavenly kingdom is unfounded. He was tempted in all ways as we are but without sin, this would seemt o include sexual relations outside of marriage, which Christ so highly esteemed and commanded.

This book did open my eyes and opened my heart to see Christ in a way that I had never done before. I learned many new things from this magnificent work, though I do not agree with some of his speculations, I do find his insights engaging and worth heavy consideration. This book should win a Pulitzer Prize like his first book did. A very interesting book indeed!

Rating:
Summary: Opening the Field
Review: It's my good fortune to have spent about a year in India over the course of the last three years, and I've often hosted first time visitors. Conversations invariably move to an overview of Hinduism, a religion that is quite foreign to Westerners. Almost without fail my guests have voiced the belief that Hinduism is all myth, and not to be taken very seriously. I've taken to asking these folks what makes Hinduism more a myth, or fiction, or literary construct than Christianity, and, to no surprise, they've failed to come up with an answer. I'm sure if any of these folks had been dyed in the wool Christians I would have heard something about the revealed word of God, etc., etc., but they've been open-minded enough to ponder the questions and the implications of judging another's belief system based on their own.

With both, "God, a Biography," and "Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God," Jack Miles has opened the field of discourse by presenting the Primogenitor as a literary character rather than a factual being; and Christ as the same, regardless of his historical reality. He has asked Christians to look at their God in much the same way we look at "foreign" Gods. Was Krishna born on July 19, 3228 BCE, in Gokula, India? Will he return at the end of the current age to usher in a time of peacefulness? Was Jesus born on December 25th, 1 CE. Will he return to judge the living and the dead? To Hindu's Krishna walked, talked, made love, performed miracles. To Christians Christ did the same (except, perhaps, made love.) How much credence we give to any story depends on our orientation, but regardless of belief, the stories themselves are wonderful.

One reason they're wonderful is they are rich in metaphor, and it's the metaphor that Mr. Miles explores to great effect. Who can deny the beauty of an infant, and the idea of an infant knowingly giving love? Who can deny the power in the story of God admitting an error and sacrificing himself in an attempt at rectification?

Mr. Miles's success is that he opens the metaphor, and forces us to think.

Although I'm not a huge fan of Mr. Miles literary style - in fact, I find it a bit stilted - what he has to say more than adequately compensates for the difficulty style presents.

Highly Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Literary criticism of the Bible at its best!
Review: Jack Miles, author of the Pulitzer Prize - winning *God -a Biogaphy* has written an excellent literary analysis of Christ in the New Testament.

What is the "crisis" referred to in the title? The crisis is that God has not delivered his Chosen People from 500 years of oppression. How does God solve this problem? Answer: God/Christ commits sacred suicide. This is Miles' provocative conclusion from his stirictly literary analysis the Christian Bible. How does Miles arrive at the conclusion? You, dear reader, should read the book in order to appreciate how he develops his plot and arrives at his conclusion. And believe me, there is a plot!

A caution is in order. Miles writes and studies Christ from a strictly literary point of view. He is not interested in the historical Jesus. If one reads this only to learn about the fundamentalist Jesus, the traditional Christian Jesus, or the historical Jesus, then this book will not satisfy! If on the other hand, you want to experience a great Biblical reading adventure, then buy and read this book!

I also would recommend that a reader, who is unfamiliar with literary critism and postmodernism, study and read Miles' appendices. "Appendix I" deals with the biblical canon and "Appendix II" deals with the history of critcal analysis of the Bible (e.g. historical criticism, canonical criticism, literary critcism)and how to appreciate the Bible as art.

I did not always agree with the author, but I enjoyed how he told the story of Christ. As a postmodern Christian, I will not privilege my reading over his.

Have fun reading *Christ: a Crisis in the Life of God*!

Rating:
Summary: Well-written heresy
Review: Miles' book attempts to interpret the Gospels through formal literary criticism. Rather than attaching historical study to the Gospels' message, Miles treats Jesus and his message purely through the text, and comes to a startling conclusion -- that Jesus' death was necessary because God failed to deliver on God's promise to the Israelites, and needed a way to triumph on a metaphysical level.

Whether or not one agrees with Miles' premise, he writes brilliantly and understandably. Recent Biblical scholarship gets bogged down in dry-as-dust unintelligible "academicese." Miles understands the principles of clear and succint writing while still advancing complicated theories. I recommend this one for anyone seeking to stretch their understanding of what we have received as Scripture, as well as those interested in literature and how it relates to the Bible. Like him or not, read Miles to get your brain working.

Rating:
Summary: Another Pulitzer??
Review: Pulitzer prize winning author Jack Miles, who wrote "God: A Biography", has finished in this work what he started in the other: a biographical analysis of God that developes both his character and characteristics throughout the writings of the old and new testaments. Written from a literary critic's perspective, Miles makes its clear from the beginning that his is not a historical or theological exegesis---something some reviewers have been in error to have expected. As such, Miles freely allows his character to to go where the literature of the bible takes him and to evolve plotwise from expectant creator, to general and ogre, to finally a loving father..

The outstanding contribution of Mile's book is the way it traces God's role from Israel's defender, to Israel's punisher, to finally the impotent (in this world) suffering servant who crucifies himself just before the entire country is about to be crucified along with him in the 70 AD and 135 AD rebellions against Rome. One can clearly see the changing motifs of the biblical writers as promise after promise in the bible fails to materialize and they are forced to literarily justify these failings in order to protect the integrity of their god. In the end, God's power is shifted to the next world and away from this one, in much the same way that Paul's theology shifted the second coming from this world to the next when it became obvious that it wasnt going to happen within his lifetime (read 1st Cor, 7:29). Miles, true to his committment to not render historical or theological conclusions, never explicitly says this, but it is obvious to anyone carefully reading the text.

I highly recommend this book for the reasons stated above, and would add that works such as Mile's go far towards the prospect of clarifying humanity's relationship with what Freud called the "hysteria" that humans feel when they, unlike any other animal on the planet (to our present knowledge), comprehend that their own life has an end..