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Rating: 
Summary: The Gospel according to Barbara
Review: After Robert Eisenman's 'James the Brother of Jesus' this book was a pleasure to read. Barbara Thiering presents reasonable argument from the gospels and the dead sea scrolls to strip the historical Jesus of, his divinity, virgin birth, miracles and resurrection. I do not think that most reasonable thinking people will not have any problem with this in itself. Most reasonable thinking people will know this. I think that some present day church leaders will attempt to coerce their flock into not risking hell and eternal damnation that is surely within its covers. The author trims down the multitudes into just a few main players and relocates and redraws the Holy Land to a small area around the Dead Sea. She also seems to shrink the expanse of time around Jesus ministry to fall within 3 days, the 30th, 31st, and the 1st. The small circle around the man Jesus turn out be close associates as well as his most dangerous enemies, but NO REAL FRIENDS!! Not even his mother and brothers!! The author's presentation reminds me of the old saying that one should keep his friends close and his enemies even closer. The author claims that Jesus was a great man, but just a man. The feeling that I ended with was that Jesus was more political than great! If the author was not trying to be factual and scholarly, she could have very easily have set the scene in a church or government boardroom, and the final result of the corporate in fighting would be the election of a new chairman and a board of directors. I may be wrong but I think the author presented Jesus as being more in favor of Roman Herodian rule than against them, because for the most the Roman Herodians were more in favor the hierarchy that gave Jesus more power? Politics? You Bet!! This work is obviously the result of many years of research into the writing technique of the gospel writers and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which may or not be contemporary with the birth of what we now know as Christianity. I don't advise that you buy the author's version of 'pesher', lock stock and barrel, but she will cause you to think. The reader will have to be on guard and decide what is fact or maybe the product of a great imagination. The author does have a great imagination! The reader would have to be well versed in Greek to know for sure if the authors conclusions are reasonable, but the English read is still very interesting. For example, the author claims that a character named Simon Magnus appears many times in scripture, as Simon or Lazarus, or Lazarus the leper, or Simon the magician, and this same character is one of men crucified with Jesus and actually survives and is responsible for saving Jesus life and perpetuating the resurrection myth. The author also claims that Jesus' references to God, including Father and Holy Spirit are references to very specific flesh and blood men. The author makes the same claim for references to Satan. The author claims that Jesus was the illegitimate son of Joseph and that "Simon, called Simian in the gospels, was the *angel Gabriel*" a high official of the Essene Community, who talked Joseph into recognizing the child Jesus as his son and not putting away his wife. The author portrays Jesus as a man in constant struggle with the hierarchy of a fanatical religious group who eventually succeeds in replacing it with a hierarchy which is more liberal. The old fanatics seemed to be hung up on circumcision and the celibate life style. The author never does explain the reason for this? I think, I know the answer, but that is not the subject of this review. The reader should remind themselves that the pesher that Barbara Thiering talks about, is the pesher that she has decided and not necessarily the pesher that was actually used in the creation of the gospels. Pesher seems to be an individual thing of the person making a comment on certain scriptures. Using Barbara Thiering's style of pesher one might also say that the man Gabriel, is a candidate for being the biological father of Jesus. The King James version in Matthew says *he came in unto her* and these words *he came in unto her* are the same words used to describe sexual intercourse on the Old Testament. Check out the Judah Tamar story! By this same pesher technique applied to the Genesis account of the Patriarchs one may come up with conclusions even more startling. One could speculate that Isaac is not the true son of Abraham and actually is the son of one of the second of two extramarital relations that are recorded in scripture. The two sons of Isaac are so physically different that one could pesher that they were not fathered by the same seed. Jacob stole the kingdom by coercion and the blessing by deceit. Essau was the firstborn and the rightful heir to Isaac. He was the father of Idumea and probably the patriarch of Herod who could be thought of as reclaiming what was rightfully his. Now lets not forget Ishmael who is a real son of Abraham and actually his firstborn? If one were to apply this type of pesher to the roots of the Jewish religion and their knowledge of the one true God, one might find that it did not come from Moses, but he was only the writer of a knowledge that was handed down through yet another son of Abraham, by a third wife. One might even conclude that the inheritance of their land and their identity as a nation was just as illegitimate as the one they claim as the sprouter of lies. Be careful with pesher! Jesus the man? There has probably been more speculative writing about this man than any other in the history of the world. Barbara Thiering's gospel is another one. Barbara Thiering does help to remove the fluffy stuff but leaves the politics of a religion that Jesus may have created, without answering the question, did Jesus really intend to create a new religion? I say that if one were to remove the politics and religion as well, all that would be left would be the teachings that may or may not be from the man Jesus. The test as to the practicality of these teachings, most of which are found in Chapter 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, are not in years and years of study and are not to be found in the halls of any church and no hierarchy of popes and cardinals are needed. The test is to honestly try them and see if they make a difference in ones life. If they work, keep them and if not chuck them. As for the book, Jesus the Man, I found it interesting and imaginative, but not definitive. Read it!!
Rating:
Summary: The Gospel according to Barbara
Review: After Robert Eisenman's `James the Brother of Jesus' this book was a pleasure to read. Barbara Thiering presents reasonable argument from the gospels and the dead sea scrolls to strip the historical Jesus of, his divinity, virgin birth, miracles and resurrection. I do not think that most reasonable thinking people will not have any problem with this in itself. Most reasonable thinking people will know this. I think that some present day church leaders will attempt to coerce their flock into not risking hell and eternal damnation that is surely within its covers. The author trims down the multitudes into just a few main players and relocates and redraws the Holy Land to a small area around the Dead Sea. She also seems to shrink the expanse of time around Jesus ministry to fall within 3 days, the 30th, 31st, and the 1st. The small circle around the man Jesus turn out be close associates as well as his most dangerous enemies, but NO REAL FRIENDS!! Not even his mother and brothers!! The author's presentation reminds me of the old saying that one should keep his friends close and his enemies even closer. The author claims that Jesus was a great man, but just a man. The feeling that I ended with was that Jesus was more political than great! If the author was not trying to be factual and scholarly, she could have very easily have set the scene in a church or government boardroom, and the final result of the corporate in fighting would be the election of a new chairman and a board of directors. I may be wrong but I think the author presented Jesus as being more in favor of Roman Herodian rule than against them, because for the most the Roman Herodians were more in favor the hierarchy that gave Jesus more power? Politics? You Bet!! This work is obviously the result of many years of research into the writing technique of the gospel writers and some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which may or not be contemporary with the birth of what we now know as Christianity. I don't advise that you buy the author's version of `pesher', lock stock and barrel, but she will cause you to think. The reader will have to be on guard and decide what is fact or maybe the product of a great imagination. The author does have a great imagination! The reader would have to be well versed in Greek to know for sure if the authors conclusions are reasonable, but the English read is still very interesting. For example, the author claims that a character named Simon Magnus appears many times in scripture, as Simon or Lazarus, or Lazarus the leper, or Simon the magician, and this same character is one of men crucified with Jesus and actually survives and is responsible for saving Jesus life and perpetuating the resurrection myth. The author also claims that Jesus' references to God, including Father and Holy Spirit are references to very specific flesh and blood men. The author makes the same claim for references to Satan. The author claims that Jesus was the illegitimate son of Joseph and that "Simon, called Simian in the gospels, was the *angel Gabriel*" a high official of the Essene Community, who talked Joseph into recognizing the child Jesus as his son and not putting away his wife. The author portrays Jesus as a man in constant struggle with the hierarchy of a fanatical religious group who eventually succeeds in replacing it with a hierarchy which is more liberal. The old fanatics seemed to be hung up on circumcision and the celibate life style. The author never does explain the reason for this? I think, I know the answer, but that is not the subject of this review. The reader should remind themselves that the pesher that Barbara Thiering talks about, is the pesher that she has decided and not necessarily the pesher that was actually used in the creation of the gospels. Pesher seems to be an individual thing of the person making a comment on certain scriptures. Using Barbara Thiering's style of pesher one might also say that the man Gabriel, is a candidate for being the biological father of Jesus. The King James version in Matthew says *he came in unto her* and these words *he came in unto her* are the same words used to describe sexual intercourse on the Old Testament. Check out the Judah Tamar story! By this same pesher technique applied to the Genesis account of the Patriarchs one may come up with conclusions even more startling. One could speculate that Isaac is not the true son of Abraham and actually is the son of one of the second of two extramarital relations that are recorded in scripture. The two sons of Isaac are so physically different that one could pesher that they were not fathered by the same seed. Jacob stole the kingdom by coercion and the blessing by deceit. Essau was the firstborn and the rightful heir to Isaac. He was the father of Idumea and probably the patriarch of Herod who could be thought of as reclaiming what was rightfully his. Now lets not forget Ishmael who is a real son of Abraham and actually his firstborn? If one were to apply this type of pesher to the roots of the Jewish religion and their knowledge of the one true God, one might find that it did not come from Moses, but he was only the writer of a knowledge that was handed down through yet another son of Abraham, by a third wife. One might even conclude that the inheritance of their land and their identity as a nation was just as illegitimate as the one they claim as the sprouter of lies. Be careful with pesher! Jesus the man? There has probably been more speculative writing about this man than any other in the history of the world. Barbara Thiering's gospel is another one. Barbara Thiering does help to remove the fluffy stuff but leaves the politics of a religion that Jesus may have created, without answering the question, did Jesus really intend to create a new religion? I say that if one were to remove the politics and religion as well, all that would be left would be the teachings that may or may not be from the man Jesus. The test as to the practicality of these teachings, most of which are found in Chapter 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, are not in years and years of study and are not to be found in the halls of any church and no hierarchy of popes and cardinals are needed. The test is to honestly try them and see if they make a difference in ones life. If they work, keep them and if not chuck them. As for the book, Jesus the Man, I found it interesting and imaginative, but not definitive. Read it!!
Rating:
Summary: Keep Searching.
Review: After this book, I was excommnicated for just mentioning it,
then I rented the 1988 [Martin Scorsese Picture] RATED "R" ??
"THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST" [WILLEM DAFOE]. THAT REALLY DID ME IN. AS A LIFE LONG CATHOLIC IAM WITH GREAT DOUBTS, NOW I QUESTION EVERYTHING, WHY? Because I [we] seek the Truth. Not some preacher asking for a "Temple Toll,a Tax,or Tribute" knowing the Truth, But selling a lie. I now follow no man, just the Kingdom of GOD WITHIN and AROUND ME. The kingdom of Heaven is The kingdom on Earth.
Rating:
Summary: Keep Searching.
Review: After this book, I was excommnicated for just mentioning it,
then I rented the 1988 [Martin Scorsese Picture] RATED "R" ??
"THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST" [WILLEM DAFOE]. THAT REALLY DID ME IN. AS A LIFE LONG CATHOLIC IAM WITH GREAT DOUBTS, NOW I QUESTION EVERYTHING, WHY? Because I [we] seek the Truth. Not some preacher asking for a "Temple Toll,a Tax,or Tribute" knowing the Truth, But selling a lie. I now follow no man, just the Kingdom of GOD WITHIN and AROUND ME. The kingdom of Heaven is The kingdom on Earth.
Rating: 
Summary: Just You Wait!
Review: Difficult, but excellent reading. Although it is necessary to go back and forth between the text and footnotes, it is definitely worth the effort. However, I am finding "Jesus of the Aplocalypse", a later book by Thiering to be much easier reading. This book is not available in the U.S. yet, but is a great follow-up.
Rating: 
Summary: too much conjecture
Review: I bought this book after seeing the TV documentary, which I thought was very interesting. However, by the time I got about half-way through the book, I realized that her conclusions are based upon wild conjecture. Thiering believes that basically everything in the gospels is symbolic and that she has discovered the keys to understanding the real story behind the fiction. The real story, of course, was hidden from the uninitated, and now that hidden knowledge that was lost for thousands of years can be yours! Ya, right. If you like conspiracy theories, this book will probably interest you. If you want a good book about the Dead Sea Scrolls, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A Fresh Look at Jesus
Review: What strikes me about Barbara Thiering's work is her portrayal of the human side of Jesus which is more compelling and worthy of the faith he has achieved than the myths propagated by the Christian faith over the millenia. Here is a man who railed against the exclusionary practice of his people and preached that all men and women were God's children, not just the followers of an exclusive lot. Through Thiering's work you can see the struggle of the David dynasty working against the Herodian usurpers who aligned themselves with mighty Rome. Jesus rightly saw the futility of taking on Rome, and saw that the baptism of his faith should be open to all gentiles as the right way to achieve his kingdom. If history is any indication, Jesus was right, Christianity, unburdened by all the strict requirements of Jewish Law, prospered and grew to its present form. I always had a hard time accepting the Christian mythology that Jesus was this poor son of a poor carpenter. What comes through is a real man, born of the royal blood of David, which Thiering confirms pointing to the so called errors in the accounts of Jesus' lineage, showing us their actual meaning, and you began to see a prince born to a once ruling family. This is more real and easier to accept than the Son of God myth. I come away with a reverence for Jesus the man, who changed the world, and whose compassion for all people in an era of injustice and slavery, was a sign of the hand of God. I don't give this book 5 stars because it is a little hard to follow, jumping back and forth between the pages and the footnotes, but it is an enlightnening book well worth your time.
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