The Search for Messiah: Discovering the Identity of the True Messiah!

Rating:
Summary: Where's the Beef ! ! ! ? ? ?
Review: From reading the Forward and Prologue one has reason to expect this book to contain a WEALTH of evidence attesting to the historicity, Messiahship, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The author(s) assure that 'the sceptic will be challenged'. As a matter of fact I was sadly disappointed as I went thru this 'gateway of discovery' on the 'grand adventure' that reportedly 'unveils a trove of treasure'. I found the 'evidence' to be weak, sparse, and confusingly presented. The book is obviously written for a Christian audience to provide some inspirational hype to bolster the faith of the believer. The author(s) appear to confuse hearsay with 'evidence'. This is most obvious in Ch.8 where reference is made to 'tens of thousands of witnesses' and numerous sources that should suffice to satisfy our need for indisputable 'evidence'of the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth. The bible is presented as 'evidence' without informing the reader that only FOUR of its authors where in fact eyewitnesses to only SOME of these events of the life of Jesus. They inexplicably waited more than 20 years (and as many as 50-60 years) before recording these events. The author(s) don't attempt to differentiate between eye witness (all be it tardily recorded) accounts and hearsay recollections in the biblical record. This 'evidence' does not rise to the level claimed for it by the author(s) of the book. The 'ancient rabbinic literature' is also appealed to. No 'trove of treasure' here. I only found 2 applicable sources that were presented. Each lacked the specificity necessary to clearly identify a referrance to 'Jesus of Nazareth'. In fact contextual considerations would strongly resist such an interpretation. In the area of 'secular historical references' there are 7 listed and the author(s) make claim to: 'many other non-Christian historical sources for Jesus of Nazareth but since space is limited we will move on...'. I wish space wasn't 'limited' (I can't help suspecting the main limitation being a dearth of pertinent sources). They need more sources because out of the 7 presented only 2 actually MENTION Jesus!!! Those 2 are NOT eyewitnesses and are NOT even contemporary to Jesus. Josephus was 60 years after the fact and Tacticus was at least 80 years after Jesus. The Divinity and Messiahship of Jesus are primarily presented from the Biblical evidence. Numerous texts are used but confusingly organized and often gratuitous (having no bearing on the issue under consideration). The 2 strongest texts supporting the contention for a suffering/sacrificial Messiah, Psalms 22 and Isaiah 52-53 are well presented in part. What is lacking is an explanation of the contradictory passages which appear when one reads the entire prophecies. Ps.22 has the protagonist escaping death thru God's intervention due to his crying 'day and night'. Is.52-53 has a silent protagonist who is ultimately dispatched having 'opened not his mouth'. It seems to me that both passages cannot be talking about the same person. I feel the view of the author(s) that the 'ancient rabbinic literature' shows an expectation for a suffering/dying Messiah was poorly substantiated. Numerous passages are cited in the text and appendices; but one gets the feeling that there has always been a disparity of belief among the rabbis rather than a shift of position from 'ancient' beliefs to contemporary ones. I did email one of the authors (Mark Eastman) with a few of my questions. He was gracious enough to reply. He related that he was 'a big picture kind of guy'; and was mainly trying to show that rabbinic views have changed down thru the ages. His reply though did not give any further specific support for his position. I have no problem with the author(s) holding such beliefs. Being born and raised in a conservative Christian family myself; I too have enjoyed the belief that I have access to the knowledge of God and am therefore pretty well informed. I'm a little resentful (and frankly underwhelmed) though, when the author(s) start making grandiose claims of 'evidence' (that suck me into an examination of their argument); but only present the same inadequate (to me) material that I've seen and heard in the past.

Rating:
Summary: This book touched my life!
Review: I loaned this book to a friend and never got it back. Now I need it to re-read and study again, and so here I am at Amazon ordering it. Great book.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: This is a well-written book that I have started on the "lending" path with my friends. It opened up the world of the ancient rabbis for me and allowed me to see what their criteria was for the Messiah. I highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for the Messiah or wants to look at the history of Jewish and Christian beliefs. It was so interesting that I've already ordered some of the other books that Mark Eastman recommended in his book.