Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium |
Buy Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium here, one of 714 American Prophecies books offered for sale at discount prices here in the history books section at R bookshop. There are currently 74849 history books in our history books section, and over 1,000,000 books listed in our book store. We greatly appreciate your patronage at R bookshop and look forward to offering you a large selection of great books at discount prices now and in the future. Thank you for shopping at R Bookshop!
|
You Are Here: Home > History Books > American Prophecies > Item 62
 |
Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
|
by Bart D. Ehrman
Sales Rank: 85277
|
List Price: $17.95
$17.95
At Amazon
on 6-21-2008.
|
|
|
|
Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 288 pages
Published by: Oxford University Press, USA May 31, 2001
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 019512474X
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0195124743
Book Dimensions:
7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
Weighs: 7.2 ounces
Product Review
C.S. Lewis once noted that nowhere do the Gospels say, "Jesus laughed." He's probably laughing now, if he's got access to Bart Ehrman's Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. The title doesn't even hint at the yuks that Ehrman's prose delivers, but from its very first page, Jesus will tickle your funny bone and stimulate your brain. "At last count," Ehrman begins, "there were something like 8 zillion books written about Jesus . It's not there aren't enough books about Jesus out there. It's that there aren't enough of the right kind of book. Very, very few, in fact. I'd say about one and a half."
The right kind of book, according to Ehrman, is one that portrays Jesus roughly as Albert Schweitzer did, as a first-century Jewish apocalypticist: "This is a shorthand way of saying that Jesus fully expected that the history of the world as we know it (well, as he knew it) was going to come to a screeching halt, that God was soon going to intervene in the affairs of this world, overthrow the forces of evil in a cosmic act of judgment, destroy huge masses of humanity, and abolish existing human political and religious institutions. All this would be a prelude to the arrival of a new order on earth, the Kingdom of God." Ehrman's is a historical-Jesus book, a very smart, humble, and humorous popular summary of Christian and secular evidence of Jesus' life, work, and legacy. He believes that apocalypticism is the true core of Jesus' message, and that comfortable middle-class complacency among scholars, clergy, and laypeople has forged a counterfeit, domesticated, "ethical" Jesus to cover up their befuddlement about his misprediction of the apocalypse. The book will frustrate many readers because it offers no real guidance regarding what one should do with Jesus' apocalypticism. Its project--to prove that Jesus was wrong about the apocalypse--may even appear destructive to some. Yet the argument is convincing enough to induce among careful readers a constructive experience of confusion. Jesus makes readers ask the very question it appears to ignore, in a newly humble way: how, then, should we live? A serious matter, but considering humanity's endless string of wrong answers and infinite capacity for self-delusion, worthy of some good belly laughs, as well. --Michael Joseph Gross
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
At the end of the millennium, there are as many views of the historical Jesus as there are scholars who writing about him. In his engaging study, Ehrman, associate professor of religious studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, argues that Jesus can be best understood as a "first-century Jewish apocalypticistwho fully expected that the history of the world as he knew it was going to come to a screeching halt and that God was going to overthrow the forces of evil in a cosmic act of judgment." The author contends that this portrait of Jesus, first proclaimed by Albert Schweitzer in The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1906), has been overlooked in the rush to draw Jesus in the images of whatever scholarly or popular movement is painting Him. Ehrman looks at carefully noncanonical and canonical sources as he reconstructs the life of Jesus. He uses already established critical criteriaAindependent attestation, dissimilarity, contextual credibilityAto determine what elements of the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life can be considered authentic. For example, according to the evidence, he asserts that we can seriously doubt that the virgin conception, Jesus' birth in Bethlehem and the story of wise men following a star are historical events. Ehrman then proceeds to provide a lucid overview of the turbulent political and religious times in which Jesus lived and worked. Finally, the author provides a detailed examination of Jesus' words and deeds to show that they present the work of a Jewish apocalyptic prophet who expected universal judgment and the coming Kingdom of God to occur within his own lifetime and that of his disciples. While Ehrman's provocative thesis will stir up controversy among scholars, his warm, inviting prose style and his easy-to-read historical and critical overviews make this the single best introduction to the study of the historical Jesus. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Reader Reviews
This is an effective, well-written, and concise presentation of who the person of Jesus of Nazareth who walked and preached in 1st century Palestine actually was. There are a lot of historical Jesus works out there and it is easy to get lost and the author makes a great point that many scholars simply mold Jesus into a person of their time and place: a 60's radical, a social reformer, a magician, etc. Ehrman asserts that traditional scholarship since the 19th century is correct: Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who was expecting the present world to end in the very near future and be replaced by the kingdom of God. His healings, exorcisms, and exortations of radical, self-less love and care for the poor, destitute, and forgotten (the dregs of society), demonstrated that Jesus firmly held to the belief that God was a compassionate, just Judge who was going to turn the social, political, and religious order upside down in this new kingdom. This view is consistent with the traditional Jewish view of God, that primarly viewed Him as concerned with justice and righteousness that was most particularly demonstrated in an individual's/society's care for the widow and the orphan and fits nicely with the apocalyptic context of Jesus' day: people expected and believed God to radically alter history at any time. Jesus appears to have been non violent in this view, he didn't seek to effect the kingdom of God via a people's revolution but instead expected it to come about via a supernatural miracle of God. These arguments are well demonstrated and persuasive. Caution, however, is called for in some of these assertions. Ehrman too quickly dismisses the work of more recent scholars who have discovered new insights to Jesus from careful study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the study of Church father writings that shed some doubt on some of these conclusions. He flat out gives no consideration to Crossan's views that Jesus was primarly concerned with ethical eschatology and not apocalyptic eschatology. Although some of Crossan's arguments aren't particularly strong, I find it generally true that Jesus was ethical as well as apocalyptic. It could very well be that Jesus believed that the establishment and/or growth of a renewed ethic among the people would hasten the apocalyptic end of the present state and help to usher in the new kingdom which would, after all essentially be an ethical kingdom. I find no support, however, for Crossan's belief that Jesus was a social reformer with a clear socio-economic plan. There was no such plan: God Himself was going to rule and plan in the new kingdom. Ehrman does not give enough consideration to Jesus as zealous revolutionary either. Although there is no Jewish or pagan sources of the time to indicate this, the actions of Jesus' first followers reveal zealot tendencies. Acts narrates the immense trouble the apostle Paul had on his second visit to Jerusalem after he was seized in the temple by "the Jews". In his defense (Acts 22) before these obviously zealous Jews who, incidentally plot to kill him in the next chapter, he talks about his vision of Jesus and his Damascus conversion. The crowd listens patiently even as he relates what Jesus has said to him and the events subsequent to his vision. They violently react, however, as soon as Paul mentions his mission to the Gentiles. These are no ordinary Jews, they are Nazarenes, Jewish Christians, this much is clear. So, if Jesus was completely non-violent, why were his first Jewish followers so zealous to the point of plotting to kill Paul? Of course this doesn't agree with Jesus' "love your enemies" but it is highly curious. One other point. He accepts the gospel's claims that Jesus' family rejected him during his life. Further investigation doesn't support this however. His brother James was the undisputed leader of the Jerusalem assembly after Jesus' crucifixion. I find it hard to believe that having only become a believer after Jesus' resurrection that James would be chosen to lead the believers after having not spent time with Jesus while on earth. It seems much more likely that James was always intended to be the leader and was in fact the disciple called James. This suggests that James' brother John, another disciple, was also Jesus' brother. Mary's second husband after Joseph's death is accepted as Simon bar Clopas, who was one of the disciples Jesus first appeared to after his resurrection in Luke, and is most likely the son of Simon the "Zealot", another of Jesus' disciples and half-brother. There is good evidence to believe that Jesus' family played a quite prominent role in his ministry during and after his life. Also interesting is that his brother Simon was a zealot. Their is a clear pattern of obfuscation in the gospels when it comes to certain individuals, especially regarding family members of Jesus. This indicates that later writers and redactors purposely sought to downplay his family for theological reasons. Even though I disagree with some of the conclusions of this book, it is a very good presentation of classical beliefs on historical Jesus. If you are beginning to study this subject, I recommend it highly as one of your first readings.
Comment | |
(Report this)
Back To Top
|
Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
Available from Amazon
Price: $17.95
Updated on 6-21-2008.
|
NOTICE: All prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
| We offer Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium and other related American Prophecies Books here at Rbookshop.com. To view more books about American Prophecies please use the previous and next buttons near the top of this page.
|
|
Search for books at
