JESUS CHRIST DIVIDED

A lay scholar reevaluates the early history of Christianity in this spiritual book.

Raised in a Roman Catholic home, LaFond left organized Christianity in adulthood. Born out of “a personal quest to discover the real Jesus Christ,” the author calls into question prevailing—yet distorted, in his opinion—narratives supported by scholars and Christians alike. Contemporary scholars, the book suggests, have relied on “conservative” interpretations that sprang out of the historical Jesus movement that paint the man as a Jewish rabbi who was only later reinvented as a messianic figure. This approach, the work convincingly argues in its analysis of early Christian texts, too often minimizes contrary evidence. Alternately, far too many modern-day Christians have portrayed the early church era as a “golden age, free from the petty conflicts and squabbles that have plagued Christians since.” Through expert analysis of Paul’s epistles, this volume makes a strong case that from its very inception, Christianity has been plagued with divisions and “competing visions of Jesus Christ.” Indeed, by reading Paul’s epistles chronologically, rather than in the order in which they were placed in the Bible centuries later, LaFond demonstrates how Paul himself “did not have enough confidence to insist on any single projection of the meaning of Christ,” as his own writings are rife with “split” metaphors that lack “a single coherent structure.” But while the book has a solid grasp of early Christian history and theology, there should be more direct engagement with the scholarship that it is contesting, which rarely appears in the volume’s sparse footnotes. Because it targets vague, often unnamed “current scholarship,” the work tends to treat contemporary literature on the history of Christianity as far more monolithic than it really is, ignoring nuances, debates, and alternative perspectives that proliferate in the field. Nevertheless, the book’s strengths lie in its command of Paul’s epistles, and it is an excellent introduction to the history of his journeys across the Mediterranean world and the evolution of his theology. Ample appendix reproductions of nonbiblical early Christian texts are also a welcome addition.

A well-written reinterpretation of early Christian history that lacks meaningful engagement with contemporary scholarship.