Don’t roll your eyes. Yes, it’s another contribution to the historical Jesus debate; yes, the whole conversation is getting tired; but Fredrikesen’s contribution is worth making time for. Our carpenter from Nazareth, Fredriksen argues, is not the Jewish Cynic depicted in some of the studies that dot Barnes and Noble shelves, nor is he the —Charismatic Galilean Hasid— of other books. The key to Jesus— life, she insists, is found in his death—a claim that challenges a number of previous books, including Fredriksen’s own From Jesus to Christ (not reviewed). His death, she writes, is —the single most solid fact about Jesus— life.— Since he was publicly crucified, not done in by knife or stone, we know that Jesus did not merely, as some scholars have suggested, instigate an internal Jewish squabble: Purely Jewish matters would never have occasioned a cross, the execution style usually reserved for political troublemakers. However, had Jesus posed a massive political threat to Rome, his followers would have been eliminated as well. The most solid fact we have about his life, then, is also the most puzzling problem: —Why was Jesus crucified?— The crucifixion, Fredriksen suggests, was intended to benefit the audience—the holiday throng in Jerusalem—more than anyone else: crucifixion as crowd control. Fredriksen has made not only the world of first-century Palestine, but also the maze of Jesus scholarship, intelligible to lay readers. She walks us through the complicated world of historical sources with care, explaining the value of Q and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Her discussion of John, which often gets short shrift among scholars fixated on the synoptic Gospels, is especially eloquent. Given the wealth of insights, it’s a shame that Fredrikesen indulges her penchant for make-believe. Her several fictional interludes, which imagine the young Jesus in Jerusalem and the destruction of the city, add nothing to her story—indeed, they distract from an otherwise elegant work.
Pub Date: Nov. 19, 1999
ISBN: 0-679-44675-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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