Mind & Spirit & Mysticism

Jesus the Rabbi Prophet - A New Light on the Gospel Message

5 stars (A fresh look at Jesus the man) - I really enjoyed reading this book and discovering many aspects about Jesus the man and the sociological context in which he lived. I particularly appreciated that this book has no theological agenda. It presents conflicting views of Jesus'life, yet no sides are taken. 1 stars (A modern gnostic view of Jesus' life) - If you are not a Christian, this book would be a poor introduction to Christianity and will probably have little appeal to you since it does not present Jesus as a religious figure. If you are a Christian, the mere assumption that there are "literary creations" within the Gospels will draw you away from this book. Of course, if you're an atheist, this book will hold no appeal for you. So this book begs the question: who is it written for? The writer tries his best to pretend to be impartial in his view of Jesus, but to say he comes up short would be a stretch. Rule number one of an impartial approach to any study is not to bring your own assumptions into your subject. But that is not what the author does. In fact, from page one he assumes that the Gospels are full of mere "literary creations", and that dooms the book from the start. Bottom line about any study performed on the figure, historical or otherwise, of Jesus is to approach the subject willing to consider that whoever wrote the Gospels was either a)inspired by the Holy Spirit as it is widely believed by Christians or b)that the authors had no need to embelish the life of Jesus since His teachings and works were pretty amazing of themselves. If you're not willing to consider any of these two possibilities, you will end up with the biased study contained in this book. This book takes the gnostic approach to Jesus: that he was simply a man. A great man, whose teachings were intended to start a theological revolution much like Muhammad (Mohammed) or Confucius, but just a man. It casts doubt upon the veracity of the works of Jesus, including...
Inner Traditions :: Body :: Mind & Spirit & Mysticism :: Theology :: Teachings :: New Age :: Mysticism :: Jesus Christ :: Christianity - Theology - History :: Christianity - Theology - C :: Jesus the Rabbi Prophet - A New Light on the Gospel Message