Chapter OneThe Good News and the Nightly NewsRecent years have been very good for the Jesus business in America. I don't mean the Jesus business th...
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Dec 15, 2008
Skylar
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The primary point Luke Timothy Johnson seems to be making in this book is that the "real Jesus" is not the "historical Jesus" at all – for the "historical Jesus" is impossible to reliably reconstruct and has influenced absolutely no one living today. The "real Jesus" is, rather, the living Jesus, Jesus as actually experienced and understood by those whose lives and communities His presence transforms. The author makes a convincing argument against the Jesu
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May 09, 2009
Brett
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This is a really great book. He actually ends up dealing more with methodology than with Jesus specifically. I can see many inerrantists squirming in their seats as they read his arguments, but it would be a shame if that caused them to miss the thrust of this book. He does an excellent job, first, of dismantling the Jesus Seminar and exposing their agenda. He also shows how their (re)visions of Jesus are predetermined by their presuppositions and values. In other words, they find the Jesus
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May 20, 2009
Michael
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Luke Timothy Johnson, former Benedictine monk and priest, and now Biblical scholar, takes on a critical analysis of the assumptions and scholarship of the Jesus Seminar.
Who or what is the Jesus Seminar? If you are not familiar with them or the media frenzy their research elicited surprise by many and serious questions and disdain by many within the Biblical scholarship world. The sad fact was, as Professor Johnson points out in this book, that the media not only did not make critical quest More...
Who or what is the Jesus Seminar? If you are not familiar with them or the media frenzy their research elicited surprise by many and serious questions and disdain by many within the Biblical scholarship world. The sad fact was, as Professor Johnson points out in this book, that the media not only did not make critical quest More...
Mar 31, 2011
Christopher
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THE REAL JESUS is scholar Luke Timothy Johnson's critical response to several writers in the historical Jesus fad that grew quite large in the late 1980s and 1990s. Generously published in 1996 by HarperSanFrancisco, the same publisher of so many of the books Johnson criticises, the work is a necessary counterpoint to any book asserting to reach a historical understanding of Jesus.
Johnson does not stand against works exploring the historic nature of Jesus. He himself has worked in th More...
Johnson does not stand against works exploring the historic nature of Jesus. He himself has worked in th More...
Aug 06, 2009
Brent
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A needed rebuttal/response to the Jesus Seminar. Quickly dated however, since the Jesus Seminar has died out. Johnson's anti-historical Jesus stance is difficult to sustain. I prefer a traditional scholar like N T Wright, who connects the best historical Jesus scholarship to our current demands on faith and church.
Jan 26, 2010
Christine
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A readable and excellent review of the poor scholarship shown by the Jesus Seminar and others intent on sensational debunking and high sales. Also, and more importantly, Johnson spends equal time analyzing the limits of what we can "know" about those first centuries, the limits to history, and an understanding what Christianity can and does validly claim.
Jun 30, 2010
There is has a lot of books out lately about what the REAL JESUS was like, did he exists, etc. This is a good book to read to get another historical perspective.
Aug 03, 2011
Kevin
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Repudiating the Jesus Seminar and the plague of books trying to create their own individual Jesus to suit their requirements.
Dec 18, 2011
Brian
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This great little book serves three purposes. It gives a good rebuttal to the excesses of the claims of the Jesus Seminar (This part of the book is a bit out dated because the JS isn't really taken seriously--partially because of books like this; however, habits like their still exist in the academy). The book also gives a good introduction to critical issues and what can be known as historical bedrock about Jesus and the New Testament. The most important part of the book, however, is the call t
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Feb 01, 2008
Atchisson
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A scholarly refutation of the long-unchallenged "findings" of the Jesus Seminar. Point by point, Johnson descimates the oft-heralded "truths" trumpeted by the Seminar and their media allies. It is little surprise he didn't get asked to appear in an eighth of the print and electronic media as the Seminar members, but his book speaks for itself.
Aug 05, 2007
Mom
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I did the teaching comapny audioCDs. 32 lectures by this benedictine monk. Excellent lecture series. Each lecture 30mins. Written text included. Can do the paperback instead. I chose the audiotapes, i spend a lot of time in my car.
Dec 17, 2009
Mary
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This is a fantastic scholarlt work on the academic attempt to marginalize and recreate Jesus. Written by a world renowned scholar, it's also onlt 100 and some pages, so it's great for a lay person!
Aug 05, 2008
Rae
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A timely response to the Jesus Seminar folks from an established Biblical scholar. It was so good to read something scholarly that defended the Christ and his divinity.
Aug 21, 2008
Tom
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refutes false beliefs of 'so-called' scripture scholars of the Historical Jesus school.
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