Justg read and liked Robert Beveridge's review of The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold:

"Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (Adventures Unlimited, 1999)

Okay, I tried.

I've crossed swords with the author before on some of the very issues that show a blind spot in this book (the section on...more Acharya S, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold (Adventures Unlimited, 1999)

Okay, I tried.

I've crossed swords with the author before on some of the very issues that show a blind spot in this book (the section on Evemerism is especially weak, for example; more on that below), but in many cases, her response ended up being "read my book," which then hadn't been released yet. Okay, so I got around to reading the book, or at least trying to read the book.

The Christ Conspiracy may well be on the most important subject to be written about in the last two thousand years. And what is here is well-researched, even if the source material isn't always of top quality. But the presentation is absolutely horrible. The book is just on the wrong side of unreadable; it seems almost as if it were written for the purpose of being presented as a textbook (the authors of which often seems if they're being deliberately obtuse). Interesting, this, because Acharya has a style about her that reaches for readability in today's culture; her diction is appealing to gen-X and younger readers, she's witty, a formidable opponent in debate, and simply quite likable. None of which actually comes out in her writing here; what we get is a four-hundred-page rant (well, okay, I only make it through two hundred fifty pages, but saw no reason to believe it would be any different to the end) that's dry as dust. It makes Bjorn Lomborg (The Skeptical Environmentalist) look like Stephen King.

What is most glaring, however, are the places where questions are raised that Acharya either refuses to answer or never thought of answering. I know the latter is not the case for at least one of these questions; she hammers away at evemerist interpretations of Christ by setting up a straw man, saying that anyone to whom evemerism attaches itself must have at least some of the characteristics that get exaggerated, as in the case of Paul Bunyan. Such is not the case. Reader's of Chinua Achebe's novel A Man of the People will easily see through this sleight-of-hand. For a real-life example, try Johnny Appleseed...or, perhaps, Jesus Christ. Such inconsistencies in question-answering are common throughout the book.

Worse yet, a number of her sources have either been discredited to the point where even the atheists don't consider them worthwhile anymore or are of questionable character in the first place.

None of the above is to say the topic itself, whether Jesus Christ truly existed or not, is not worth researching. The opposite, in fact; Christianity is an obvious amalgamation of earlier religions, and Jesus Christ may well have been a mythical figure, something the Gnostics have been claiming for almost two millennia without anyone really listening to them. But such an important topic needs far more solid legs in serious debate than will be found in this book. You can do far better.

First book fed to my starving dustbunnies in 2004. (zero) (less) "

Justg read and liked Ryan's review of Mere Christianity:

"I've been into spirituality and meditation for a long time now--I've been practicing a meditation technique called Deep Meditation daily for a year and a half now--but recently a good friend of mine (my best friend), who is one of the strongest belie...more I've been into spirituality and meditation for a long time now--I've been practicing a meditation technique called Deep Meditation daily for a year and a half now--but recently a good friend of mine (my best friend), who is one of the strongest believers I know, has introduced me to Christianity as a faith and the teachings of Jesus, the Word, the Bible, and church. At first I was very confused about some things, there was a clash in my beliefs--what is sin, confusion surrounding sex, and what God exactly is. I really wanted to delve into Christianity, but I didn't want to "identify" myself with a religion. I didn't want the baggage and the conditioning that could come with Christianity. Mere Christianity has helped me in so many ways. CS Lewis is very logical, and he was once an atheist, so it's easier to listen to his arguments. He talks about a moral standard that we all feel inside, and how Christianity is about living an ideal without taking personal pride in our performance. I'm half way through the book, but so far I'm further convinced that Jesus is my savior and that Christianity is right for me. I feel God's presence in my life. I feel that my future on this path is fulfilling, and I hope that anybody who is confused about their spiritual beliefs, or anyone who wants to take a peak at Christianity and see if it is right for them, should check this book out.(less) "

Justg read and liked Jared's review of Mere Christianity:

"C. S. Lewis is becoming one of my favorite authors. I’ve been meaning to read “Mere Christianity” for years and I’m glad I moved it to the front of my reading list. This book is his effort at explaining basic beliefs common to nearly all Chri...more C. S. Lewis is becoming one of my favorite authors. I’ve been meaning to read “Mere Christianity” for years and I’m glad I moved it to the front of my reading list. This book is his effort at explaining basic beliefs common to nearly all Christians – the core tenets of Christian religion. There were lots of parts I loved and a few that left me scratching my head, but here are a few of my personal highlights:

The chapter on “Morality and Psychoanalysis” – a somewhat misleading title. I appreciated his discussion of the differences between how God and people make judgments on others' behavior. As a psychologist, it was interesting to read his thoughts on how biological and environmental conditions can influence the behavior we observe in others, but what matters to God is what we’ve done with the “raw materials” we’ve been given. He explained: "We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he's done with it. Most of the man's psychological makeup is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the best or the worst of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice things which we thought our own, but which were really due to a good digestion, will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises."

I also liked his thoughts on practicing charity. He wrote, "Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you love someone, you will presently come to love him."

Another great quote in the chapter on Hope: "Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither."

One of the chapters on faith had some real gems that reminded me of what Neal A. Maxwell talked about frequently with regard to our wills being the only thing that is uniquely ours that we can give to God. Lewis wrote: “Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already."

Finally, I was intrigued to read this from Lewis in the chapter “Is Christianity Hard or Easy?”: "The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him -- for we can prevent him, if we choose -- he will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long, and in parts, very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what he said."

There are many other “gems” in this book, and it's no surprise why this is one of the modern classics in Christian literature.
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