Jesus Before God: The Prayer Life of the Historical Jesus

by Hal Taussig

Jesus Before God examines new ways the historical Jesus can teach us to pray. The prayer that emerges is very different from the prayers of Jesus' contemporaries, from traditional church prayers, and from new fashions of spirituality. The surprise that awaits the reader may be as unsettling as that experienced by Jesus' audience two thousand years ago. Hal Taussig is a skilled biblical scholar who pursues a trail of evidence leading closer and closer to the historical Jesus. At the end he finds the Q Jesus Prayer—the earliest known form of the so-called Lord's Prayer. In analyzing this prayer he discovers fragments that may well come from Jesus himself.

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

A founding member of the Jesus Seminar, HAL TAUSSIG is a pastor, professor of Biblical literature at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and professor of early Christianity at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He is the author of In the Beginning Was the Meal; The Thunder: Perfect Mind; A New Spiritual Home; Reimagining Life Together in America (with Catherine Nerney); Jesus Before God; Reimagining Christian Origins (with Elizabeth Castelli), and others.

Reviews

[Karl Kronlage · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've read a lot of books from the members of the Jesus Seminar, then this one will have a lot of review in it. It does offer a unique view of prayer - totally different than what we consider prayer today. For that alone, I give this four stars. I like the hypothetical situations he puts Jesus in - the narrative brings to life his theory on how Jesus prayed - more or less a rebellion of the Roman Empire. I saw him at a book reading and when he read from this book, I had to have it - and wasn't disappointed.