Blaming Jesus for Jehovah: Rethinking the Righteousness of Christianity

by Robert M. Price, Valerie Tarico

Christians consider their religion virtually synonymous with morality, believing there can be no moral standard without a God to guarantee it, no moral behavior without belief in God and knowledge of his commandments. Disbelievers are objects of their suspicion, tarred with labels like "relativist" and "nihilist." But buried under the benign and placid surface of their own theology lies a ticking moral time bomb, and most of them have never realized the sinister implications of what they purport to believe. Having his loins girt with a lifelong regard for rational truth, wearing the breastplate of former fundamentalism and the helmet of biblical scholarship, Robert M. Price does some bomb squad investigation around the deadly and hidden charge lurking under the moral foundations of Christianity.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Atheism

168 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2016

About the author

Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.

A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Reviews

[Marie Tovaas · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's all there

I chose the five star rating because the author carefully documents all of his statements and positions. He points out some of the obvious contradictions in the Bible, points out the terrible effects of some of teachings found in it, or at least implied by it and consequently taken as real by its worshippers, and finally talks about what will happen as traditional Christian (and indeed Islamic and other) religious beliefs fade out of society and the human race finally is free of religious dogmatism. It's a refreshing picture. What would life be like when people are no longer brainwashed literally from birth to believe that they are evil tainted creatures who are totally deserving of an eternity of Hellfire and that only by swallowing hook, line, and sinker the dictated dogmas of their local version of Christianity and getting the magical formula just right can they hope to escape on the bloody coattails of a crucified Jesus? While the book holds out a grand promise, sadly, I think that a system like Christianity or Islam, with its terrible fear penalties, not only of what might be done to someone in this life, but penalties that will go on forever insuring the hold its leaders have on the money and power over their followers will stay gone once removed from society. There's a sucker born every minute. Religion is just too tempting to the greedy and power hungry to resist for good. But we can only hope.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Price is an atheist, biblical scholar, and former fundamentalist who makes a solid case for stripping away the “nice” portrait of Jesus espoused by progressive Christians.

[Stephie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

The goal of this book is to deconvert the Christian believer by explaining that the morals of the New Testament are no better than the morals of the Old Testament. After discussing some problems of the Bible in general, Robert M Price, moves on to the main topic—the bad morals of the New Testament.

Rather than provide a brief synopsis as I usually try to do I will just say some things about the notes I took since it has been a while since I finished it. The first concerns the forward by Valerie Tarico where she suggests that cherry picking the Bible is not only a good strategy, but an essential one. She claims, “Rather than being used as an epithet, perhaps cherry picker should be a compliment, an acknowledgment of discernment, wisdom, judgment, and responsibility.” [Kindle location 185, italics are hers] She says this to support Price’s use of cherry picking, but when believers do it I don’t think she would be so supportive. I do agree that cherry picking is a necessity, and not just in the Bible. Cherry picking is just a fact of life; we all do.

These are some of the other notes I took. While Price claims that the New Testament shows that Jesus has time for everyone [Kindle location 668], I find that while some of his actions with people show this, it appears that Jesus has no time for his own family [Mark 3:31-35], who I would imagine need his help as much as anybody else. In a section on ability and humility [Kindle location 752], I find agreement with Price. To say I am just “lucky that way” misses the fact that effort and most likely motivation come from the person himself. To say otherwise, you would have to mean that you are not responsible for your bad actions as well. While talking of televangelists saying to give them money instead of caring for ones parents in their late age [Kindle location 798], Price quotes Mathew 15:4 - “He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die,” again that would put Jesus in trouble. Actually, he did die. Price in his conclusion states: “And I believe that the direction of cultural evolution is towards radial religious pluralism, then on to secularism in which religion will either wither away entirely or will become marginalized to the point of social irrelevance.” [Kindle location 2425] This sounds like a Marxist prediction. In any case I am not so optimistic that this will be the course of religion in are world, unless it would be in some unforeseeable future. Also he mentions that this would not usher in a golden age, reminding us to “Look at Washington!” My mind screamed what about the religious right influence there. Take that away, and there might be better behavior, or not.

Overall, I found this book to be good, but not Price’s best. One thing I found was that he used to many !. He probably used them so much to try to drive home his points to Christian believers; I just found them annoying. This book was not one of his scholarly works, which I like better—some meat and potatoes so to speak. I do understand that given his intended audience this would not have been the best approach to take. Still, I did enjoy reading it.

I could recommend this book to atheists because it does support that kind of belief and might be profitable as a source for arguments with Christians if that’s your cup of tea. I guess I would have to recommend it also to the Christian believer who already have questions about their beliefs. Otherwise, I can’t see a firm believer even picking up the book.

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not, for me, the best of Bob's books, but only because I am not quite the audience it is aimed at. Here, Bob looks at the image of christianity as driven and given meaning by the perfect morality of the father god, and therefore by the character usually described as his "son." Bob shows that Judaic/Christian scripture on the other hand actually portray a vindictive, amoral, vengeful, boastful, and sinister god-head. He then demonstrates how Jesus, and the institutions named for him, reflect that immoral nastiness. My only problem with the book is that it was mostly aimed at believers tottering on the fence, especially those from evangelical or fundamentalist backgrounds. While my background does have that, I had rejected that way back in the late 1970s, even before I met Bob. So for me, this work is mostly preaching to the choir. That being said, for the right audience, for people who are starting to ask questions about their belief, this book may be a perfect place to start. I still had fun going through it, and picked up some good bits that I will borrow when speaking to others, but I have personally gotten more out of many of his other works. Bob -- I look forward to your next work with bated breath.

[Matt Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good read, though as Price says he's "writing to those in the pews." That may be a tad optimistic. I think there's going to be more of a "preaching to the choir" effect, as anyone who knows of Price and his work has probably long since lost their faith. But perhaps not. I think the book does a good job connecting Jesus with the Old Testament, and showing that it is impossible to divorce the two. You can't have the Sermon on the Mount, yet reject the genocides of Joshua. Price also points out a number of inconsistencies with the Bible...perhaps his target audience of casual Christians will be surprised, but the fundamentalists will already know this stuff and have rationalized it. I did, even if I never really was satisfied with the answers. There is more, questioning whether or not Jesus even existed, though Price pulls his punches here, since "Jesus Mythicism" is what he's most famous for. And the end is largely a hopeful picture of a probably inevitable post-religious world. I am glad to have read it, but I admit I prefer Price's more rigorous (and admittedly difficult) books, which are heavy on form criticism and arcane details of the early Christian era.

[Shane Clements · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read from Dr. Price. In Blaming Jesus for Jehovah he offers a perfect combination of information, insight, and humor to keep the reader interested and engaged. If you are interested in looking at the anthropological, sociological, and cultural contexts of Christianity this would be a good book to add to your library.

[Glenda Dickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world is changing....

This author cuts to the chase as to the direction modern thinking is going. It is time for Christianity to get its head out of the sand and realize there is more to know about what religion is and is not.
Robert Parr