Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #239778 in Books
• Published on: 1993-01-21
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.28 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

From Library Journal
This monumental work by a leading biblical scholar combines history, literary analysis, and social anthropology into a comprehensive picture of the historical Jesus. Crossan clearly addresses textual problems of the tradition, its chronology, and its attestation in a well-documented and succinct manner. The Jesus who emerges from the inclusive (rather than the exclusive) strain of Judaism resembles a magician more than a prophet, a messianic claimant, a bandit leader, or a nonviolent protestor. He preaches "a religious and economic egalitarianism" through "miracle and parable, healing and eating . . . calculated to force individuals into unmediated physical and spiritual contact with God . . . and one another." Essential for all academic and large public libraries.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

San Francisco Chronicle
"Crossan sees Jesus as a radical social reformer, an egalitarian peasant leader who challenged the religious and political powers of his day by preaching that everyone has immediate access to the divine through their everyday life."

-- Marcus Borg, author of Jesus: A New Vision
"The most important scholarly book about Jesus in decades."