Brook Kerith [Hardcover]

George Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1969

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company (January 1969)
• ISBN-10: 0871405075
• ISBN-13: 978-0871405074
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,740,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Christ to Jesus: The Shepherd at the Brook, January 9, 2001

By 

Peter Kovochich (Milwaukee, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brook Kerith (Hardcover)

George Moore's stunningly ambitious tale of what might have happened had Christ survived the wounds of his crucifixion and subsequently attempted to lead a solitary, ordinary life. The central figure in Moore's tome is Joseph of Arimethea, the wealthy aristocrat who enlists in the discipleship of Christ and is accessible to the ear of Pontius Pilate. It is Arimethea who uses his influence to have Christ removed from the cross and who then takes it upon himself to steal him away to his estate when he discovers that Jesus is still alive.

Many readers of a strong faith may find much of this novel offensive. There are two Christs portrayed here; and neither fit the traditional bill. The first is a contemptuous revolutionary, bent on the destruction of social order to make way for a new kingdom of justice. The second is a reposeful, passive figure who retreats to the solitude of nature and comes to dismisses his former self as an impetuous, caustic purveyor of wrath.

I found Moore's portrayal of the duality of Jesus to be a refreshingly original portrait of the times and circumstances of Christ, as well as a daring hypothesis of the origin of myth. The climactic confrontation between Paul, the vanguard of the new Christ, and Jesus, the shepherd, is a turn of creative genius, and does more to confront the notions of traditional Christianity than any scholarly tome before or since.