Customer Reviews

The Essential Jesus: Original Sayings and Earliest Images

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Having read Crossan's "big" books, I picked this one up on a whim (hey, it was cheap). I figured it would be predominantly redundant, given that highly popular model of "publish scholarly work, follow with a couple spin-offs for lay audiences" that's making the rounds these days.

Not so -- this is much more than a Jesus Seminar pamphlet of "authentic sayings of Jesus." As a previous reader mentioned, there's one quote per page, but there are endnotes with a couple paragraphs of commentary per quote, plus a decent forward on the Kingdom movement vs. the Jesus Movement. More on the art at the end.

I found the vast majority of the quotes to be aptly chosen and thought provoking. I think it is a mistake to consider them "light." I sat there with a couple bibles and a couple different volumes of commentary dissecting each one. It's great for people like me who got wrapped up in theological niceties and historical circumstance, only to find ourselves losing touch with what Jesus _said_. It brings us back to the word whilst still humoring us with wholesome academic goodness.

Assuming my situation is not a singular phenomenon, of course.

The plates are indeed reletively poor reproductions, but such is the nature of inexpensive mass production. There are also even more lengthy endnotes on the 25 plates reproduced in the book, plus descriptions, locations, context, etc. of a good 40 more that do NOT appear in the book. It's certainly a good starting point for doing further research on early Christian art -- for the price, having that reference alone is worth it.

Taking price/performance into account, it's a five starer. Granted, I would have liked a little more commentary on each quote (which raises more questions than it answers, though assumably this is the point in the process of provoking thought), but we can't have it all, now can we?

This book is simply an extremely basic view of Crossans much larger book "The Historical Jesus". For those out there who don't have the time, patience, or just plain level of understanding to read four hundred and fifty pages of scholarly language can find this an excellent introduction to the works of Crossan. It is also very useful for the Christian without a lot of time or attention span. I gave this to a Christian friend of mine who is severely dislexic and cannot read the bible easily. Crossan breaks everything into well spaced easily readable texts. This book is great for people who have difficulty reading for any reason and does not require a great attention span. The book can be set down and picked back up at the drop of a hat and the reader will miss nothing. I found this especially useful reading for when I was travelling as I would often break from it to look out the window or talk to the driver. Of course, it lacks the depth of Crossan's "Historical Jesus" upon which this book is mostly based; but not everyone wants that much depth.

Without a doubt, the most learned scholar on the topic of Jesus Christ. What Crossan does in this book is interpret the sayings attributed to Jesus through the eyes of the 1st century A.D., not through 20th century eyes. He puts the meaning of the Gospels in the context of the 1st centruy. Social: Jesus and most everyone else with the exception of the ruling class were peasants - illiterate and uneducated. Political: Judea was a Roman province and many resented their occupation of the Holy Land. Economic: in the split between the "Have's" and "Have Not's", Jesus and his followers were the Have Not's. Many of Jesus's parables don't seem to make much sense, are contradictory or seem not relevant to today. But once you read them armed with the Socio-Politico-Economic underpinnings of the 1st century A.D., you get a much clearer and deeper understanding of his teachings. Although many Catholics that feel threatened by Crossan's (a former priest) academic work on Jesus, Crossan devotes the forward of the book explaining how he can reconcile his Catholic faith with 20th century secular study. At the time of Christ

It is hard to be objective about a text such as this, being a Christian myself. In trying to be objective, I keep finding things that are not here that I would consider essential.

John Dominic Crossan, a former Roman Catholic priest turned academic 'faithful sceptic', has been a member of the Jesus Seminar since its beginning. He has written extensively on the life of Jesus, public perceptions of Jesus past and present, and now this slim volume that is a part of the Essentials series (see my other reviews; titles such as the Essential Kabbalah).

As a guide for meditation and contemplation, this volume works very well. It introduces the reader to many of the statements by and about Jesus, as newly translated by Crossan. The reader must be careful here, however, to be open to the new translations with a critical and discerning eye. Crossan gives and example of how he translates:

'I seek to be at the same time minimal and poetic. For example, the twenty-one words of Luke 9:58 and Matthew 8:20 are verbatim the same in Greek. They are translated in the older and newer Revised Standard Versions with twenty-one words as, respectively:

Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

My own translation [operating within principles he explains, largely those of minimal and poetic] is this (with fourteen words):

Every fox has a den
Every bird has a nest

Only humans are homeless.'

This is a fascinating view and reframing of a traditional text, but is it in fact true to the meaning of the Gospel? Each reader must decide that individually.

The concerns about translation and limitation aside, this is a wonderful collection with which to meditate and get a sense of the spirit of Christianity. Crossan has a brief essay of historical introduction and translation principles, but, by and large, lets the texts speak for themselves, accompanied by artwork taken from the first few centuries of Christianity (stone, painting, etc.).

For instance, no. 33:

'The Kingdom of God is like this:
A fisherman drew his full net from the sea
Among the many small fish was a single large one
He grabbed hold of it and threw back all the rest
(But how is the Kingdom of God like that?)'

This piece faces a picture of a communal meal, a typical eating scene taken from the catacombs, a festive meal with joyful people.

Crossan often asks inviting the reader (as the final question in the example above indicates) to really reflect on what has been said, rather than leaving it there as valid and true, but unexamined.

Crossan also provides notes on the texts and the artwork to satisfy the academically inclined. I find that some days I want to use these, and other days just want the texts themselves to speak to me.

This is a very down-to-earth book. It does not get into high Christological issues, but rather looks back to an early church view when Jesus was remembered more as a revolutionary healer and leader (a view that many modern scholars attempt to support today). It is a challenge to look past Crossan's bias, however, as I want so much for the Jesus I've come to know to be the one upon which I meditate. And perhaps that also reveals the true value of the book--to help break down preconceptions so as to experience the spirit anew.

A good use for any book, of any spirituality.

In this book Crossan continues to make his case for the historical Jesus as a societal rebel with a radical egalitarian message. I remain unconvinced about his main argument but find his thinking too provocative to ignore. The format of the book is unique but it will probably be helpful to most readers.

John Dominic Crossan is an excellent scholar whose works are always worth reading - and this book is no exception. However, one is never sure reading this work whether Crossan's view of Jesus as an economic / social rebel shapes his view of the essential Jesus or vice versa. Either way the book is worth reading for both what it tells one about Jesus and what it tells on about Crossan.

Its a weird one, this book. Some sayings of Jesus, strained and purified by the Crossan mind, written down, one to a page, and interspersed with ancient artwork. Historical notes to the texts and an introductory essay complete the work. I suspect readers divide, oh so predictably and depressingly to this non-American, along partisan lines: the liberals love it and the conservatives hate it. Well, excuse me but hold on a minute!! Must we be so partisan? Haven't we got a minute or two for reflection and humility here? Of course Crossan's thesis as a historical thesis is subject to challenge - Crossan thinks this is true as much as anyone else (indeed, he challenges us to do better than him, historically speaking, in his previous volume "The Historical Jesus" which is presumed reading for this book). But this book is rather different to a simple historical thesis - it invites reflection on (the? some?) sayings of Jesus. Now who, being interested in Jesus, can have a problem with that (bar those who can't see past their partisanship)?

PoSTmodERnFoOL

Crossan's re-tooling of some of Christ's most famous utterances is welcome; it is a rare work which allows us to "re-see" the Gospel teachings.

I would like to see more scholarship in addition to the sayings, but the absence doesn't detract much from the book as a whole.

Written in a style more easily understood than the Nag Hammadi Library translation.

Coming to an art gallery near you :)

While Crossan's book might make for a nice gift for someone who likes books full of sound bytes, it does not contain the detailed scholarship of his earlier works. I purchased the book as an addition to our church library and was disappointed to see that most of the pages contained only a sentence or two or a virtually indistinguishable photo of early Christian art. I'm sure that Crossan and his publisher believe that this book is a worthwhile investment, but I think that he should have waited to publish until he had something to actually put in a book.