Customer Reviews

God of Jesus: The Historical Jesus and the Search for Meaning

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This book enriches and expands my appreciation for the work of the Jesus Seminar. The Seminar has now completed its 15-year historical research project and published their findings-a current scholarly consensus on the "more likely" authentic words and deeds of Jesus. From this "database" individual scholars continue to reconstruct a variety of creative and compelling sketches of their glimpses of the "historical" Jesus. But what does all of this have to do with the way we understand ourselves, God, and the meaning of human existence? History is not theology. And what do either have to do with our actual lives here and now? Stephen Patterson, a member of the Seminar and Associate Professor of New Testament at Eden Theological Seminary, explores the implications of historical Jesus research both for theology and for our life and faith. In the process, and in one of the book's major contributions, he also proposes a method for how history and theology can be related without one masquerading as the other. Patterson describes the 200-year history of the quest for the historical Jesus and shows how it has always been related to the search for God. With John Dominic Crossan, Robert Funk, and Marcus Borg, he explores what Jesus meant in the 1st Century and what he means today, but his consistent focus is always on how Jesus experienced and understood God. "What sort of God would one believe in if this God were to be seen in the words and deeds of Jesus?" To this question he develops both a "theology of Jesus" and an "existential Christology." The Gospel of Jesus is the unbrokered Empire of God (an Empire as God would run it, a political metaphor which the Romans would have heard as seditious) which offers the means of life freely to all and welcomes marginalized people fully into the human community. What makes it "of God?" There is no "objective" answer to this question. As a Jew, Jesus believed in God as a basic reality running through all of life whose character is love, and his parables imaginatively expressed that way of seeing things and invited others into it. Some who knew Jesus were moved to say that in his company and at his tables they had come to know this God in a deeper and more authentic way. They then took the risk of faith to live according to this new vision. Thus, Patterson presents an "existential Christology," the decision to see in Jesus the deepest of all truths about human existence, the truth that is God, and accept the challenge that follows: what am I do in the service of Jesus? Now, as then, Christian faith involves risk, decision, and the test of action. It is "trust in the God we have come to know in the life of Jesus of Nazareth." This existential understanding of the structure of the Christian faith is paralleled in Patterson's discernment of the limits of historical work. Historical scholarship can be a reality check against speculative fantasy, but it cannot be an objective starting point for faith. History always involves imaginative reconstruction. Patterson develops a "subjective," pragmatic, communal, and interactive approach to historical theological method that will not please either fundamentalists who seek essentialist, objective, Divine "truth" in biblical texts or traditionalists who would anchor faith in the christology of the early church and/or in church tradition. His method for doing theological reflection based on historical research involves two steps: 1) "establish as much as possible the significant experiences people had of Jesus;" and 2) "examine the words and deeds of Jesus for their theological content." For Patterson, "the words and deeds of Jesus do not necessarily mean anything in themselves." Their meaning must be ventured in the imagination and tested in living. The historian speaks of rules of evidence and probable facts, and the believer uses imagination to "see and experience more than is purely self evident, beyond the rim of facts that encircles one." In Patterson, historian and believer become one; imagination is a means of doing history and of knowing God. Both history and theology remain delicately related as human acts of creative, imaginative construction.

Reviewed by Mark Rutledge United Church of Christ/Presbyterian Campus Minister at Duke University and Associate Member of the Jesus Seminar

I have read many books on the historical Jesus, but none that impacted me more profoundly. Dr. Patterson writes with sensitivity and conscience. He explains how his own search for God compels him to pursue the historical Jesus. His chapter entitled, "Is It a Sin to be Liberal," reveals the prejudice and anger one encounters when they engage the search for Jesus of Nazareth. Stephen Patterson emerges from this book as a committed Christian. His exploration of the historical Jesus shows the social conscience of our Jesus and challenges the thoughtful reader to ask, "what am I doing to bring Jesus' dream alive in our world today." I am very thankful that Dr. Patterson took the time to share his personal quest for God.

This is a superb book. Patterson, more than most, integrates the quest for the Jesus of history and the quest for God. I have learned much from Borg and Crossan and all the others, but Patterson pulls it all together with his own scholarship and love of the subject. His treatment of the parables and his discussion of the "Empire oF God" were especially helpful to me. Too often this subject is too academic, perhaps necessarily so, but Patterson steers us always to the important spiritual and faith questions.

Patterson's discussion of the "Quest for the historical Jesus" and how this quest actually relates to the human search for God is perhaps the most readable text on the topic. Patterson's text is much more than a dry, academic presentation, his own profound faith combines with strong New Testament scholarship. If one reads this book with an open mind, he or she will find her faith both challenged and strengthened in ways that move beyond the safe, academic environment of seminary and graduate school classrooms into the real world and real life. Patterson also does an excellent job correcting misconceptions and stereotypes about the work of the numerous and diverse scholars who participate in The Jesus Seminar, yet clearly is not afraid to challenge positions of his colleagues when he believes that the evidence warrants a differing conclusion from the consensus.

Those who have not had the wonderful opportunity to study directly under Professor Patterson at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri will discover the warmth and vitality combined with excellent scholarship which have made his classes so very popular.

Once when attending a local revival as a guest of a friend, I was confronted by the fiery preacher with the question: "Do you know the Lord?" I, somewhat taken back by his zeal, lamely offered the typical liberal response: "Well, yes and no, depends on what you mean by 'the Lord.'" I was immediately "cast into the outer darkness," where "people will weep and gnash their teeth."
After reading this book, I replay that scene. This time I boldly reply, "Yes, if this is what you mean by 'the Lord,'" thrusting a copy into his hands. However, I still think that I would end up weeping and gnashing my teeth.
As a Christian, I have a serious major flaw. I have difficulty confessing that "Jesus is Lord." In my mind that's like saying that my big bother is Lord, something that sibling rivalry prevents me from doing. You see, I don't want to be enthralled by Jesus; rather, I want to be enthralled by what enthralled Jesus. And close to heresy, I don't want to see Jesus as God; but rather, I want to see the God of Jesus. This excellent book goes a long, long way in that direction. I can't recommend it too highly. And as an added bonus, there were parts of it that actually made me laugh out loud! Read it and see. Deserves wide circulation.

Meet a Jesus more strident than Gandhi, more humble than Sister Teresa, more radical than Marx, more revolutionary than King and at least as clever (and funny) as Mark Twain. And in the process meet the God folks experienced through Jesus, and consider how to share such an experience.

If you have a serious interest in Jesus, "The God of Jesus" by Stephen J. Patterson is an extremely well written and thoughtful book that really ought to be on your night stand -- or at least on your Christmas list.

This is an excellent introduction to research on the historical Jesus, especially for the way it connects those efforts with the concerns of believing Christians. (Marcus Borg also deserves mention for pursuing that emphasis in his work.) There are passages and sections in every chapter where the writing is wonderfully inspiring. It's a book that I'd recommend without hesitation. Having said that, and given that other reviewers have already detailed the book's virtues, let me offer a critique.

Going along with the Jesus Seminar version of research on the historical Jesus is a definite left-wing political slant. That may be appropriate, because Jesus may indeed have been a utopian social revolutionary who preached an early version of Marx's dictum that each should receive according to his needs. But one has to ask whether the research findings are driving the political thinking here, or the other way around. For example:

In an otherwise very good chapter on parables, we find an interpretation of the Wicked Tenants, apparently based on Herzog's highly ideologized, class-warfare reading, that is utterly forced and unconvincing. The exploitative nature of the social system did not need to be "revealed" to Jesus' audience of expendables; it was hardly hidden from them. In a later chapter, the same parable is revisited with a standard interpretation, which is said to be an allegorization by Mark. Perhaps, but no more than the earlier, preferred one was a Marxist allegorization by Herzog.

Jesus' execution is seen to result from the threat he posed to Rome and its imperial system. But there is a huge difference between being a trouble-maker, nuisance, and potential danger to public order among the large and volatile Passover crowds, which Jesus certainly was, and being a serious threat to Roman rule. In the event, Jesus was yanked off the street and executed, and his followers scattered. When militant Jews later actually did launch a serious revolt, it was smashed without mercy. The idea that Jesus and his tiny sect threatened the Roman Pax and its legions is wishful thinking in service of class-conflict ideology, cramming facts to fit a model.

Patterson believes that the mainline churches have declined in membership and attendance because they are not liberal enough, do not sufficiently encourage critical thought, including the sorts of historically-based reformulations he argues for. But if that were true, the Unitarians would be ruling the roost by now. Instead, it's the conservative evangelical churches and TV ministries that are showing the dramatic growth. Wishful thinking again.

Examples like that give the reader the right to assume that in any ambiguous case, Patterson will push the interpretation that best fits his ideological presuppositions. But even assuming that, the book is very much worth buying and reading.

I hold fully accredited undergrad and graduate degrees in biblical studies. I can tell you from years of experience, reading a multitude of books, and dedicating the majority of my life to the study of Jesus and the Bible, that this book is the best introduction to the historical Jesus that you will find. Furthermore, I have met Dr. Patterson in person at a Westar Institute seminar in Iowa, and he is as eloquent a speaker and as friendly and down-to-earth person as he is an excellent writer and scholar. VERY highly recommended.

I had professor Patterson as an instructor at Eden Seminary in St. Louis, MO. I was very impressed with this book from the first time I picked it up. The God of Jesus does a superb job of relating the most recent quest for the Historical Jesus done primarily by the Fellows of the Jesus Seminar, to a living breathing theology for church and life. If you enjoyed his book, you should try a semester in class with him. It is a very enjoyable and challenging experience. I especially appreciated that in the book he was consistent in presenting the work of the seminar with full integrity, yet not as absolute. My expereince in modern New Testament Scholarship is that one either author's from the perspective of the Seminar, or they simply offer a traditional critique of its work. This is a must read for people who struggle with classical ideas about who Jesus is and what we know about God from this ancient peasant.

This highly readable work by Dr. Patterson takes one on a journey back in time to the First Century, a place in some ways so alien to our modern world that visiting it would be like landing on another planet. Dr. Patterson covers a wide range of topics: an overview of the quest for the historical Jesus, the concepts of shame and honor in first century Palestine, the radical wisdom of Jesus, a fresh look at the parables of Jesus, an analysis of the apocalyptic controversy (was Jesus preaching the end of the world?), and the meaning of the resurrection. This text is a good overview and analysis of many of the topics looked at by the Jesus Seminar and provides wonderful insights into the teachings of Jesus.