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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
how sad,
By
This review is from: The Gospel of the Nazirenes (Hardcover)
When I first heard about this book, I was intrigued, since I was aware of the Ebionites, a Palestinian Jewish sect in the second-century that had their own written gospel, were vegetarians, and followed the Torah (Jewish Law). The question of the rabbinic context of Jesus' teachings has been a source of interest for me as of late (for those interesed, see Lachs' _A Rabbinic Commentary on the New Testament_).Unfortunately, this is not a "rediscovery" of this text or the equally obscure "Gospel of the Hebrews" but a compilation of the authors' (who are these people, anyway?) favorite quotes from already existing canonical and noncanonical Christian texts. Most of what's in here I have read in other noncanonical texts, like the Gospel of Thomas (an admittedly early text). The unfortunate reviewers below, however, are largely unaware of these facts, and think this is an authentic "translation" or "restoration." Given that this is allegedly the "original" Gospel, the result of the "reconstruction" is to produce a surpisingly NON-JEWISH Jesus. Most striking is the inclusion of Gnostic, in this case dualistic theology (two becoming one), which is decidedly GREEK and not JEWISH, and the exclusion of everything that make Jesus a believeable JEWISH rabbi (e.g. discussion of sin). Ironically, people who love this book love just those de-Judaizing elements. They speak of the evil "Church" theology but the specific things they attack are actually JEWISH theology. You could even say it's subtle anti-Semitism. There are some amusing and obviously modern additions by the "editors," too, e.g. the excessively inclusive language. We hear not only about the "Son" (a reference to the "Son of Man" in the JEWISH book of Daniel) but also the "Daughter," not only to the Father but to the Mother (but not as Holy Spirit, as in Gnosticism!). The funny thing about this sort of thing is that someone "finds" a "very old manuscript" which they somehow manage to date, despite having no training in papyrology, and to translate, despite not knowing the language, and then, somehow, manage to lose the original manuscript! Oops! And surprise surprise, this "new text" agrees with everything we believe now! This book, let is be said again, is not a translation of an Aramaic text. Surely critical biblical scholarship, papyrologists, and archaeologists would have known about this find. But this book is nowhere mentioned in the literature on this subject. The only conclusion a reasonable observer can come to is that this alleged "Gospel of the Nazirenes" is simply an excursus through canonical and noncanonical texts available to us now, altered here and there to soften Jesus into just what many twentieth-century Americans want: a New Age Christ (and it is in fact popular among New Agers). Isn't is a little unlikely that Jesus would have espoused views completely consonant with today's values, much less that he would have broken with his Jewish heritage so radically and embraced tenets of religious Platonism and modern New Age ideas? Or that these distinguished "translators" would have, perhaps from pure obscurantism, rendered this valuable text in ELIZABETHAN ENGLISH? In their ignorance and prejudice against Jesus' rabbinical teachings (this is supposed to be a JEWISH gospel, after all), these "translators" have largely excised the "real" Jesus. How sad that seekers like the previous reviewers have been so badly misled by it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Truth Finally Comes to Light,
This review is from: The Gospel of the Nazirenes (Hardcover)
The stories unfold, and having read the King James version more than once, I knew the differences immediately. This plain English translation of early Gospels (that haven't been corrupted by the Catholic Church!) tell what may at last be the true story. A real, believable Jesus, one who cared for animals as well as people, a vegetarian. At the time of his total enlightenment, the baptism by John, Jesus is called the First Begotten son, not the Only Begotten son. There are lovely stories of his childhood, and also the tragic death of his wife, Miriam. Is this Jesus too new Age, because he refers to "previous lives"? If this is New Age, then why have these concepts have been around for millenia! It is about time we knew what he was really all about, and to know him is to love him. FYI, these manuscripts were not lost, the book does not say that. It says that the Catholic Church burned all text which contradicted their own edited version of the gospels. Too bad for them that other texts have been found, and we can now read them and decide for ourselves.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
New Vision - Same old Kings English,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Gospel of the Nazirenes (Hardcover)
I have always believed that there is more to the Christ story and the teachings of Jesus than what the "Church", since the days of the Council of Nicea, has allowed us to know. And this is what I had hoped that "The Gospel of the Nazirenes" offered to us - a fuller truth. And it seems to deliver here.But I was very disappointed by what I found. "The gospel of the Nazirenes" is supposed to be a recent find, written in Arameic. Why then did the authors who translated this into English for our understanding resort to the Kings' English of the 17th Century, as if "just another Kings James Version?" It seems to me that an authentic find, translated in modern times, should be read in the English common to us today, and not in an ancient form of our language that few truly understand. It makes me question the very validity of this "New Gospel", and leaves me disappointed in the new truth it was supposed to deliver.
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