Human Christ [Hardcover]

Charlotte Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 1999

Jesus the historical figure has intrigued some of the most interesting figures of modernity; such as Newton and Norman Mailer. In this revealing history and critique, the author enters the complex mental worlds of these researchers to show how our understanding of Jesus has influenced our culture

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One might think that the search for the historical Jesus--or the human Christ--is a recent phenomenon. The controversial work of the Jesus Seminar and its efforts to discover (or uncover) the "real" Jesus, the recent spate of books that include "the complete" sayings of Jesus; the ongoing efforts of theologians like John Shelby Spong to redefine the meaning of Christ for a new millennium: these are just among the latest efforts in a quest going back three hundred years to define Jesus, the man.

There is a delightfully rich cast of characters in Charlotte Allen's book The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus. Hermann Reimarus, father of German textual criticism of the Bible, who accused Jesus of deliberately deceiving his followers into thinking he was a miracle worker; Thomas Jefferson, who in 1804 decided to extract from the gospels what he considered the genuine sayings of Jesus (presaging the Jesus Seminar by some 190 years). Schweitzer, Hegel, Flaubert, Nietzsche, Scorsese--these figures and many others are shown searching for their historical Jesus, in a n informative, amiable style.

Allen argues that searchers for the "real" Jesus found what they wanted to find: liberals found a liberal Jesus; mystics a gnostic Jesus. Not surprisingly, Allen also details the passing fads over the 300-year search for the "real" Jesus--and how Jesus research usually spoke more directly to the present than the past.

If readers are interested in the ongoing premillennial controversy about Jesus the man--what he said; what he did, what it meant, and what it means--Allen's book is recommended reading. Those interested in finding out more about the men and women who quested for the human Christ will be well served by Allen's entertaining and informative volume. --Fraser Hall --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Allen's wide-ranging survey analyzes the quest for the historical Jesus.The historical Jesus has occupied French theologian Ernest Renan, German theologians like D.F. Strauss, Rudolf Bultmann and Helmut Koester, British novelists like George Eliot and American New Testament scholars like Robert Funk and the Jesus Seminar. In a breezy journalistic style, Lingua Franca contributing editor Allen blows through the last three centuries of historical Jesus scholarship to render the oft-quoted moral of the story: the Jesus-searchers of every era have found their own worldviews reflected comfortably in their portraits of Jesus. Allen opens her survey of these Jesus quests with an exploration of Jesus' Jewish world and the reception of Christianity in the Hellenic world. She then proceeds to explore the cultural contexts, from the 17th century to the 20th, in which the various Jesus quests arose. For example, in her examination of the work of the Jesus Seminar, she argues that "the non-eschatological Jesus of the New Quest is a congenial figure for many American academics who associate eschatology with snake-handling and polyester blends, or who fear that putting apocalyptic sayings into Jesus' mouth supports the political goals of the Christian coalition." In her zeal to vilify the New Quest, however, she makes insupportable generalizations such as the contention that the Jesus Seminar "implicitly claims to represent a consensus of current New Testament scholarship," a claim never made explicitly or implicitly by Funk and company. In the end, Allen prefers her Jesus as a Jew who is the divinized Christ of Catholic Christian orthodoxy. While the book might be helpful to some readers as an introduction to the quest for the historical Jesus, its superficial scholarship makes this a less than worthwhile contribution to the historical Jesus conversation.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Lion Publishing Plc (September 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745942350
• ISBN-13: 978-0745942353
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,781,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immensely readable, broad in scope, July 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The HUMAN CHRIST: THE SEARCH FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUS (Hardcover)

The book brings together an enormous amount of material as it describes the search for the historical Jesus, not only in serious scholarship, but in novels, and films. It is a marvelous bibliographical resource. And it traces certain fashions in perception of Jesus rather ruthlessly and deservedly. I discovered the great scholar John A.T. Robinson through this book and will always be grateful for that and much more. I very much enjoyed the discussion of the fiction writers Renan, Flaubert, and the author of Quo Vadis, whose name I can't spell, and the further discussion of Hollywood Christians versus lions movies. Excellent and very thought provoking. This is an invaluable survey for its depth and breadth. We must be reminded over and over again that what we think is brand new in Jesus research isn't new at all. It's been done and done. High recommended. Anne Rice, New Orleans, La.

14 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learned and Gripping, July 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The HUMAN CHRIST: THE SEARCH FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUS (Hardcover)

This is a rare treat. Allen combines scholarship, an excellent writing style, deep cultural insight, and fearlessnes to come to terms with the way Jesus has been understood in a huge variety of social contexts through time. Her survey of intellectual history, which debunks the debunkers from the Apostolic age to our own, has predictably raised the hackles of many. Why? Her final message urges intellectual humility, a trait not often found among those who tackle this huge subject. Few have done it so successfully.

5.0 out of 5 stars A FASCINATING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN OVERVIEW OF THE QUEST, October 13, 2011

By 

dequincey - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Human Christ (Hardcover)

Ms. Allen has given us a well-researched and colorfully-written survey of the (largely European) quest to discover the historical Jesus. That she is a 'journalist' and not a professional should not dissuade you from reading her excellent book. On the contrary; so many 'professional' books on this topic are marred by barely concealed prejudices it is indeed a relief to encounter Ms. Allen's ever-cheerful and appreciative study. She understands the quest's importance and its folly; its seriousness and its inanity; and that no matter what this quest proves conclusively or disproves utterly (damn little either way, to date) it is not really about Jesus anyway as much as it is about our millennial deep-bore investigation of ourselves.

Christians, Jews, atheists, agnostics, jugglers and clowns - read this great book!