JESUS OF NAZARETH [Paperback]

Dale C. Allison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 1991

Jesus of Nazareth will enable people who have followed recent discussions to vindicate and reclaim the central religious significance of the historical Jesus. Allison makes a creative contribution to Jesus studies in several ways.

He offers new suggestions for establishing the authenticity of Jesus' words-including what he calls "the index of intertextual linkage"- and for the process of framing a convincing picture of the central thrust and purpose of the activity of Jesus.

Referring to fascinating cross-cultural millenarian parallels, he shows that the impetus for the pre-Easter Jesus movement was apocalyptic in nature and that the historical Jesus can best be understood as an eschatological prophet.

He presents the first full-length treatment of the question of Jesus and asceticism and shows that Jesus, far from the image suggested by some today, was driven by an apocalyptic asceticism that extended to matters of sex, food, and social relations. Always evenhanded and fair, Allison's new work is nonetheless penetrating, acute, and provocative.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"At last a book on Jesus that lets him be a Jew of antiquity, however politically incorrect he may seem to modern eyes. Allison's book is like a breath of fresh air in the current Jesus debate. The updated defense of Schweitzer's apocalyptic prophet is entirely convincing." ---John J. Collins University of Chicago

"Finally, a book that trumpets the return of the apocalyptic Jesus! Allison mounts a powerful counterattack against those who have spurned the view . . . that Jesus expected an imminent transformation in history as we know it. . . . Allison has produced a persuasive argument that will not be easily overturned and must not be ignored." ---Bart D. Ehrman University of North Carolina

"This wonderfully incisive contribution to the current Jesus debate carries its scholarship gracefully and lightly. Much more than just a put-down of portrayals of Jesus as a sapiential teacher, it is a full-scale presentation of Jesus as a millenarian prophet with an ascetic cast. . . . Original, vastly readable, and powerfully persuasive, it is not to be missed." ---John K. Riches University of Glasgow, Scotland

About the Author

Dale C. Allison Jr. is Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers (May 14, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800631447
• ISBN-13: 978-0800631444
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,264,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, Compact, Comprehensive and Punchy!, December 2, 2000

By 

peculiar "andrew_eccentric" - See all my reviews

This review is from: JESUS OF NAZARETH (Paperback)

I have read a lot of books on the historical Jesus in my situation as a postgraduate student specialising in this area - and Dale Allison's "Jesus of Nazareth" is easily in the top 5 I have ever read. It holds to that research programme which regards Jesus as an eschatological figure based on the belief that since his mentor, John the Baptist, was, and since his followers, the first Christians, were, then he must also have been. It follows this belief through with a pulsating argument based on religious parallels and methodological sifting of the Gospel texts.

Interesting then that this book begins by totally destroying the argument of John Dominic Crossan and the Jesus Seminar who find a diametrically opposed and non-eschatological Jesus. But then we see that Allison is attempting to show that reasoned and reasonable treatment of these resources leads to the conclusion that an eschatological explanation for Jesus (or apocalyptic as Crossan would want to say) is the only one which makes sense of the majority of the Jesus tradition. Indeed, this is a criterion for Allison: if the tradition is basically misleading, then what historical use can it really be? Thus follows a masterful sifting of the eschatological traditions about Jesus in comparison with other religious parallels which leads Allison to argue even that Jesus was an ascetic expecting the end - his persuasive argument leads the reader to seriously consider the proposition.

In summary, this book is brilliant, easy to read and very, very persuasive. Its conclusions make sense of the majority of the Jesus traditions and are based on strong methodological foundations. Allison is realistic about what can and cannot be claimed for Jesus and I believe that this book sets this out in clear and ringing tones. A "must read" for those interested in the historical Jesus.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid study, April 3, 2001

By 

John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JESUS OF NAZARETH (Paperback)

Dale Allison has written a fine book here. In the tradition of Johannes Weiss and Albert Schweitzer, he has joined E.P. Sanders on the barricades to defend a view of Jesus as an eschatological/apocalyptic prophet.

The entire volume is very well written and argued; in particular I heartily applaud both its destructive criticism of John Dominic Crossan and its refutation of Marcus Borg as against Sanders. (Both Crossan and Borg think Jesus was altogether noneschatological.)

If I had to pick on one flaw, I would single out the following: I do not see that Allison makes clear the crucial difference between (a) announcing prophetically that the Messianic Age _is_ at hand and (b) announcing non-prophetically one's own _expectation_ to that effect. In particular I do not see that Allison has dealt with the gospels' own reports (in e.g. Mark 13) that Jesus himself did not claim to _know_ the "day or the hour." Yet even on the most skeptical view of the gospels, passages that attribute ignorance to Jesus can surely not be dismissed as late additions. The issue is probably less important to me than it will be to Christians, but since the Messianic Age did _not_ dawn at that time, we should probably be a bit careful about making Jesus a false prophet!

If I had to find a _second_ nit to pick, I'd probaby settle on Allison's emphasis on Jesus's asceticism. His remarks here are a fine corrective to a tendency in the opposite direction, but on the whole I think Allison goes a bit too far.

Nicely done, though, and a valuable attempt to recover the eschatological dimension of Jesus's life and teaching. If Allison is essentially right -- and I think he is -- then, contra the assertions of some other scholars, most of the material in the Christian gospels is historical.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jesus of Nazareth: Prophet of the End Times, May 8, 2005

By 

Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JESUS OF NAZARETH (Paperback)

In reading the Gospels, it's hard not to come to the conclusion that Jesus was an eschatological prophet. He preached the coming end of the world and the need for repentance in the facing of the coming judgment.

Recently, a number of scholars (such as D. Crossan, M. Borg and S. Patterson) have argued that these eschatological elements of the Gospels were not part of Jesus' teachings but were added by the later church. Dale Allison (who is a professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) makes short work of their arguments in this important contribution to Jesus studies.

According to Allison, Jesus likely believed in what is today called millennialism -- a long period of time in which mankind would experience "heaven on earth." Jesus taught that a millennial kingdom would shortly arrive and this would involve a constellation of other events, such as the gathering of the twelve tribes, a time of tribulation and the resurrection of the dead. Allison also discusses various millennial movements throughout history and relates them to Jesus' teaching.

Allison believes that Jesus expected these events to take place shortly, probably in his lifetime. Since this didn't happen, Allison appears to think that Jesus was in error. Unfortunately he doesn't engage those texts which suggest a contrary interpretation, such as Mark 13:32. As Allison himself argued in his article "Eschatology" in the 1992 work DICTIONARY OF JESUS AND THE GOSPELS, "Jesus' expectations were probably more contingent and indeterminate than many have supposed." (p. 207.) It is certainly possible that Jesus believed that his coming inaugurated "the end," but the actual timing of the events which constitute the end was unknown.

The final chapter is entitled "Jesus the Millenarian Ascetic." Although a welcome corrective to the "Jesus the party animal" approach common today, it goes somewhat beyond the evidence.