This illuminating exploration of how and why Christianity became so radically disconnected from the Jesus of history provides suggestions for returning the true Jesus of Nazareth to the center of Christian faith.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
"Jesus is missing," says Nelson-Pallmeyer, assistant professor of justice and peace studies at the University of St. Thomas. The historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth has mostly disappeared from the church and from the lives of most Christians. In his place are a pathologically violent God, muddled thinking and unjust living. The real Jesus is missing or has been banished and Nelson-Pallmeyer, a scholar, activist, author and regular contributor to Sojourners magazine, wants to find him again. In this book, Nelson-Pallmeyer draws heavily on clues left by other Jesus scholars (Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, etc.) to find what was central to the life and thought of Jesus. He methodically argues that the Bible is full of contradictory and distorted images of God, and rife with stories attributing to God violence, abuse and murder. These images and tales must be jettisoned, for they conflict with the nonviolent God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, who preached and worked against the domination culture of his era. No accommodationist, Nelson-Pallmeyer cannot find any place for violence, even when exercised against evil. He is by turns prophetic and passionate, redundant and reckless. In a telling passage, Nelson-Pallmeyer jokes about reading his Bible and "crossing out the parts I don't like." Cast as a mystery in which Nelson-Pallmeyer discovers why and how the real Jesus disappeared, this volume is interesting, but overly defensive.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* In a polemical book, Nelson-Pallmeyer articulates arguments likely to interest general readers. Against Luke Timothy Johnson and others who dismiss the search for the historical Jesus as misguided, he argues that it is an important corrective to historical distortions of Christianity and to the "pathological violence" of the God(s) depicted by the Bible's "messy monotheism." Nelson-Pallmeyer's biblical criticism is consistent with a Lutheran tradition interpreting all Scripture through the lens of one part, most often the Gospel, and routinely creating a canon within a canon. Nelson-Pallmeyer's Gospel canon is nonviolent, and he applies it rigorously. His "messy monotheism" is rooted in Luther's definition of God as that in which we place our trust. Without clearly responding to the argument that no access to a Jesus of history unshaped by Christian faith exists, he rejects distinctions between a Jesus of history and a Christ of faith. More surprising than his response to Johnson is his running dispute with a mentor of his, Dan Berrigan, against whom he argues that Jesus rejected apocalypticism and that nonviolence cannot consistently be rooted in God's history-ending violence. In another running argument, Nelson-Pallmeyer criticizes the readings of the Jesus Seminar and John Dominic Crossan as insufficiently political. Anything but passive, Nelson-Pallmeyer's radical pacifism sends sparks flying in all directions. Steven Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The author (N-P) fervently believes that ancient and modern social ills are most often the result of forceful subjugation of large numbers of the peoples of the world by an exploitive elite and that, again most often, this has been done in the guise of religion as, supposedly, the will of God. The author wants to find out why Jesus is missing from Christian worship. For example, why is it that the Apostle's Creed declares that Jesus Christ was born, suffered and died with no mention how he lived, or what he said. N-P thinks that it is important to look into why he was killed and what his message said about God --- a message which, evidently, inspired and energized his followers to live as if he was still with them.
The book can be divided into three sections.
1. The first examines images and expectations of God in O.T. and N.T. scriptures and concludes that, far from giving a consistent, monotheistic picture of One God, it doesn't take a degree in psychology to recognize that many different Gods are pictured, often behaving in widely inconsistent ways and all too often demanding actions that are pathological and violent.
2. The second section details the sociological, political and religious situation in which Jesus lived including both domination by foreign powers and by the Temple elite. N-P points out how the oppressive and violent domination systems which the Jewish people had endured for centuries coupled with a belief in an Almighty God led to Messianic expectations involving a violent intervention by God.
3. The third section examines Gospel narratives and parables to find evidences for Jesus' non-violent opposition to Rome and to the Temple authorities. Jesus' opposition is rooted in his faith in a god of unconditional love rather than a God of vengeful justice. N-P rejects images of Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet who preached God's ultimate wrath for wrongdoers. Jesus' God desires justice but, since coercion is incompatible with God's nature, he is powerless to enforce it through violent action. Violence and injustice can only be defused by non-violent means --- including sacrifice (as Jesus himself demonstrated), if necessary.
The Bible verses referenced below illustrate the all too common presence of passages supporting troubling images of a kind of God who, in the O.T.:
1. orders parents to murder disobedient children [Lev.20:1-2a, 9],
2. orders a test of faith by one's willingness to murder one's child [Exo. 22:2, 9b-12],
3. is angered and so commits worldwide genocide [Gen.6:13,7:23],
4. steals land from its rightful occupants [Gen. 15:18-21],
5. steals land and orders "ethnic cleansing" of the occupants [Num.21:31-35],
6. is a Holy Warrior killing those who follow other Gods [Exo. 11:4-6, 14:27-28],
7. destroys his own people [Jer. 21:3-6; Lam. 4:4,9-10]
To dispel the notion, held by some smug Christians, that this behavior is only found in Jewish scriptures, we find in the N.T. troubling images of a God who:
8. is a wrathful judge [Matt. 3:7-12],
9. kills the disobedient [Acts5:5-9],
10. is the violent avenger of injustice [Rev. 11:17-18]
To summarize, then, although there are beautiful and inspiring passages regarding the merciful and compassionate nature of God in the Bible, by far the most numerous and dominant Scriptural assertions about the nature of God are concerned with: 1. God's power (violence) is superior to that of our enemies, but 2. God withholds using violence on our enemies, thus allowing us to suffer, in order to chastise and redeem us (in answer to the question "did God fail, or is this a punishment for our disobedience?" when we are in a crisis of faith). Redemptive violence saves God's reputation of all-powerfulness when we are forced to live under conditions not in our best interest.
This all leads to N-P asking "So what do these insights lead to with regard to the ways in which Christians should live and worship today?" and he goes on to describe how Christians can revise their outlook. Perhaps the greatest reinterpretation he calls for is his rejection of all aspects of the atonement theory of Jesus' death. Jesus was killed by the Romans with the cooperation of the Temple elites because both parties viewed him as a dangerous subversive leader whose teachings undermined Roman political domination as well as Jewish religious authority. The dogma, perhaps arising in Paul but emphasized particularly by Augustine and others, that a sacrifice of life, no matter how precious or divine, was required to appease an otherwise unforgiving God is diametrically opposed to Jesus' foundational teachings about God and the nature of God's kingdom. Such a prerequisite would be inconceivable by a God of infinite love. [My note: An immortal being gains or loses nothing from the physical death of another immortal being, especially if this lost mortality can be resurrected!]
N-P sees a re-ritualization of present Christianity is necessary:
1 The Last Supper should drop all references to atonement or substitutionary guilt and become rather a celebration of God's abundance in community where we rededicate ourselves to lives of service and sharing.
2. Baptism should drop allusions to original sin or the remembrance of the great flood and become a dedication to accept and care for God's abundant gifts.
3. The Lord's Prayer should reword its paternalistic and heavenly director images and address the real notions of debt forgiveness along with our gratitude for God's abundance.
4. The Apostles Creed should be rewritten to include Jesus, his life and goals and reject the images of "almighty" God in favor of "all-compassionate" God.
5. [My note: Hymnody should omit or rewrite those hymns whose major thrust seems to focus on declarations of violence or of punishment or of exclusivity.]
The book can be divided into three sections.
1. The first examines images and expectations of God in O.T. and N.T. scriptures and concludes that, far from giving a consistent, monotheistic picture of One God, it doesn't take a degree in psychology to recognize that many different Gods are pictured, often behaving in widely inconsistent ways and all too often demanding actions that are pathological and violent.
2. The second section details the sociological, political and religious situation in which Jesus lived including both domination by foreign powers and by the Temple elite. N-P points out how the oppressive and violent domination systems which the Jewish people had endured for centuries coupled with a belief in an Almighty God led to Messianic expectations involving a violent intervention by God.
3. The third section examines Gospel narratives and parables to find evidences for Jesus' non-violent opposition to Rome and to the Temple authorities. Jesus' opposition is rooted in his faith in a god of unconditional love rather than a God of vengeful justice. N-P rejects images of Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet who preached God's ultimate wrath for wrongdoers. Jesus' God desires justice but, since coercion is incompatible with God's nature, he is powerless to enforce it through violent action. Violence and injustice can only be defused by non-violent means --- including sacrifice (as Jesus himself demonstrated), if necessary.
The Bible verses referenced below illustrate the all too common presence of passages supporting troubling images of a kind of God who, in the O.T.:
1. orders parents to murder disobedient children [Lev.20:1-2a, 9],
2. orders a test of faith by one's willingness to murder one's child [Exo. 22:2, 9b-12],
3. is angered and so commits worldwide genocide [Gen.6:13,7:23],
4. steals land from its rightful occupants [Gen. 15:18-21],
5. steals land and orders "ethnic cleansing" of the occupants [Num.21:31-35],
6. is a Holy Warrior killing those who follow other Gods [Exo. 11:4-6, 14:27-28],
7. destroys his own people [Jer. 21:3-6; Lam. 4:4,9-10]
To dispel the notion, held by some smug Christians, that this behavior is only found in Jewish scriptures, we find in the N.T. troubling images of a God who:
8. is a wrathful judge [Matt. 3:7-12],
9. kills the disobedient [Acts5:5-9],
10. is the violent avenger of injustice [Rev. 11:17-18]
To summarize, then, although there are beautiful and inspiring passages regarding the merciful and compassionate nature of God in the Bible, by far the most numerous and dominant Scriptural assertions about the nature of God are concerned with: 1. God's power (violence) is superior to that of our enemies, but 2. God withholds using violence on our enemies, thus allowing us to suffer, in order to chastise and redeem us (in answer to the question "did God fail, or is this a punishment for our disobedience?" when we are in a crisis of faith). Redemptive violence saves God's reputation of all-powerfulness when we are forced to live under conditions not in our best interest.
This all leads to N-P asking "So what do these insights lead to with regard to the ways in which Christians should live and worship today?" and he goes on to describe how Christians can revise their outlook. Perhaps the greatest reinterpretation he calls for is his rejection of all aspects of the atonement theory of Jesus' death. Jesus was killed by the Romans with the cooperation of the Temple elites because both parties viewed him as a dangerous subversive leader whose teachings undermined Roman political domination as well as Jewish religious authority. The dogma, perhaps arising in Paul but emphasized particularly by Augustine and others, that a sacrifice of life, no matter how precious or divine, was required to appease an otherwise unforgiving God is diametrically opposed to Jesus' foundational teachings about God and the nature of God's kingdom. Such a prerequisite would be inconceivable by a God of infinite love. [My note: An immortal being gains or loses nothing from the physical death of another immortal being, especially if this lost mortality can be resurrected!]
N-P sees a re-ritualization of present Christianity is necessary:
1 The Last Supper should drop all references to atonement or substitutionary guilt and become rather a celebration of God's abundance in community where we rededicate ourselves to lives of service and sharing.
2. Baptism should drop allusions to original sin or the remembrance of the great flood and become a dedication to accept and care for God's abundant gifts.
3. The Lord's Prayer should reword its paternalistic and heavenly director images and address the real notions of debt forgiveness along with our gratitude for God's abundance.
4. The Apostles Creed should be rewritten to include Jesus, his life and goals and reject the images of "almighty" God in favor of "all-compassionate" God.
5. [My note: Hymnody should omit or rewrite those hymns whose major thrust seems to focus on declarations of violence or of punishment or of exclusivity.]
50 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For years I have been troubled by the discongruity between the God portrayed in some Scripture as going out of God's way to "seek and save the lost sheep" ... only to find other passages imaging God as a wrathful entity hungry to visit judgment on we mortals. Nelson-Pallmeyer, while clearly committed to the Christian faith, looks at some of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures and says the God portrayed in some of them is a pathological killer. But he is not willing to stop there. He sees in Jesus' life and teaching a relationship with a God we can embrace. The author looks at who Jesus was and how he related to God and then sets that as his standard for evaluating whether an image of God resonates with the God Jesus knew and experienced. He helps the reader understand the apocalyptic views of some of the Biblical authors and his evidence on why he thinks Jesus broke with that view that was shared by one of his mentors, John the Baptist. Jesus embraces a God who is non-violent and one who suffers along with us rather than the omnipotent, all-knowing deity people believed in until our world was confronted with the horrors of the Holocaust, Pol Pot, Rwanda, and other tragedies. The message of this book is crucial in a world obsessed with violence and environmental devastation. If our image of God is distorted, so will our values. This book will disturb you, challenge you, and hopefully give you substance to live a life of grace and mercy in the midst of one's commitment to justice. If we really want to change our image of who God is, we will have to do a lot more work not only in changing the language of worship to be more inclusive, but we must re-visit (and reject) the blood sacrifice/atonement theology found in much of the contemporary church scene.
22 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I think this is a phenomenal, eye opening book. I read it while working at a bible camp having been stigmatized for taking the kind of views that Jack Nelson Pallmeyer did in this book. It is a fascinating exegesis on the gospels and on the old testament with some good eye opening historical information. However, it is not a book for the light hearted and i think it takes the miracollous wonder of the resurrection away. Pallmeyer seems to want to focus merely on the life of Jesus, which i think is a legitimate topic in more progressive circles. However more literature needs to be done focusing on both issues of Christ, not claiming a conservative or liberal agenda. Pallmeyer really did not provide much new information or insights in the book. While it might be good for a religious scholar to read, I would suggest Walter Wink's books for anyone who wants a good solid introduction to the issue of power and dominance in the church.
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Inside This Book
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
3
books
cite this book:
- Problems With Atonement: The Origins Of, And Controversy About, The Atonement Doctrine by Stephen Finlan on page 101, and Back Matter
- Jesus Circles: A Way To Heal Our Wounds, Subvert The Domination System, And Build An Abundant Future by Peter R. Lawson in Back Matter
- Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazereth (Bible in Its World) by Michael J. McClymond in Back Matter
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