Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture [Paperback]

Professor Jaroslav Pelikan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 1999

One of the most highly regarded works of intellectual history of the past decade, Jesus Through the Centuries is an original and compelling study of the impact of Jesus on cultural, political, social, and economic history. Noted historian and theologian Jaroslav Pelikan reveals how the image of Jesus created by each successive epoch -- from rabbi in the first century to liberator in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries -- is a key to understanding the temper and values of that age.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Writing for the general reader, eminent church historian Pelikan proposes that, while the figure of Jesus provides the chief continuity in the history of Christianity, each age has depicted him in accordance with its own character. He demonstrates this in 18 brief yet magisterial essays, each describing an image of Jesus and its significance for a period in the history of the church. The gospels present Jesus as a rabbi; understanding Jesus as lord first produced tension between Christianity and the Roman Empire and later fostered the development of a Christian empire; an ascetical understanding of Jesus underlay monasticism; incarnational theology was a factor in the Renaissance, etc. History Book Club main selection. Terrance Callan, NT Studies Dept., Athenaeum of Ohio, Cincinnati
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

A celebratory study of Jesus' impact on Western art, thought and culture over the last 2,000 years. -- New York Times Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (November 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300079877
• ISBN-13: 978-0300079876
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic., January 11, 2007

By 

David Marshall (Seattle area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (Paperback)

This is not a devotional work, it is an insightful and valuable slice of intellectual history. Pelikan is a Christian, but distances himself from those he describes. I think the combination of sympathy and critical distance helps the reader have his own conversation with the persons described. Pelikan bites off more than he can chew. How can there be room in one readable, coherent and reasonably short book for Augustine and Blake, Renan and Ricci, Constantine and Gandhi? But Pelikan pulls it off pretty well, summarizing the history with interesting anecdotes, and making reasonable comments. Not all of which I think are correct, though.

"It is not sameness but kaleidescope variety that is its most conspicuous feature." Pelikan includes a great deal of evidence for both, though. Early Christians attempted to translate Jesus as "logos" to relate to Greek thinking. Modern Christians in India and China undertook a similar task of describing Jesus as the "fulfillment" of the deepest truths in those great cultures. (Work I have studied quite a bit.)

I give the book five stars, because it is brilliant, fascinating and informative. Nevertheless, Pelikan's position seems to soak up some of the subjectivm he chronicles.

It is important to distinguish between images that are arbitrary, and those that depend on a reality that can be referred to. One could write a book called "The Moon through the Centuries." But that would be a different kind of book from "Martians through the Centuries," because in the first case, we just need to look up to be corrected. Pelikan does not take sufficient account of the fact that Jesus is more like the first than the second case. Kaleidescope is a mosaic of splintered reflections. But the image whom these reflections reflected, like the moon, is still before us, in the Gospels. Pelikan tells us we are "dependant" on "oral tradition" that was "eventually deposited" in the Gospels, but in fact they were written within the lifetimes of the first Christians. Rather than "tradition," they could have relied on memory.

Pelikan does not distinguish between birds that settle in the nest as they find it, and birds that steal twigs to built their own. He weakly justifies the fantastic subjectivism that goes into revisionist historical Jesus studies. Pelikan is like a conscientious objector from the argument over what really happened. In a preface to a recent edition he admits, a bit coyly, that he doesn't buy the arguments of the "historical Jesus" crowd. Well and good: but this excellent book might be even better if the fascinating and fruitful subjectivism he chronicles were balanced with an occasional reminder that in the end, portraits are not about those who take the picture, but him whose portrait is taken.

Still, a deserved classic, and a wonderful way to look at history. Highly recommended.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jesus Through 2,000 Years, January 9, 2001

By 

Dan Hayward (Ottawa, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (Paperback)

Pelikan's book looks at how Jesus has been viewed over the last 2,000 years, beginning with Jesus the Rabbi during his lifetime in Galilee and Judea. The author chooses to devote each chapter to an aspect of Jesus' place within the culture of a specific period, so the discussion can be somewhat restrictive - for example, the overview of "just war" theory within Christianity is conducted only in the context of the medieval and Reformation eras and ignores the many later theological developments. It is, however, a rich and enjoyable work, tracing the evolution of how Jesus has been seen from Jewish rabbi to deity to liberator.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The images correspond to church history, December 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (Paperback)

The eighteen chapters of this book roughly correspond to the 20 centuries of the history of the catholic church. One can use Pelikan's images to reflect on the meanings of Christ to the peoples of history and reflect on their meaning in present times. The images Pelikan give are all applicable today and can be helpful in understanding our relationships to God now. For example: how we as Christians can conduct a "just" war when we have an image of Jesus as "The Prince of Peace." Or, how we can better understand the middle East peace process with our image of Jesus as our rabbi. Or, how we can approach our busy, packed lives using the image of Christ as the perfect monk. This is a useful book to persons with varied educational backgrounds in theology or with just a desire to be able to relate the historical Jesus to their every day lives.