Customer Reviews

Jesus: Why the World Is Still Fascinated by Him

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Tim LeHay, author of the well known "Left Behind" series, brings with him a bit of baggage. While I can only speak for myself, I like to think that a writer is open to listening to other points of view, perspectives which may inform his/her writing. Tim LeHay is not that guy, a fact we know before page one is turned.

As a Christian I appreciate any reflection on the continued "popularity" of Jesus. However, any REAL spiritual pursuit is not defined as a popularity contest. Rather, it is a sincere exploration of spiritual principles, with a well versed understanding of the "top" messangers in one's studies. Jesus is definitely Christianity's lead model, which by virtue of the role, excludes any references to "popularity."

Mr. LeHay writes in a manner that leaves the reader no room for interpretation; his leading questions are a sure-fire tip as to what his personal views are. He discredits opposing views by attacking their scholarly merit, a technique used to great effect by those who might challenge his positions. It works so far as to answer his critics; however, it lacks any real foundation for adopting his creed. Indeed, he doesn't properly use this method, for if he did he would provide some concrete, scholar based proof to support his argument. He fails to do this.

I'm a believer, so I'm not Mr. LeHay's target audience. I'm afaid, though, that those he might speak to, the uncommitted, would not find his arguments very persuasive. One of the biggest criticisms we face as Christians is our lack of rigor in formulating and supporting our beliefs. Mr. LeHay attempts to remedy this, yet falls incredibly short.

Just finished reading Tim LaHaye's latest offering and I must say I am impressed. I haven't always been a fan of LaHaye's. With someone as prolific as LaHaye you're bound to have clunkers here and there. I did enjoy some of his Left Behind novels but found his previous non-fiction work Global Warning to be poorly executed. However, `Jesus' is another story. It is very well written, covers a lot of ground, and moves at a fast pace. There is a lot of information here that should appeal to both believers and non-believers in my opinion. As others have said, the book is not preachy (except for the final paragraph). There are even touches of humor which I found refreshing (LaHaye's wife's reaction to the Applebees waitress is hilarious as are several chapter subheadings - Hold the Mao, The Dog-Ate-It Theory).

But I must take exception to a few comments from my fellow Amazon critics. To point out LaHaye's use of Wikipedia as a reference thereby implying that his information must be inaccurate is a cheap shot. Of the hundreds of footnotes listed, only a handful list Wikipedia as a source, and those Wikipedia subjects (Mark Twain, David Strauss, Elaine Pagels) are cross referenced with additional listings of those authors' works. Also, those who accessed the book through the Amazon Vine program apparently must have received an early version with footnote and other errors. My copy of the book has no errors, so those criticisms are invalid. Finally, I notice that some who gave a one or two star rating to this book recommend the works of Bart Ehrman instead. As LaHaye points out, Ehrman has publicly stated he believes Judas Iscariot is `the greatest of all the apostles' since his betrayal resulted in Jesus being released from his `evil earthly body.' Hmm.

In my opinion, LaHaye succeeds in making his case for why we still find Jesus fascinating after 2000 years by touching on the high points of Jesus' legacy and the impact he's had on our modern culture. I wouldn't hesitate to give this book out to friends or relatives who may be on the fence about Jesus. It's that good.

Of the plethora of pop theology books these days, this is by no means one of the worse. After the highly popular and hugely successful LEFT BEHIND series and the less so BABYLON RISING series, Dr. LaHaye writes in a very pleasant and entertaining style. For the most, this current work is generally an enjoyable experience. My concern is that many will view this work by someone they've come to trust (Dr. LaHaye has been a pastor at one of the country's mega-churches in San Diego for many years) as absolutely unquestionable biblical scholarship. Unfortunately, a closer look, particularly at his resource notes raises the more discerning brow.
Dr. LaHaye should know better with his degree from Western Theological Seminary. WIKIPEDIA, while a highly useful finding tool, is not all that a reliable secondary source. But LaHaye is a bit cagey with his scholarship as well in his inclusion of such time-honored, even venerable biblical scholars such as Helmut Koester and Elaine Pagels, who gets bashed pretty thoroughly here. Dr. LaHaye and his cohort never seem to tire of the same inflammatory arguments over the same texts and concepts. What a pleasant change 'twould be to stop the fussing and sincerely share a prayer for a direly needy world. But as stated above, this is certainly not the worst book of its ilk and Dr. Tim writes very well. If this work piques your interest, give Elaine Pagels or Bart Ehrman or even Francois Bovon a try as well. They too write well and with a clarity that belies their scholarly credentials.

In his book, Jesus, Tim Lahaye seeks to answer a question. Why is the character of Jesus such an influential part of so many lives, even 2,000 years after he (allegedly) lived? As Lahaye points out in the opening chapter, "Why Jesus?," Time magazine, amongst others, has featured covers and lead stories to do with Jesus far more than any other figure. Why is that?

The problem is that, to be honest, Lahaye is going to fall far short of convincing anyone that is not already convinced about Jesus. Admittedly, I am a skeptic when it comes to Christianity. As such, I did not expect Lahaye to convince me of anything, but I was quite apalled by how feeble his attempts were. I can only imagine that the only folks who will come away appreciating this book are those who would learn nothing from it, as they are already convinced of Lahaye's points in advance.

To get right down to it, Lahaye is a biblical literalist and, as such, every one of his arguments would be valid if and only if the bible is taken as infallible and 100% accurate. Of course, many scholars have disputed this, but of all of them, Lahaye only deals with the weakest: quite discredited "historian" and conspiracy theorist Michael Bagaent, on whose scholarship even atheists do not tend to rely. And Lahaye's biggest evidence for the inerrancy of the bible? The relative short span of time existing between the original manuscript and the earliest existing copy. (p. 31) I still can't figure out how this fact would prove the accuracy, let alone the inerrancy, of the bible. But Lahaye sure thinks it does!

Another embarrasing, and infuriating, piece of the book is Lahaye's attempts to demonstrate that Jesus must be the Messiah because his existence/dealings confirm much old testament prophecy. Of course, this can be quite easily explained by noting that we know that Jesus was quite well-versed and -read in the old testament and, if he wanted to be the Messiah, he could have easily put himself in the position to fulfill these prophecies - an idea that Lahaye doesn't even bring up. Bart Ehrman, amongst others, have suggested that it is entirely plausible that Jesus (or those after him) concocted the story about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph's flight into Egypt (an akward journey) as a way to make Jesus's life conform to prophesy. Lahaye seems oblivious.

Like other reviewers, I could go on but will not. Suffice it to say that I suspect that this book will only be valuable to those predisposed to share Lahaye's beliefs (and those readers do not need to read this book, as they will learn nothing they don't already know.) Those who, like me, read with any bit of skepticism will not only be unconvinced, but likely be taken aback that Lahaye did not try harder at convincing.

I ordered this book based on the title, which sounded like the sort of program aired on the History Channel. Imagine my shock when the book arrived, and it turned out to be written for people who believe that the Left Behind series is a docudrama.

The book is an extremely quick read. Unfortunately it achieves this by avoiding a well-rounded examination of anything and adopting a fascination with the passive voice. Subjects slide by so much faster when you can just declare that things were done and not spend any time on the pesky point of who did them. The authors discuss how the Bible "came together", and they manage to do this without mentioning the Roman Catholic Church once. No councils, no monks copying texts, no reformation -- nothing. The closest they come to addressing this issue is one line saying that the final decision to canonize the New Testament was made in Carthage in 397 A.D. Not a word on who made the decision, and they cite an article in USA Today concerning the Da Vinci Code lawsuit to support their statement. They don't even point out that the Catholic and Protestant Bibles contain different books (or why this is so).

The authors relentlessly ignore complexities for the sake of furthering their arguments. For example, they include Edgar Cayce as a sorcerer in a discussion of phrophecy, but never mention that he was a religious man who taught Sunday school and went into trances to diagnose the sick. They count Mark Twain as sympathetic to Jesus but ignore his Letters from the Earth. They discuss the Founding Fathers as religious but ignore their emphasis on the importance of the separation of church and state. They mention big philosophical movements and ideas in passing, but none get a comprehensive, fair treatment.

Other chapters include: a long discussion of Gnosticism that reads like a belated response to the Da Vinci Code; an argument that Jesus can turn homosexuals into heterosexuals; a discussion of how Jesus elevated women's role in society by comparing his treatment of women with some other religions/societies and quoting "husbands love your wives" from Ephesians, while ignoring the preceding line, which famously insists that wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.

That this book masquerades as a work of scholarship is maddening. The authors use copious footnotes, but a careful examination reveals that many of them are to Wikipedia and media web sites or to books written by other people with the same religious agenda as the authors. Term papers have been written with better documentation. This book is more of a tool to rally like-minded believers to defend their faith against the media, professors, liberals, and any other Enemy of the Truth than a complex, well-researched look at the influence Jesus has had on society. It's too bad, as I really was looking forward to reading this other book, not the one I received.

When I asked for this book to review, I was looking forward to it as a historian and a Christian. A look at the popularity and value of Jesus not only in the past but today. A truly interesting subject that, as far as I know, had yet to be covered for the masses.

Then I read it and was deeply disappointed.

First, there is very little history here that relates specifically to the popularity of Jesus and his influence on society. Much of the positives come from the Bible itself while any negative influences or uses of Christianity are completely ignored. This selective nature of evidence is something that Lahaye and Minasian complain about others doing but apparently feel free to do themselves.

Second, the bulk of the book is a defense of one type of Christianity against non-Christians and other types of Christianity, most notably anything you might see as Gnostic or liberal in nature. Where is Jesus's influence in the world in the past or today in all of this discussion? No where. This must lead me to believe that this book isn't about "why the world is still fascinated by him" at all but instead a apologia for one brand of Christianity. That would be perfectly fine but don't claim to be something you aren't.

Third, evidence is selected very carefully to fulfill an agenda here and while good rhetoric demands that to some degree you must also be honest about the range of evidence you have and any counter evidence you have. Instead we have scholarship that is decades of not a century old supporting these authors ideas while modern scholarly especially on ancient societies is ignored. While this might make a weak argument seem strong to those who are uninformed it only makes it seem weaker to those with any knowledge at all.

Fourth, as many of you will know from my other reviews, I'm a stickler for citation of evidence and other people's work. Now this book does indeed have citation though many fall into the above category of too selective. Believe me, I've seen an appalling number of books now with no citations so this book deserves credit for trying. I'm hoping that somewhere between the authors and the printing the citations were messed up because they are a true mess. The endnotes restart the citation numbers for each chapter yet within the book itself the numeration is continuous which hampers any attempt to find sources. If I were Lahaye and Minasian I'd demand this book be reprinted with correct citation.

As a religious plea for salvation, the book is fair and should speak to those who all ready believe. However for those who don't believe, the problems above will only become huge barriers for them. I don't think that Jesus lied about his agenda when he was on Earth and I really wish this book was more honest about what it is and is not. That would have allowed me to give it at least a few stars.

It might be premature to judge this book by its title and its authors. Certainly you are going to get the Christian slant from Tim LaHaye (co-author of the successful "Left Behind" series).

What is interesting to me about "Jesus: Why the World Is Still Fascinated by Him" is that LaHaye and co-author David Minasian also cover the opposing side. The first few chapters are full of information about exactly how influential and encompassing the Bible and the life of Jesus continues to be around the world. In all cultures, people read and talk about this man who lived 2000 years ago.

The veracity of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, are upheld. Although not much of this information is new (nor does it claim to be) - its juxtaposition with the tales and misinformation the "experts" use to debunk the Bible gives one food for thought. If it is just a book, if it is not true, if it doesn't hold the key to life, why do so many people spend so much time, ink, and money trying to convince us that it is not what it says it is? And why do these "experts" named by name in this book think that they will prevail when the Bible has withstood assaults and insults for thousands of years?

The reader is treated to many scriptural references. The Bible is tied to popular culture. The success of novels such as "The DaVinci Code" is examined.

Of course, if a reader does not believe in the Bible or in the life of Jesus Christ as written therein, he is unlikely to be swayed by "Jesus: Why the World Is Still Fascinated by Him." And the faithful will not find any new ammunition here to repel attacks. But reading it can make you more sure in your faith.

LaHaye accepts and promotes a couple of doctrines that are not universal in Christian teaching - the Rapture and that Jesus IS God Himself - but his other information, historical and inspired, makes for a good read.

If the Rapture is the wonderful thing LaHaye believes it is, if it is the answer to all the questions we now wonder about, why are his best selling books all about the people who are Left Behind, and not those who are "taken"? Why the fascination with the woman left in the field? Just asking...........

First and foremost, I want to clearly state that I do NOT believe all that Tim LaHaye believes in. I do not think that life is as black and white as he wants it to be. I think God is in charge of who goes to heaven, and I resent those who decide this for themselves. On sensitive subjects like abortion and homosexuality, I spend a lot of time struggling and in prayer. Ultimately, I have to trust that God is in control and will redeem all situations. I know many Catholics whose faith is deeper than those who have protestant backgrounds, so I cannot take his stance on condemning Catholicism.

Perhaps it's my Presbyterianism showing - we are known as people of the middle way - Tim LaHaye probably doesn't think I'm going to heaven. So be it.

But, that said, LaHaye is a great writer, and of course, he has a great subject - Jesus. In this book LaHaye speaks of what Jesus stands for and why people still believe this "rediculous" story about a carpenter written nearly 2000 years ago.

My favorite chapter is Chapter Six, when he is addressing the Empty Tomb (The sixth reason we believe - everybody knows he rose). I love some of his subtitles:
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers"
"The Swoon Theory"
"The dogs ate it Theory"
"The Hallucination Theory"

Of course, LaHaye addresses the equality of women in Chapter 7 - something near and dear to my heart.

A good author, and a good read - with a fundamental point of view. If you have enjoyed some of LaHaye's other books, you will most certainly enjoy this one. BUT, if you take a more liberal view of the world, LaHaye will drive you crazy.

Jesus: Why the World Is Still Fascinated by Him is not what I had expected. I myself know who Jesus is, but I do not think the question is answered in this book.

It is easy to see LaHaye's motivation for writing this book. In current academia, there is has been a wealth of scholarship written on the topic "Who was the real Jesus." Most of these academic books and essays are not inline with what conservative Christians believe such as Lahaye believe. As a theological scholar myself, I agree that some of these theories on the historical Jesus are pretty outlandish. However, I believe we should be constantly seeking ways to understand more about this figure who has changed the world more than any other person in history.

Lahaye does a great job writing from the common person, but I get the impression that it will be best recepted to those who are from a Western culture who have a good knowledge of Christian teachings. He is a great writer and puts things in a easy to read format, but the topic has been written on by so many others in same similar vein. However, I cannot think of a book off hand that I would recommend over this one on the subject.