A Long Way from Tipperary: What a Former Monk Discovered in His Search for the Truth [Hardcover]

John Dominic Crossan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2000

I have spent thirty years reconstructing the historical Jesus. I have done so self-consciously and self-critically and have tried to do the same on reconstructing myself. But what justifies this memoir is how my own personal experience, from Ireland to America, from priest to professor, from monastery to university, and ... from celibacy to marriage, may have influenced that reconstruction. Where has it helped me see what others have not, and where has it made invisible to me what others find obvious?-from A Long Way from Tipperary

From his upbringing in Ireland to front-page coverage in the New York Times and mention in cover stories in Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report, John Dominic Crossan-who has courageously pioneered the contemporary quest for the historical Jesus-has dared to go his own way. In this candid and engaging memoir, the world's foremost Jesus scholar reveals what he has discovered over a lifetime of open-eyed, fearless exploration of God, Jesus, Christianity, and himself. Crossan shares his provocative thinking on such issues as how one can be a Christian without going to church; whether God is vengeful, or just, or both; and why Jesus is more like Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. than like the Pope or Jerry Falwell.

Raised in the traditional Irish Catholic Church, Crossan inherited a faith that was "accepted fully and internalized completely but undiscussed, uninvestigated, and uncriticized." A dauntless spirit whose imagination was ignited not by piety but by the lure and challenge of adventure, he became a monk to travel and explore the world, unaware that his most thrilling quests would be scholarly and spiritual. "God had going the best adventure around," Crossan confesses.

Because he could never subject his theological convictions and historical findings to the restrictions of the Church, Crossan chose to leave the monastery and priesthood. Speaking of this time in his life, Crossan writes, "Not even a vow of obedience could make me sing a song I did not hear." But he never abandoned the Roman Catholic community or tradition and never lost his faith. He has devoted his life and career to a reexamination of what he calls "necessary open-heart surgery on Christianity itself."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"If people have had enough chicken soup for the soul, how about some Irish stew for the mind?" asks John Dominic Crossan in the introduction to his meaty new memoir, A Long Way from Tipperary: What a Former Irish Monk Discovered in His Search for the Truth. Crossan burst into the public eye in 1991 with the publication of his bestselling The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. In this and subsequent books, Crossan's historical research has demonstrated the follies of both secularist denial and fundamentalist distortions of Jesus' significance. Tipperary is Crossan's memoir of the ways in which his personal experience "from Ireland to America, from priest to professor, from monastery to university, and ... from celibacy to marriage" have influenced his evolving understanding of who Jesus was. Crossan's struggle has always been to find a way of understanding Jesus that engages "both reason and revelation, both history and faith, both mind and heart." Here is his description of his ideal readers:

They are ... dissatisfied, disappointed, or even disgusted with classical Christianity and their denominational tradition. They hold on with anger or leave with nostalgia, but are not happy with either decision. They do not want to invent or join a new age, but to reclaim and redeem an ancient one. They do not want to settle for a generic-brand religion, but to rediscover their own specific and particular roots. But they know now that those roots must be in a renewed Christianity whose validity does not reject every other religion's integrity, a renewed Christianity that has purged itself of rationalism, fundamentalism, and literalism, whether of book, tradition, community, or leader.

Those who recognize themselves in this passage will find hope and courage in Crossan's book. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

Famous for his popular studies of the historical Jesus, Crossan here considers a question that many readers have long entertained: how did Crossan's own life shape the way he thinks Jesus lived? An intriguing question, but not one Crossan answers satisfactorily. The memoir fails to draw compelling connections between Crossan's own life and his Jesus, a radical egalitarian and social revolutionary. But if it does not do much to illumine his historical reconstructions of Jesus, it does offer a fascinating glimpse into the Roman Catholic ChurchAand particularly the Roman Catholic priesthoodAin the years surrounding Vatican II. The Irish Crossan was sent to boarding school as a child, and entered the Catholic priesthood. For a while, the priesthood was a good fitAthe Church sent him all over the world to study, encouraging his intellectual bent. He eventually left the priesthood because he knew that the Church would constrain what he could say as a scholar. (He now identifies with the Catholic tradition, but eschews the Catholic hierarchy, and never goes to church.) Occasionally an irksome self-importance sneaks into this memoir; Crossan never tires of informing us that he was featured on the cover of the Chicago Tribune magazine or interviewed by Terry Gross, and an entire chapter discusses his adventures as a "talking head." While this becomes tedious, readers who are curious about the thinkers and writers who are shaping contemporary religion won't want to miss this book. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1st edition (May 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060699744
• ISBN-13: 978-0060699741
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #929,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John D. Crossan is generally acknowledged to be the premier historical Jesus scholar in the world. His books include The Historical Jesus, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, and Who Killed Jesus? He recently appeared in the PBS special "From Jesus to Christ."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Enligtening and Truly Enjoyable Memoir - A MUST READ, June 6, 2000

By 

Stephen M. St Clair "Stephen M. St. Clair" (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Long Way from Tipperary: What a Former Monk Discovered in His Search for the Truth (Hardcover)

First, I will share my bias. I like, respect and enjoy both the person and the works of John Dominic Crossan; having discovered the former a couple of years ago by chance and good fortune, and the latter in 1993 by way of his seminal work: Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. It has been, therefore, with great anticipation that I have awaited this memoir and, as the old saw goes, it was definitely worth the wait. It was a one sitting read and this autobiography of one of the world's preeminent scholars on the Historical Jesus and early Christianity will be read again, recommended to all and assume a cherished place upon the bookshelf.

I laughed (often aloud), teared-up (some would say cried), and more than once re-read a sentence or a page to ensure I left nothing undigested as there is much here to savor (prose that borders on poetry); much here to ponder ("What is the character of your God?"); and much here to entertain (The consequences of literally interpreting every passage in the Bible... "If Jesus is the Lamb of God, did Mary have a little lamb?").

In reading this memoir no one can deny that Professor Crossan has had anything but a life well lived (thanks in no small measure to a wonderful lady named Sarah) and for the reader who puts down a schilling and opens this book he will, no doubt, have his spirit enobled, his heart warmed and his mind enlightened....and thoroughly enjoy himself throughout the process. What else could one ask from a book?

May the fates smile upon us and allow many many more years of (and thousands of more words from) John Dominic Crossan. He has, indeed, come a long way from Tipperary and I, for one, am thankful that his journey and mine have crossed paths; for in doing so my life has been profoundly enriched.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anything but dry, November 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Long Way from Tipperary: What a Former Monk Discovered in His Search for the Truth (Hardcover)

Crossan writes an intellectual biography that walks through many twists and turns in his life. But unlike other theological books it has a dramatic aspect. He first places in context criticisms of his views of the historical Jesus, and asks, in essence: How did I get there? What brought me to this point in my career? In the process of reading his memoir we read about various influences in his life, both personal and academic, as well as his methodology. It is a glimpse into the person of Crossan even as he wants us to glimpse into the person of Jesus. Admittedly, his views are not as elaborately explained as they are in his other works, so don't read this book if that is your goal. But if you want a book on the life of ideas and the life of a unique theologian, this book will be anything but dry.

32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Johnny, We Hardly Know You, July 17, 2000

By 

Erika Harnett - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Long Way from Tipperary: What a Former Monk Discovered in His Search for the Truth (Hardcover)

Crossan is far better a scholar (brilliantly incisive) than an autobiographer. The facts are here, but quite often the tone tends to be flat. To be sure, there are entertaining anecdotes and opportunities to make additions to one's own list of quotable Crossanisms (see what he says about guilt!), but Crossan is often quite guarded in revealing his emotions. Many of Crossan's readers, I think, are most interested in what the crisis was that led him to leave the priesthood, but the reader will find no anguish, no dark night of the soul here-(was the problem really just intellectual freedom?). The only anxiety expressed is about finding subsequent employment. Nor does one really know how Crossan's researches have affected his spirtuality- much of C's agenda in popularizing his scholarly work is to promote a revivified Christianity. Crossan has shown us a Jesus who is a radical egalitarian; who are the people who surround Crossan at his table, academics, yes, but who else? Rather than fulminating against fundamentalist types who are trying to promote God's vengeance on the wicked in his final chapter (already a cliche among writers on religion), Crossan might have told us how his work contributed to forming his personal views on social justice. An interview by a skillful journalist could pose the questions that Crossan doesn't ask or eludes answering in his autobiography. There needs to be one.