Bruce Barton's 1925 effort to reconfigure Jesus for the Roaring Twenties turned into one of the great best-sellers of the century. In The Man Nobody Knows, Barton depicted Christ as a man's man, not the meek, effeminate figure he had encountered in Sunday School. No Puritan or Prohibitionist, this Jesus turned water into wine and was "the most popular dinner guest in Jerusalem." Here was the world's first advertising man, whose parables sparkled as models for modern jingle writers. (Barton had co-founded the celebrated advertising firm of Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne.) Here was Christ, the world's greatest business executive, who "picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organization that conquered the world." When in the 1950s Barton felt compelled to revise his often-reprinted book for a new generation, he blurred its focus. In this new edition, the historian Richard Fried revives the primary source in Barton's original language. Mr. Fried explores the book's rich insights into the culture of the 1920s, revealing not only the union of religion and business but changing attitudes toward consumption and leisure, sexuality and the roles of men and women.
The Man Nobody Knows
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His themes are, ahem, resurrected by businessmen who seek to enumerate the most common problems in business. (Kim Phillips-Fein The American Prospect )
Barton is a pioneer in public relations...by making Jesus the founder of modern business. (Richard N. Ostilling Philadelphia Tribune )
Barton is a pioneer in public relations...by making Jesus the founder of modern business. (Richard N. Ostilling Philadelphia Tribune )
From the Publisher
When it was originally published in 1925, the book topped the nonfiction bestseller list. Its lessons for the modern businessman are even more compelling today.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Astonishing this chestnut is still around,
This review is from: The Man Nobody Knows (Paperback)
The notion that Jesus' values were those of corporate America and his "charisma" of the sort that makes insurance salemen is so laughably a fantasy that I hope the other reviews are meant as jokes. Portraying Jesus as a "booster," a kind of successful Willy Loman, is about as ludicrous as picturing Mother Teresa as a fashion model and Gandhi as a comic book superhero. The Jesus of the New Testament would have observed the conspicuous consumption of corporate America, the cultural gluttony of the Western World, with sadness and disgust.
Jesus may be the ultimate Rorschach. We look at him: Nazis see a blue-eyed Aryan beset by Jews and look for somebody to beat up; gays see their lifestyle affirmed in the friendhip with John; chickenhawk warriors somehow see endorsement of the hateful causes they want others to die for; the tenderhearted and compassionate see him surrounded by happy children; feminists see the women by his side; lying hypocrites see... God knows what. The hardest thing for humans to do is to comprehend that their heroes are not just big versions of themselves. A hero should be something to push against, not a self-endorsement. Jesus told the rich to give away their money. He told his followers not to gather up treasures in the world. He said wealth is a burden that will keep the rich out of Heaven. He scourged the moneylenders. He was a freeloader. He is bad for business. Today, as the most affluent country on the planet, we hear the Christian message as unhappily as the young wealthy Hebrew who asked Jesus what he must do to be saved. His answer was NOT "get an MBA." But instead of walking away, we invent new myths of a Jesus more suitable, one able to see past his silly prejudice against money grubbers, to see that it is possible to be rich and really nice. Barton's book is a bizarre anachronism; a last survivor of the Babbitt years of pious Philistinism and Pharisaic self-approval just before the Depression turned our complacent cultural narcissism upside down. How sad, that it's coming back into fashion. Read Jim Wallis' *God's Politics* for a theology less absorbed with self-justification.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful read for those of any faith,
This review is from: The Man Nobody Knows (Paperback)
I think some people wrote their reviews without reading the book. If you judge it by only the chapter titles or the text on the front of the book, you are really missing out. I was required to read this for a college class and I am very glad I got the chance to find this gem. For anyone interested in the life and works of Jesus or just love to read a good book that makes you rethink things, definitely check this one out.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting and enjoyable read,
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This review is from: The Man Nobody Knows (Paperback)
Read this book for the first time over 30 years ago, reread recently and still enjoy the authors alternate view of Jesus. Thought provoking and interesting.
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