Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography [Hardcover]

Bruce Chilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2000

Interpretations of the life of Jesus have flourished for nearly two millennia--from the Gospels to scholarly investigations by theologians and historians, to fictional portraits by novelists like Nikos Kazantzakis and Norman Mailer. Despite this long history, a clear and coherent picture of Jesus as a man and a teacher has remained elusive. Now, Bruce Chilton puts the pieces of the puzzle together in an extraordinary biography that sweeps readers into first-century Palestine and re-creates the world as Jesus knew it.
Chilton draws on recent archaeological findings to paint a vivid portrait of the social customs, political forces, and religious beliefs and practices of the period. Examining new translations and interpretations of ancient texts against this fresh, historically accurate background, he offers a revolutionary look at Jesus' early life and the philosophical and psychological foundations of the ideas he promulgated as a young man. Chilton provides evidence that contradicts long-held beliefs about Jesus and the movement he led. He shows, for example, that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Galilee, not Nazareth or Bethlehem of Judea, and that the High Priest Caiaphas, not Pontius Pilate, played the central role in Jesus' execution. It is his description of Jesus' role as a rabbi, or "master," of Jewish oral traditions, a teacher of the Kabbalah, and a practitioner of a Galilean form of Judaism that emphasized direct communication with God, however, that casts an entirely new light on the origins of Christianity. By placing Jesus within the context of his times, Chilton uncovers truths lost to history and reveals a new Jesus for the new millennium.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bruce Chilton presents Rabbi Jesus as "the first comprehensive, critical biography of Jesus to date." Though historical Jesus scholars have "demolished the secularist myth that Jesus was a figment of faith," and have begun to describe his ministry in the context of first century Judaism, Chilton (a professor of religion at Bard College and an Episcopal priest) believes they have not gone far enough. He argues that Jesus was "an inspired rabbi with an exclusively Jewish agenda." Thus, "everything Jesus did was as a Jew, for Jews, and about Jews." Rabbi Jesus patiently explores these notions in a straightforward, accessible style, drawing on a wealth of Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, and Syriac texts. Many of his arguments are new, and many of them are convincing. Most of them will also make the majority of both Christians and Jews sufficiently uncomfortable as to justify Chilton's striking description of his own work, taken from the book's Foreward: "I sometimes feel as if I am cross-dressing: transgressing basic categories that define who we are [as Christians and as Jews] and how we differentiate ourselves in the world." --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

Chilton claims to have produced "the first comprehensive, critical biography of Jesus" in an effort to "find the core" from which Christian faith arose. Unfortunately, he falls short of these noble goals. According to Chilton (Anglican priest and Bard College's Bell Professor of Religion), the hurt Jesus experienced as a social outcast and spiritual misfitAon account of his uncertain paternityAwas the crucible in which his religious development was fostered. Chilton writes that Jesus' enduring legacy, as witnessed in his long-suffering life and agonizing death, is precisely that which "pain teaches": that a shattered sense of self can blossom into a mystical, visionary awareness of the image of God within. For Chilton, Jesus' central religious insight is an exemplary one, as it may be for many readers. As a historical work, however, this is often irresponsible; Chilton engages in dubious biblical exegesis and otherwise eschews the rigors of research and documentation. At times, this biography reads like a work of psycho-historical fiction, which imagines those years of Jesus' life for which evidence is lacking. ("All he [Jesus] knew was that he wanted to stay near the Temple.... He couldn't face going back to Nazareth, to the look of judgment and distaste... in the eyes of the village elders.") Such tactics will likely both strain the credulity and tax the goodwill of Chilton's readers. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (October 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038549792X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385497923
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,297,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Interpretation presented as scholarship, December 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography (Hardcover)

Bruce Chilton displays his considerable familiarity with ancient languages and texts, but his "intimate biography" disappoints because it relies too extensively on the author's suppositions rather than his scholarship. Chilton writes: Jesus grew heavier over the years until he left the area in 27 C.E. Capernaum brought him times of plenty, and-- as his message became more and more popular--little requirement for manual work. The emerging paunch only strengthened his voice, however, and his thick black beard and thinning hair made for an impression of *gravitas.* Shorter than the norm, overweight, and tending to baldness, nothing about Jesus in physical terms (from what is attested about his appearance and from what we can gather from the likely results of his lifestyle) can explain his magnetism. (138)

Readers who are satisfied with categorical statements and 'evidence' of this type may find Chilton's book appealing. For those who prefer substance, Crossan's _Jesus, A Revolutionary Biography_ would be a better choice.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Jesus of his own making, February 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography (Hardcover)

What one would have assumed by the title and subtitle was something on the order of the hebraic and jewish foundation of the teachings of Jesus- something I have spent much time studying. This was not such an attempt. A clear attempt to rewrite the gospels as a clever mask for the "real" Jesus as Chilton sees Him- a lazy, illiterate, drunkard who learns new age meditation from John the Baptist during His silent years and later uses and teaches these methods until His untimely death. His virgin birth is questioned and His "obvious" ..relationship with Mary Magdalene is snickered at. This is hardly a work of scholarship, but it serves the purpose of showing how one's own unusual spirituality can be inserted into history, resulting into a Jesus that suits your taste. He is certainly not the first to do it, nor the last. Read this only if you have a solid understanding of what you already know of Jesus and His Jewishness- but be ready to throw out the authors suppositions and conclusions for which he gives no support.

33 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Factual or Imaginative?, April 8, 2002

By 

Smallchief - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography (Paperback)

Bruce Chilton, the author, tells us that everything Jesus did was "as a Jew, for Jews, and about Jews." Jesus, he says, was a short, plump, balding, illiterate, revolutionary rabbi whose objective was to purify Judaism in the expectation that God would then reward the Israelites by expelling the unclean Romans and other Gentiles from their land. This suggests that Jesus would be appalled if he had known that the fruit of his labor was to be the creation of a new religion: Christianity.

Chilton has written a fascinating and controversial biography of Jesus. I'm not an expert and, thus, I don't have the background to judge whether this book should be taken seriously or considered a work of surmise and imagination. Chilton accepts some parts of the biblical account of Jesus' life as factual and rejects others as fabricated or inaccurate. His authority for deciding what is true and what is untrue is often uncertain - as is his reasoning.

The book was worth reading, however, for the vivid picture Chilton paints of life in the Roman provinces of what we call the Holy Land. One of the best passages is in Chapter 11 in which Chilton describes the Great Temple of Jerusalem and the barbaric - I guess everyone was a barbarian in those days -- animal sacrifices carried out by the high priests. But Jesus protested against adherence to the rituals which the priests demanded - and profited from. Chilton's Jesus makes a quantum leap forward in religious philosophy by believing that "purity" comes from inside a person, rather than through sterile observance of a ritual, form, or formality of religion. That, at least, is my interpretation of what the author is trying to convey of Jesus' philosophy. As a speculative history this book is outstanding; better informed persons than me will have to judge its accuracy and religious merits.