[contact
me]Historical Jesus project
by Susan Polege
BOOK REVIEW [site map] [contact
me]
This book was an excellent introduction to the whole historical Jesus debate, to the Jesus Seminar, and to issues this controversy is touching. Shorto uses his skill as a journalist to research and report the important issues, and allows the critics a voice as well. Shorto's writing gives me the impression that he is wrestling the historical facts into the spotlight, but he does it with grace and tells the story well. Questions for the reader about the implications of why Christianity still matters in society today keep the reader's interest.
Shorto seems to agree with Robert Funk, the chairman of the Jesus Seminar, in giving Jesus "a demotion" from divine being to prophet and teacher. Shorto says that critical scholarship is bringing flexibility and life back into Christianity. By compromising between using history to make Jesus more real and also allowing Christians to have faith in their stories of Jesus, the truth will be able to have contemporary significance.
Shorto emphasizes the idea that objective scholarship is impossible. The bias of the writer or reader always colors the subject matter. I agree with that statement and have learned about that in my other writing classes. I think that Shorto's book is probably the best book of the 4 that I read to give the overall picture of the Historical Jesus debates. A very good book. Four stars :-) ****