The Blackwell Companion to Jesus

By Delbert Burkett

The Blackwell Companion to Jesus features a comprehensive collection of essays that explore the diverse ways in which Jesus has been imagined or portrayed from the beginnings of Christianity to the present day.  

• Considers portrayals of Jesus in the New Testament and beyond, Jesus in non-Christian religions, philosophical and historic perspectives, modern manifestations, and representations in Christian art, novels, and film
• Comprehensive scope of coverage distinguishes this work from similar offerings
• Examines both Christian and non-Christian perspectives on Jesus, including those from ethnic and sexual groups, as well as from other faiths
• Offers rich and rewarding insights which will shape our understanding of this influential figure and his enduring legacy

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Aug 20, 2010
• ISBN: 9781444327953

Reviews for The Blackwell Companion to Jesus

[nmele_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this updated and much shorter version of his earlier biography of Jesus, Crossan offers interesting perspectives on the life of Jesus and casts a cooly critical eye on the stories familiar from the canonical Gospels. He uses techniques and information from the social sciences to buttress his examination of the primary texts, including several of the non-canonical gospels and some of the writings of the early Church fathers. Not for everybody.

[trishrobertsmiller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Highly speculative, but all books claiming to be factual accounts of Jesus' life are, and he makes his speculations explicit. I disagree with a lot that he has to say, but it's interesting.

[auntmarge64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading Crossan is both enlightening and depressing. He’s well-known in the historical Jesus school and has written numerous books for both the professional and layperson on what we can really know about the life and sayings of Jesus. For those who take the Bible literally, whatever version you’ve chosen to take literally, I’d say read this only if you’re willing to be challenged. For the rest, Crossan offers a detailed exegesis that will make your hair stand on end. In short, he sees the historical person as (1) an illiterate peasant teaching a type of radical social change at a time when the entrenched political and religious elites were stamping out such troublemakers brutally and without thought, sympathy, or delay; (2) likely killed for causing a scene in the crowded temple at Passover, when Jerusalem was at its busiest and Roman authorities were primed to put down any sign of disturbance; (3) left on the cross or the ground as carrion with no chance of burial, for which a special request would have had to be made and, as he points out, no one with the chops to make such a request would have cared and anyone who cared wouldn’t have had the contacts to make the request. Non-burial was considered the ultimate insult to the deceased and a deterrent to crime. The teachings themselves are distilled down to just a few, which are so far from the hierarchical church structure which developed that organized Christianity ends up in the same position to Jesus as all the other institutions he was trying to bring down. Crossan concludes that Jesus practiced, and taught, that the Kingdom of God can be here now only if people will 1) practice complete, open table-sharing and spiritual healing, without any care for status, class, wealth, physical condition, race, freedom, or any other division humans have invented over time; and 2) set down no roots where a hierarchy or center of power can be identified (and the reason he instructed his followers to leave anywhere after a day or two) so that the typical 1st century system of patronage (elites), brokerage (middlemen) and clients (everyone else) could not be set up. He didn’t want anyone to be the head of an organization. He wanted complete equality and sharing, which no institution can pull off by definition, let alone given human predilection for power, status and hoarding of wealth. One of the most fascinating points Crossan makes is about the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet. In her, Jesus found the only person, male or female, who actually listened when he talked about the death he expected and who recognized his need for burial preparation, knowing he’d never get it later. In an age when a couple of the major Christian organizations still won’t recognize women as equals in the church, isn’t it interesting to speculate on why that might be?This book is the layperson version of Crossan’s arguments. The more scholarly version is "The Historical Jesus".

[dubiousdisciple · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Crossan is one of the premier Jesus scholars of today, and this book is quintessential Crossan. It’s a condensed, recently reprinted, more readable version of his 1994 masterpiece, The Historical Jesus.Crossan’s research is controversial, more focused on the real life of a first-century sage (Jesus) than in the messianic God-man Christianity turned him into. I believe Crossan’s most irritating position (to conservative Christians) is his insistence that Jesus never rose from the tomb … because he was never entombed in the first place. Jesus’ body was probably pulled from the cross and eaten by dogs, with his remains dumped in a shallow grave, like the majority of other Roman crucifixion victims. Nevertheless, Crossan’s portrayal of Jesus is warm and powerful.This little 200-page book is for people who want a quick introduction to Crossan’s research without tomes or tangents.

[jotto_19 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and insightful study of the New Testament and other relevant historical material regarding the identity of Jesus and the development of Early Christianity by one of leading scholars of the Jesus Seminar. A challenging book for those of us with a more conservative viewpoint.

[osodani · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting bible study, which separates the historical Jesus from the Son fo God Jesus which was applied by the gospels after his death.