Crucified Christ in Holy Week: Essays on the Four Gospel Passion Narratives

by Raymond E. Brown

Book Overview

This best-selling book is certain to remain in the forefront of Gospel exegesis for years to come. In it, Father Brown treats the Gospels, written thirty to sixty years after the life of Christ, as reflecting considerate theological and dramatic development and not simply as literal accounts of a historical event.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814614442
• ISBN13: 9780814614440
• Release Date: December 1986
• Publisher: Liturgical Press
• Length: 72 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

The Cross is Christ's glory

Flor serious Christians who see Holy Week and the Triduum as the most imnportant time of the year, this book is a must. For those who keep the Holy Thursday Vigil it will guide their thoughts into a deeper appreciation of Christ's death and passion.

An Excellent (Very) Brief Overview of the Four Passion Narratives

In brief, Fr. Brown's collection of essays (based on his larger work, "The Death of the Messiah") is an excellent introduction to an obvious question of exegesis raised every year during the Easter season. Each liturgical year, Catholics are exposed to an important anomaly in the passion narratives of the Gospels as a synoptic Passion account is read on Palm Sunday and the Johannine Passion account is read on Good Friday. Through this lens, Fr. Brown approaches each narrative in order to shed light on its own specific characteristics. In brief form, Fr. Brown analyzes the heart of each narrative, casting its varied events into the light of that heart. While the brief text does not allow for much exegetical depth, it does allow for a general relief to be given to each narrative. He also extrapolates possible community orientations which led to the presentation in each narrative. While this remains somewhat peripheral in the short book, it is of utmost importance to the final synthesis which stresses the importance of the multiple facets of the narratives. In addition to this, Fr. Brown attempts to relate the passion narratives to their larger place in their given Gospels but fails to find much room to do so within the confines of each brief essay. Overall, the text is an excellent, brief read for all looking to more fully understand the multiple faces of the Passion accounts and the beauty of the reflections off each of those faces.

An Excellent Summary of Brown's Perspective on the Passion

A CRUCIFIED CHRIST IN HOLY WEEK is a small summary of the late Father Raymond Brown's two volume THE DEATH OF THE MESSIAH. While such a book, a booklet in comparison cannot be more than just a summary of what the two volume set includes, it is perfect for the student who wishes top be introduced to Brown's major thoughts regarding the death of Jesus or for the preacher trying to recall Brown's salient points while preparing a sermon or homily. The book is divided into four chapters which tell of each evangelist's focus in the Passion narrative and concludes with some thoughts regarding the Passion itself, and the strengths and weaknesses of the composite view of the Passion we are accustomed to when we combine the four Gospel passion accounts and make them into one story as well as concerns regarding the misinterpretation of the passion and its connection to anti-Semitism. As I mentioned earlier, this volume will be perfect for a student or a person involved in preaching. It could also be used my Bible study groups that are looking at the Passion narratives. Browns observations could certainly lead to lively discussions. It would also be a great guide for anyone who may be taking a closer look at the passion, especially during lent, and help the reader enter into a deeper understanding of Jesus'' Passion and its meaning for us today.

"the sanest possible book you could read" about this topic

These are not my views, I must admit, but rather those of Rev. Mark Stanger, an Episcopal priest at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral. In an interview published at salon.com in January 2004, he said, 'If people want to read something sensible about this whole thing, Raymond E. Brown -- he died about a year ago -- was a great, great Catholic scripture scholar. He wrote a mega-work called "The Death of the Messiah" in 1994 -- two volumes, 1,600 pages. But then he digested [it] down and did a little tiny popular work, a $5 paperback, 71 pages, called "A Crucified Christ in Holy Week." I think that would be the sanest possible book anyone could ever read.'