Deconstructing Jesus

by Robert M. Price

After more than a century of New Testament scholarship, it has become clear that the Jesus of the gospels is a fictive amalgam, reflecting the hopes and beliefs of the early Christian community and revealing very little about the historical Jesus. Over the millennia since the beginning of Christianity various congregations, from fundamentalist to liberal, have tended to produce a Jesus figurehead that functions as a symbolic cloak for their specific...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573927589
• ISBN13: 9781573927581
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Thanks be to Dr. Price!

This is another indispensable contribution from Dr. Price. Here he traces the lines of evidence back to a plurality of preorthodox Christian sociological and cultural phenomena that later converged into what we recognize as Christianity. Dr. Price is honest enough with the evidence to avoid the trap, that many Jesus scholars fall prey to, of building a "Jesus" out of some axiomatic theological or historical agenda. He shows a depth and sensitivity to the data which free him from the group-think constraints of many other academics. The analytical rationality, eloquent clarity, and comprehensive scope makes this another persuasive work that deserves serious attention by those interested in the origins of Christianity and "historical" Jesus studies.

Best book on the "Historical" Jesus

Against all the books that purport to show what Jesus was "really" like, be it itinerant preacher, marginal Jew, radical zealot, etc., this book shows how the level of mythologizing has left it impossible to reconstruct a genuine biography. It leaves open the strong possibility that in fact there was no historical Jesus, or that there was more than one -- Jesus as a composite character.Among books skeptical of Christianity, it is the best documented, with examples of similar beliefs in preChristion religions, Greek philosophy and early rabbinic Judaism contemporary with the New Testament writers.

Let's sober up, shall we?

I did research on the subject on my own as a sideline to Roman Archaeology, strictly from a historian's point of view. Unfortunately, whenever it comes to mythology I am helplessly engulfed in my own yawns, so I directed my research to more earthly matters. (Btw. I am of course aware of most of the literature that had been published on this proposition since the mid-eighteen hundreds of which Wells gives in his books a fair digest.) Price did all the boring work - because for people like me, myth is a terrible bore. The three main aspects which have convinced me, that we are facing fiction (or "myth") are these: (1) I analyzed in great detail the trial procedures strictly by the letter of the law, and it became evident, that even the seemingly "realistic" portions of the gospels are clearly fictional. I wouldn't say uninformed, but in a strange way misrepresenting the proceedings. (2) no matter how far back we follow the documents, they always come in the presence of an institution (such as the synagogue, or a churche) which acts as a custodian of the tradition. There is not a shred of evidence for an innovative phase that would precede the organized cult-activity. There is even no evidence for the existence of the apostles, (including Paul!) with the one exception of John (perhaps a very important exception) - who however cannot be identical with the Zebedee in the gospels. What we really have is a bundle of anonymous testimonies to a received faith, and perhaps in John the originator of the branch or heresy in this tradition which eventually became Christianity. (3) The fact of the "Easter-faith" is much more likely the testimony to a received faith. A testimony based on a historical precedent would soon be exposed to the strains of the reality thereafter. Faith in a myth is bulletproof - at least for people who are susceptible for this sort of thing. On reflection the entire movement may have originated among proselytized gentiles in the Jewish Diasporah, and from there have filtered back to the old country as an inspiration to actually impersonate the concept, but faced strong resistence. The documents, even in the form as they have been handed down to us, reflect on the to and fro of the argument and a developing heresy from the Jewish law. So what does this tell us about Jesus? Not much, I am afraid.

Jeus to Go!

For those who've read Burton L Mack or John Dominic Crossan or know about other modernist New Testament scholarship this is your next step. Robert Price charges in where others fear to tread taking the arguments of more cautious modernists to their natural conclusions and finally revealing that the emperor has no clothes or rather that he's got a whole wardrobe and that according to our prejudices and preconceptions we can dress Jesus/Barbi (or should that be Ken) in the clothes we prefer.Want a Cynic philosopher Jesus? You got it! Want a charismatic Jewish excorcist? You got it! Anyone reading Russell Shorto's indispensable introduction for layperson to the full spectrum of modernist debate 'Gospel Truth' will have concluded this already, but boy does Mr Price take everything a step further but leaves the arguments open ended. Even the apologists get a word in here and there! You're left to make your own mind up, to pursue trains of thought or further researches or just let your imagination rove through the religious mixed grill of the ancient world. There's enough information here to keep a post-graduate student or fascinated layperson busy for a very long time. There is nothing here that could offend anyone Christian or non Christian with an open heart and mind. If you want to believe there is a Yeshua ben Yusuf lurking in the shadows of the New Testament then Robert Price might just help to illuminate that figure for you. Robert Price writes with such riveting mixture of scholarship and good humour that I turned to each new chapter with eager anticipation. musonius@hotmail.com

Jesus, Jesus, wherefore art thou Jesus?

I guess it all started with the pre millennium madness. More and more biblical scholars are following the footsteps of scholars who have attempted to find the actual person behind the gospel accounts. "Deconstructing Jesus" isn't an easy read. Unless you have been diligently studying in this field you will find many references to authors you have never heard about. The field is rife with people studying this question. Bottom line, as I understand it, is that the Jesus that contemporary Christianity follows is a multi-layered construction that has evolved over time to fit the needs of the current culture and political climate. The roots of this construction are all over the first century Middle East and various philosophies. From Cynic, to Gnostic, through Zealot, and everything in between has been woven into the picture that we get of "The Man From Nazareth" (or, was he a Nasserite or Nasorean?). For the serious student of Christology or church history this book is an excellent criticism of all the current thinking in this area of scholarship. I doubt that the average pew-sitting Christian will be overjoyed with this book but the scholarship will, eventually, be the stuff of many homilies.Will you find the historical Jesus in this book? No. But you will find an early Church struggling with a polyglot of beliefs attempting to blend them into a cohesive fabric of faith. Perhaps it is that dynamic that has kept "The Church" alive for two millennia. Mysticism and Gnostic thinking are on the rise again and "The Church" on the eve of another evolutionary move -- here's the first map of the territory ahead.