Jesus and the Pleasures

By John Christian Wilson

Jesus and the Pleasures explores Jesus and his attitude toward the pleasures of human life. Wilson contends that Jesus, fully human, accepted the pleasures of life, and that denying them runs counter... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806634642
• ISBN13: 9780806634647
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishing
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Solid Material, Not Always on Topic

When I picked up this book, I had high hopes for the material. I'm an ordained Lutheran pastor (ELCA) and in my seminary days, a notoriously clever professor did a January course called "Lutheran spirituality." On day one we were all told we failed for taking a course with such a name. No such thing as Spirituality for a Christian, he said: we are enfleshed, so we would study "Lutheran carnality." The author of our book is not Lutheran, but shares this same understanding of Jesus as an enfleshed person, and approaches "worldliness" in a way that is refreshing and rare among Christianity in America today. The beginning chapters lay out what is meant by "the pleasures" and establishes our discussion. The third chapter starts off our list well, with one of my favorite topics, Jesus and wine. I'm a home vintner, so I am a bit biased. Excellent chapter. Chapter four is out of focus. Using the classic phrase "wine women and song" as a basis for discussion, the chapter on women does not fit in this book. It is a fine collection of material about Jesus' out-of-the-box attitude toward women. It is important material for any Christian to study. It's just not right for this book. This is a book about Jesus and worldly pleasures, and the format sets up the expectation of a sexist objectification of women. While that is reversed by the discussion of Jesus' egalitarianism, what is lost in the shuffle is a chapter relevant to the title of the book. As an awkward afterthought, the author suddenly remembers the theme and says "he reveled in the pleasure of their company." This was the easy way out. How about a chapter on the speculation over Jesus being married? The fact that he is called Rabbi would infer a married man, yet no mention of his marital status is mentioned. We assume that means he was single. A first century Jew would assume that meant he was married. Being single would be strange enough to have been mentioned. And if he was, why would that make him less than what he was? Why is a later third century attitude toward sex and the doctrine of original sin our lens on which we view Jesus? Nothing about being married and remaining faithful in marriage would have made him inherently sinful, holding with most Christian orthodoxy that he was without sin. My point is that this chapter could have been about the serious question of sexuality, but instead a fine chapter from another book was put in its place. Chapter five has good material, but again, gets way off focus. The central thesis is that Jesus was no dour puritan, singing and dancing are part of celebrating the kingdom. A good admonition is offered against those Christian traditions who have lost the ability to celebrate. However, much of the chapter is dedicated to an Old Testament history of music, as well as a crash course in Western music which is wholly unnecessary for this book. This is where my main critique of the book is levied. There's nothing I would disagree with, it's simply a cas