Putting Away Childish Things: The Virgin Birth, the Empty Tomb, and Other Fairy Tales You Dont't Need to Believe to Have a Living Faith

by Uta Ranke-Heinemann

Book Overview

Tells the story of the Church's betrayal of women, its hierarchical struggles, and the dissolution of the real message of Jesus. Through this book, the author seeks to rid Christianity of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060668601
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Provocative, Scholarly, and Occasionally Funny

Uta Ranke-Heinemann takes her considerable talents and applies them to a critical analysis of the gospels, revealing the incongruities, impossibilities, distortions, and mis-interpretations that have plagued the study of the historical Jesus. Much of the material she covers has been covered by others, but she has a unique perspective and often brings to light issues which previous researchers have overlooked or ignored. There is no one so well read on the life of the historical Jesus that they will not benefit from reading this book. In addition, Ranke-Heinemann often displays a caustic wit that lightens up what is usually a weighty subject. Her humor is sometimes biting, but never offensive. Which is not to say that the book has no faults. Ranke-Heinemann's "pick-and-choose" style of subject selection leaves us with gaps in the story and sometimes belabours a point to the extreme. She is far too accepting of some of the traditional ideas (e.g., Jesus is from Nazareth, his family was poor, etc.) and fails on occasions to distinguish between redacted material and original emphases (e.g., the section about Jesus' family being opposed to his activities). She uses no footnotes, so sometimes the text is more detailed than it might otherwise be. And she has no reference list, referring instead within the text to the docuemnts she quotes from extensively. These are relatively minor flaws. This book should be read by anyone interested in the life of the historical Jesus. Even the most advanced scholar will benefit from Ranke-Heinemann's unusual probing techniques.

Enlightening

There are people who will wonder, after reading this book, if one can remove all of what Ranke-Heinemann calls "fairy tales" from Christianity and still have a practiceable religion left when you're finished. I would answer that yes, you can. And if you can't, you have a highly impoverished understanding about what the gospel is all about (which is true of most Christians, unfortunately). Ranke-Heinemann, an eccentric but brilliant theologian, focuses her efforts on deconstructing the "fairy tales" of the Christian tradition, and does so with a good sense of humour. At first she comes across as very anti-faith, but this proves to be a false impression. It is only the false beliefs that need to be put away. She makes no effort to "reconstruct" Christianity after she's finished "deconstructing" it, but this is not the point of her book. If you want to find a fresh approach to Jesus, I highly recommend Marcus Borg's "Jesus: A New Vision" and "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time." An earlier reviewer suggested that someone who likes the writings of Jack Spong will enjoy this book as well. This is probably true, but the comparison is far more flattering for Spong than it is for Ranke-Heinemann. Spong's books are never as well-written or well-argued as this. Spong is a lightweight compared to Ranke-Heinemann.

One of a few books that will really make you think

This book was recomended to me after I read Eunichs for the Kingdom of Heaven (another real thought provoking book). This isn't a book where a pissed off person starts going off on religion and such with no logic or reason. She is thoughtful and careful, giving many good refrences for each topic. What she says makes sense. Even if you are caught up in the fairy tale and all, read this book. It can help make sense of your beliefs.

Wise and witty

In a well-researched and thoughtful way the author explores those aspects of Christian belief that are difficult to accept on face value (like the virgin birth, the tendency to blame the Jews and excuse the Romans for the crucifixion, very different Christmas stories, and miracle stories) and peels away layers of theological presentations and pious fantasies to give us a glimpse of original worship and spirituality. Her writing is provocative and at the same time it is funny. I laughed out loud as I read sections of the book. If you are open to questions about Christianity and the development of religious beliefs you might enjoy this book very much.

witty, eyeopening scholarship

Oh that our Prime Minister would read this! He wants a new preamble, including the words 'almighty god', to our constitution. I'd like to buy millions of copies of this book and distribute them to the christian fundamentalists of the world. Then they would have some idea of the surprising origin of their beliefs. It's a fabulous book to 'get started' on, if you're interested in the history of the whole thing. Am sure it would be very unsettling to most orthodox believers.