The Life of Jesus

By Marcello Craveri

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880012382
• ISBN13: 9780880012386
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Ecco Pr
• Length: 520 Pages
• Weight: 1.69 lbs.

Customer Reviews

a satisfied customer

I was afraid of buying through the intwrnet but I`m really happy with my stuff

Unknown Classic

Buy this book. It is an absolute gem. Step by step Craveri takes us through the life of Jesus and provides a plethora of explanations for what appears in the original Gospels, how it was changed, and how it was interpreted. His fluency in Latin and Greek is extremely helpful. Unlike so many other books of this type, Craveri does not appear to have an agenda. He goes where the evidence leads him, sometimes landing on traditional interpretations and sometimes supporting non-traditional views. The writing style is conversational and easy to read. Documentation is extensive, but most of the references are to works in non English languages. Having been written in 1967, the book is a bit dated, and doesn't reflect the wealth of data on the Essenes that has appeared since then. However, a subject 2000 years old isn't handicapped by ignoring the past 50 years and it is surprising how scholarly this book is and how well it would compare with the very best books that are published today. In addition to the direct topic, Craveri takes us on several excursions which are interesting and informative. For example, he shows us how people actually lived in the small villages, or the value of the sheckel, or the history of the place of Mary in the catechism of the Catholic church from the 4th Century right up until the 20th. Good stuff, and rarely dealt with by other authors.

A closely reasoned look at the evidence in the life

This is an eye-opening book. Craveri is clear-eyed about the evidence in the various biblical accounts and in other historical testimony about what exactly went on in the early days of Christianity. His narrative even has a villain: St. Paul, who translated, transformed Christ's message into an other-worldly vision of what should be the aim of the ordinary Christian. For Craveri, Christ's message is a focus on this world, particularly on the relationship of the Christian to the poor. The 'kingdom of heaven,' if it was to occur, was to occur in this world, where all men and women would be brothers and sisters. Paul, the outsider, one who never was close to Christ, altered this vision to a "kingdom of heaven' that was in some other world. With that, the Christian message was diluted, distorted, twisted. The influence on the early Church was tremendous, and in effect we have not recovered yet. i.e. we have not recovered Christ's original message. It is a tragedy of tremendous impact. This book should be read by every Christian, in power, or out of power.