Christology Books

The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus

Lee Strobel

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Zondervan Amazon Marketplace: 309 new & used starting at $2.11

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( S ) -> Strobel, Lee
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 641 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Failed to Address Any of My Questions 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

A good friend of mine, who is quite sincere in his belief, provided me with a copy of this book, believing it would quickly dispel my lifelong agnosticism. I read it in good faith, hoping that here at last might be a book that would address a lifetime's worth of questions. Unfortunately, I realized within the first few minutes of opening it that it would do no such thing. It glossed over the most fundamental objections I have within the first few pages and never looked back from there. Thus, to me, it was essentially worthless, though I labored on to finish the entire book out of respect for my friend. Thankfully, it was mercifully short, and the language made for an easy read. The content was of no value to me, but Strobel, at least, can write a coherent sentence and is a decent writer.

Christian believers should be aware of how weakly this book addresses genuine agnostic objections to the Jesus story, and how poorly it will prepare you to discuss and/or debate the matter with an informed unbeliever.

Quite simply, I have never believed the Jesus story, from the time I was a child. I don't believe in invisible things, be they ghosts, demons, leprechauns or the various and sundry gods of a thousand different religions. I have serious doubts that Jesus ever existed, though I can't rule out that the stories are not based on some bonafide rabbi who actually lived and breathed and preached for a time, even though he somehow missed the attention of Philo of Alexandria, a Jew who lived at exactly the same time and wrote extensively about the history of Palestine. I am puzzled by the existence of religion, which obviously has arisen in virtually every culture that has ever existed on this planet, but have accepted the reality that skeptics like myself are in the minority. Perhaps it is because I am a member of such a seemingly small minority that Strobel's book was not tailored to a mind like mine - but to me the fundamental flaw in his book is that he simply assumes from the very beginning that invisible and supernatural things do exist, that miracles happen, and that the stories told in the Gospels are true.

To me, it is obvious that all the biographical information we have about Jesus was first written by whoever developed the Gospel of Mark, and that little new or different regarding the actual life and biography of Jesus was added by the other three gospel writers. Thus we have what is essentially a point source regarding the life of Jesus, and I have yet to receive a compelling argument from anyone that counters my suspicion that maybe the entire story was a work of fiction invented by some literary genius now known to the world only as "Mark." Unfortunately, Strobel does not address this concern in the least. His only comment on this very serious objection is along the lines of: "these gospel writers seemed like good men, so why would they lie?"

Why indeed? The problem of course is that a devout Mormon will say the same thing about Joseph Smith, when to most outsiders it really does appear as if Smith made the entire Book of Mormon up virtually single handedly, and his motives for doing so: money, power, and even sex, are crystal clear to any outsider not caught up in the Mormon faith. The objection that no one person could have come up with the Jesus story is refuted not only by Joseph Smith, but by looking at the complex worlds created in fiction by people like Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, or J.K. Rowling. So of course one person could have come up with the Jesus story, especially since any simple course in comparative religion shows that most of the major premises of Christianity already were present in the Mediterranean basin at the time of St. Paul: whoever Mark was, living where he did, would have had access to the teachings and belief systems of Plato, Buddhism, Zoroaster/Mithras, Judaism, Heracles, and the ancient and well-developed Egyptian religion. From there, it would not be difficult to fuse and merge the best of each into a new amalgamation - the creation of such a hybrid religion would require creativity and ingenuity to be sure - but would not require the development of any new insights or philosophy - those were already there for the taking.

Strobel fails to address the fact that not a single contemporary Roman source mentions Jesus, and that references to Jesus from later writers like Tacitus and Josephus are not only scant but controversial. The oft repeated claim that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are "one of the most documented events in history" becomes ridiculous to anyone who has ever actually investigated the matter - but again - Strobel fails to address this.

Having thus blithely, and as I said earlier, in one sentence, dispensed with the most serious objection to Christianity - that the entire thing might have been invented, just like every other religion known to man, Strobel barrels along, treating each story in the gospel now as though it was actually witnessed by a sober and honest person.

I do not make these comments in an effort to stir up a debate, but in the event a Christian apologist happens to make a good faith effort to refute any of the concerns I've just expressed in the last few paragraphs in a "comment" to this review, I would observe that his or her efforts would be far superior and far more useful to me than anything in Strobel's book.

And THAT, more than anything else, drives home the point that Strobel's book is useless. If a stray Christian passerby can spend five minutes responding to me and come up with more compelling and direct arguments than Strobel did in the year or so he spent writing this book, that ought to tell you something about how useful Strobel's book really is as a refutation to agnosticism.

Editorial Review:

The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel's attempt to "determine if there's credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God." The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.

The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore

Deepak Chopra

Amazon Price: $16.32 List Price: $24.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harmony Amazon Marketplace: 54 new & used starting at $14.31

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Authors, A-Z -> Chopra, Deepak
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Christology
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Spirituality -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 85 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Who is Jesus Christ?

In The Third Jesus, bestselling author and spiritual leader Deepak Chopra provides an answer to this question that is both a challenge to current systems of belief and a fresh perspective on what Jesus can teach us all, regardless of our religious background. There is not one Jesus, Chopra writes, but three.

First, there is the historical Jesus, the man who lived more than two thousand years ago and whose teachings are the foundation of Christian theology and thought. Next there is Jesus the Son of God, who has come to embody an institutional religion with specific dogma, a priesthood, and devout believers. And finally, there is the third Jesus, the cosmic Christ, the spiritual guide whose teaching embraces all humanity, not just the church built in his name. He speaks to the individual who wants to find God as a personal experience, to attain what some might call grace, or God-consciousness, or enlightenment.

When we take Jesus literally, we are faced with the impossible. How can we truly “love thy neighbor as thyself”? But when we see the exhortations of Jesus as invitations to join him on a higher spiritual plane, his words suddenly make sense.

Ultimately, Chopra argues, Christianity needs to overcome its tendency to be exclusionary and refocus on being a religion of personal insight and spiritual growth. In this way Jesus can be seen for the universal teacher he truly is–someone whose teachings of compassion, tolerance, and understanding can embrace and be embraced by all of us.

The Greatest Words Ever Spoken: Everything Jesus Said about You, Your Life, and Everything Else

Steven K. Scott

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: WaterBrook Press Amazon Marketplace: 47 new & used starting at $14.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Christology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Every Word of Jesus Right at Your Fingertips

Haven’t you wished you could ask Jesus any question and get his immediate help with the biggest problems you face? Now you can.

For the first time ever, all of the statements Jesus made in the New Testament have been brought together and organized under more than 200 topics. When you want to know his will in a specific area of life, or you’re seeking the answer to a perplexing question, or you are desperate for his encouragement, comfort, or wisdom–you can easily find the help you need.

The moment you turn to the appropriate topic heading, you will have access to the breadth of Jesus’ teaching on that subject. You can also use this book as a guide for studying Jesus’ wisdom on any topic of interest, such as prayer, forgiveness, eternity, anger, temptation, relationships, grace, or knowing God.

As you immerse yourself in Jesus’ words, your life and relationships will be transformed, and your faith and spiritual passion will be renewed. Let the greatest words ever spoken bring new vision, power, and joy into your life–one statement at a time.

The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Birth

Marcus J. Borg, John Dominic Crossan

Amazon Price: $15.61 List Price: $22.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperOne Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $12.70

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Borg, Marcus
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( C ) -> Crossan, John Dominic
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Church History -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Peace and Justice in This World 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 28 people found this review helpful.

Borg and Crossan give an esoteric and exhaustive exegesis of the birth of Jesus in the New Testament. The following quote summarizes their conclusion:

"It is not accurate to distinguish the imperial kingdom of Rome from the eschatological kingdom of God by claiming one is earthly the other heavenly, one is evil the other holy, or one is demonic the other sublime. That is simply name-calling. Both come to us with divine credentials for the good of humanity. They are two alternative transcendental visions. Empire promises peace through violent force. Eschaton promises peace through nonviolent justice.... That clash of visionary programs for our earth is the context and matrix for those Christmas stories, and they proclaim God's peace through justice over against Rome's peace through victory." (p.75)

They point out, for example, that Jesus' birth in Bethlehem symbolically says that he is the "son of David," the ideal king. According to Borg and Crossan, the divine conception of Jesus was a parable intended to counteract the claims that the Roman emperors were divine.

That Jesus chose twelve apostles symbolizes a reuniting of the tribes of Israel and shows Jesus was concerned about peace and justice on earth. But this is the beginning of a sign that the eschaton is a heavenly one promising hope for eternal life. This sign is not a single historical event, like the resurrection of Jesus, but a current event because it ends with the universal recognition that capitalism and democracy realizes for mankind "peace through justice."

Evidence of this new worldwide understanding is the demise of communism, the welfare reform movement, and the movement towards free trade between nations.

The end of communism in the Soviet Union and China proves there is no alternative to a market economy based on private ownership and control of businesses. Welfare reform in the United States reached its apex with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. This legislation came from the realization that well-intentioned government programs, such as War on Poverty in the United States, can have negative consequences. The fight against tariffs, quotas, and subsidies is based on the principle that a business should expand when it is profitable and contract when it is not.

The historical path from the birth of Jesus to peace and justice on earth has been long and circuitous, but it has arrived. We have peace because one Western nation will never again go to war against another Western nation. We have justice too, in the sense of just government, not because there is an ideal king, but because the lack of justice is due to the sinfulness, malice, ignorance, and apathy of individuals.

A sign is an event, such as a miracle, that is a reason to believe a prophet was sent by God. A sign the authors discuss concerns the messianic hopes of Israel. Referring to Matthew's quoting of the Old Testament, the authors say:

"It is the basis for what is sometimes called "the argument from prophecy"; namely, the fulfillment of prophecy proves that Jesus is the Messiah, the promised one of Israel." (p. 201)

Faith is a gift from God as well as a decision to believe. Christians give reasons for believing in Jesus of Nazareth and are summoning everyone to believe. But this summons should not cause anyone to think they will be criticized if they don't decide to believe.

All the signs considered together account for a positive response to revelation. That the Old Testament predicts the coming of an anointed one from God is one of the signs that Jesus was an authentic prophet.

Another sign is that the Hebrew Bible is mankind's first narrative history. Herodotus (484-425 BCE) is called the Father of History because he gave a narrative account of the Greco-Persian Wars, which started in 498 BCE. Since the Bible gives vivid accounts of historical events going back to 10,000 BCE, Jewish people were historiographically hundreds of years ahead of the Greeks.

Another sign is that the Hebrew authors, though not as philosophically advanced as the Greeks, gave God a philosophically profound name in Exodus 3.14. The name Yahweh ("I am he who is.") summarizes the existential proof of God's existence: God is a pure act of existence whereas a human being is a composition of principles called essence and existence. In other words, since there are finite beings whose essence limits their existence, there must be a supernatural being, analogous to human beings, whose essence is to exist.

It is clear something wonderful has happened in the West (United States and other former English colonies, the European Union, and Japan) by comparing the standard of living and health care available to everyone in these constitutional democracies with conditions in nineteenth century England, the richest country in the world by far at that time. Democracy in the West is not a sham, but means individuals participate in government decisions that affect their lives. The recent arrival of justice and peace on earth is a sign because of the connection between the West, the Roman Catholic Church, and Jesus. The Roman Catholic Church claims to be founded by Jesus and achieved with Pope Innocent III (1160-1216) the height of its political power. The Roman Catholic Church is a forerunner of Western governments and faith in Jesus is the reason mankind has peace and justice.

According to the doctrine of original sin, God gave Adam and Eve, or the first human beings, sanctifying grace. Accompanying this gift was the absence of death and concupiscence, as we know it. Their sin deprived them and all of their descendants of a paradisal existence and gave rise to the possibility of injustice and violence. Christians believed that sanctifying grace and salvation was only available to members of the church founded by the twelve apostles.

We can speculate about justice and peace when Adam and Eve found themselves on our island of scarcity and danger. Did they fight over the results of their hunting and gathering? Did they cooperate with each other to get the most out of nature? Was one the slave of the other?

If the utilities of goods can be measured on a cardinal scale, a master-slave economy might increase utilities. This would happen if the increase in utility of goods used by the master is greater than the decrease in utility of goods used by the slave(s). If utilities can only be measured on an ordinal scale, voluntary cooperation maximizes utilities.

However, utility theory, as well as moral laws and human rights, should not be followed blindly without considering the existing circumstances. Suppose Adam and Eve were unable to agree on where and how to get food and shelter, or who would do the most burdensome and dangerous tasks? Wouldn't one or the other be justified in using force to guarantee their survival? Might not the injured party at some point see the error of being uncooperative?

In 325 CE, Constantine the Great, possibly collaborating with the Bishop of Rome, invited all the bishops of Christendom to a legislative session, the First Council of Nicaea, to resolve a controversy between homoiousians (Arians) and homoousians about who Jesus was. The difference between the two is more subtle than the difference between Aristotelian and Newtonian inertia, however, the participants agreed that the homoousians were right. Fifty-five years later, Theodosius the Great made Roman Catholicism the only legal religion in the Roman Empire:

"It is Our will that all the peoples who are ruled by the administration of Our Clemency shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans,... The rest, however, whom We adjudge demented and insane, shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting places shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of Our own initiative,..."(The Theodosian Code, XVI.1.2)

The edict shows that Theodosius was zealous about his religious faith. The massacre at Thessalonica in 390 indicates he also took his imperial duties seriously. What happened after the massacre shows the political power the Roman Catholic Church wielded even in those early days.

Theodosius ordered the massacre in a fit of anger when a riot over a false arrest caused the death of an officer in the Roman army. Theodosius's Gothic troops surrounded an amphitheater, filled because of a circus, and killed a predetermined number of the hapless spectators. In addition to the hooligans rounded up and executed by the local authorities after the riot, seven thousand were said to have been killed in the amphitheater. The bishop of the capital of the Western Roman Empire at that time (Saint Ambrose of Milan) denounced Theodosius publicly and excommunicated him for what he did. After performing public penance for eight months, Theodosius humbly went to Ambrose for the sacrament of Holy Communion.
In his letter of excommunication, Ambrose quoted the prophet Nathan chastising King David for killing Bathsheba's husband. In the following verses David accepts responsibility for his actions and acknowledges that his freedom is before God. This is the foundation of the morality of Jews, Christians, and Muslims:

"David said to Nathan, `I have sinned against Yahweh.' Nathan then said to David, `Yahweh, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die. But, since you have outraged Yahweh by doing this, the child born to you will die.'" (2 Samuel 12.13-14)

Theodosius's entire life shows he believed in God, tried to serve God, and hoped for salvation in the world to come. The following quotes from two famous nonbelievers shows what a lack of faith can mean. Sigmund Freud could be someone trying to justify betraying a friend and Jean-Paul Sartre could be someone contemplating suicide. Since self-centered atheists have ruled many an empire, the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity is a sign that God communicated himself to mankind through Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad:

"When I ask myself why I have always behaved honorably, ready to spare others and to be kind whenever possible, and when I did not give up being so when I observed that in that way one harms oneself and becomes an anvil because other people are brutal and untrustworthy, then it is true, I have no answer." (Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (Three Volume Set), New York: Basic Books, Inc., Vol. II, p. 418)

"Every human reality is a passion in that it projects losing itself so as to found being and by the same stroke to constitute the In-itself which escapes contingency by being its own foundation, the Ens causa sui, which religions call God. Thus the passion of man is the reverse of that of Christ, for man loses himself as man in order that God may be born. But the idea of God is contradictory and we lose ourselves in vain. Man is a useless passion." (Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (Routledge Classics), New York: Washington Square Press, p. 784)

In 496, the founder of the Frankish kingdom (Clovis I) converted to Catholicism, under the influence of his wife, Saint Clotilda, and the bishops of Gaul. The Catholic bishops supported Clovis's territorial conquests and the resulting kingdom was non-Arian, unlike some of the other Germanic kingdoms.

In 649, a council called by Pope Saint Martin I excommunicated certain bishops of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) for Monothelitism, the doctrine that Christ had only one will. The Byzantine emperor supported the heresy and, after a failed plan to assassinate the pope, arrested Martin and transported him to Constantinople. There he was found guilty of failing to subscribe to the heresy and died in 655 after much suffering and public humiliation.

The subservience of bishops in Byzantium to secular rulers, in contrast to Martin's steadfastness, is shown in the controversy over religious images. In 726 Emperor Leo III, under the influence of several Eastern bishops and Caliph Umar II, published an edict saying religious images were idols forbidden by Exodus 20.4-5 and commanding that they be destroyed. The patriarch of Constantinople protested, but Leo replaced him with one Anastasius. Because of the unpopularity of iconoclasm, Leo's son-in-law was able to temporarily depose Leo's son and successor, Constantine V. Constantine regained power and continued the fight against images by blinding and publicly flogging Anastasius, who had changed his mind about iconoclasm when Constantine was out of power. In 754 Constantine convoked an ecumenical council to condemn the worship of images. Bishops from Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem refused to attend, but over 340 bishops from Byzantine sees condemned image-worshipers. Iconoclasm was abandoned for good in 842.

In 732 at Poitiers in west central France, Charles Martel defeated an army of Caliph Hisham. In 754 at the Abbey of St. Denis near Paris, Pope Stephen II personally anointed Martel's son (Pepin the Short) King of the Franks. In return, the Franks sent an army into Italy to force the King of the Lombards to donate land to the pope, beginning a thousand-year reign over the Papal States.

Charlemagne (Pepin's son) was protective of Pope Adrian I and Pope Saint Leo III. When the Roman clergy and people elected Leo to succeed Adrian in 795, the family of Adrian, out of spite and jealousy, plotted to have Leo removed from office and attacked him viciously in the street in broad daylight. Leo was rescued and reinstated to his office by Charlemagne in 799. In 800, Charlemagne was crowned Imperator Augustus by Leo.

In 1073, Pope Saint Gregory VII was elected by the cardinal-bishops of Rome and confirmed in the office by Henry IV, German King and Roman Emperor, in accordance with an election law voted on by 113 bishops at a synod in Rome in 1059. In 1075 Gregory called a synod that banned the appointment of bishops by layman, making bishops dependent on the papacy rather than kings and other lords. This was especially threatening to civil authorities in Germany because the bishops there were feudal lords over vast territories in addition to being ecclesiastical authorities. At one point in the so-called investiture conflict, Henry lost so much support from rivals and bishops loyal to Gregory that he humbly submitted to Gregory at the Castle of Canossa to remove an excommunication against him. Gregory also made plans to raise an army to oppose the Seljukian Turks, but it was Pope Urban II who sent four crusading armies into the Holy Land in 1097.

Pope Alexander III was a professor at the University of Bologna, one of the first degree granting institutions in the world. He was the author of a commentary on the Decretum Gratiani, which is a 1400 page treatise on ecclesiastical law (canon law) written in 1040 by a Bolognese monk. Canon law is the positive law of the Roman Catholic Church and stood along side imperial, tribal, feudal, urban, mercantile, and manorial law. It was a constitutional body of law because it recognized limitations on the Church's authority, sets forth processes for selecting officials, and allocates legislative, administrative, and judicial powers.

In a famous case, Alexander added to the general theory of self-defense by ruling that two monks committed criminal sins by tying up two robbers, who ended up dead. Alexander incurred the enmity of Frederick I (Barbarossa) when he was Papal Chancellor by asserting at the Diet of Besançon in 1157 that the imperial crown is bestowed upon the German King by the pope. This caused a long schism that ended when Frederick reconciled with Alexander after his defeat at the Battle of Legnano in 1177.

Pope Innocent III, through excommunications and force of arms, wrested control over most of Italy from German knights and Norman barons. Educated at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna, Innocent wrote a number of decretals that became part of canon law. One decretal denied a request from a feudal lord in France to legitimatize two sons from a second marriage while his first marriage was canonically valid. Another decretal claimed the pope's right to settle the war going on between France and England. This decretal admitted the pope had no competence in purely feudal disputes, but said in matters where sins were being committed the papacy had jurisdiction. A third decretal addressed a civil war in Germany caused by the election of two rival kings and said the pope has the authority to decide between the two kings and whether a king of Germany is fit to be emperor. In another case, Innocent excommunicated the entire country of France, with the exception of unbaptized infants, to pressure its king (Philip II Augustus) to reconcile with his lawful wife who he abandoned for another woman.

In 1212, Innocent deposed King John of England because of a disagreement about who should be the Archbishop of Canterbury, leaving it to Philip II Augustus to enforce the order. After being threatened by Philip, the English king followed the pope's advice. In a further attempt to placate the pope, King John entered into a feudal arrangement with Innocent in which the Roman Catholic Church would get 1000 marks per year and King John would get to rule England. This added to the grievances the English barons had against John and they forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Innocent opposed this important document in the development of constitutional law, not because of the rights it bestowed, but because it done without his consent.

The secular power of the papacy declined after Innocent, but England and France became modern nation-states by emulating the Roman Catholic Church. The first legislatures in Europe, after the fall of Rome, were the ecclesiastical councils, the first modern legal system was canon law, and the first administrators were church officials. Since the Middle Ages, the West has become one nation-state unified by the knowledge that democracy and capitalism is what people desire and what makes people happy.

The West's prosperity is due to mass production, technology, the division of labor, and the time-consuming and roundabout methods of production used. The West has been accumulating the means of production or capital for centuries.

According to Hernando de Soto, author of The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, a cause of poverty outside of the West is the absence of a system of property rights that is available to all citizens. Such systems have courts of law, title deeds, articles of incorporation, contracts, liens, easements, and public registries. Property rights create a large network or market for capital that has the effect of maximizing the usefulness of all assets, something that doesn't happen when ownership is informal and extralegal.

Another reason for the West's prosperity is the value Christians attach to honesty and other civic virtues. The following quote from St. Paul supports civic virtue because it implies that membership in families, clans, tribes, and ethnic groups is not as important as membership in the human race:

"So the Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. But now that faith has come we are no longer under a slave looking after us; for all of you are the children of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus, since every one of you that has been baptized has been clothed in Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female--for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3.24-28)

The importance of honesty in forming good governments is supported by the following quotes from Polybius (203-120 BCE) and Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859):

"But the quality in which the Roman commonwealth is most distinctly superior is in my opinion the nature of their religious convictions.... The consequence is that among the Greeks, apart from other things, members of the government, if they are entrusted with no more than a talent, though they have ten copyists and as many seals and twice as many witnesses, cannot keep their faith; whereas among the Romans those who as magistrates and legates are dealing with large sums of money maintain correct conduct just because they have pledged their faith by oath." (Polybius: The Histories, Book VI, paragraph 56)

"The mightiest princes of the East can scarcely, by the offer of enormous usury, draw forth any portion of the wealth which is concealed under the hearths of their subjects. The British government offers little more than four per cent.; and avarice hastens to bring forth tens of millions of rupees from its most secret repositories." (Miscellaneous works of Lord Macaulay in five volumes, Vol. III, New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1880, p. 51)

Modern science has progressed along with technology and productivity. Technology involves invention and innovation and the West's success can be explained by the freedom citizens have to take risks and accumulate wealth.

But what drove Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler to spend hours, days, and years analyzing the earth-based observations of the sky? They made this effort because they believed the universe is intelligible, orderly, and lawful. This conviction was based on the belief that the universe was created by a supernatural God, who has knowledge, free will, and reason analogous to the knowledge, free will, and reason of human beings. China in the Middle Ages was more advanced technologically than the West, but modern science did not develop in that civilization. The following quotes from Albert Einstein and the Bible support this thesis:

"All science of a high order presupposes a kind of act of faith in the intelligibility of nature. And the wonder of all wonders is that in fact nature has shown itself to be intelligible." (quoted by N. Clarke, The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics , University of Notre Dame Press, p. 17)

"The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is its comprehensibility." (quoted by D. Overbye, "Einstein Letter of God Sells for $404,000," New York Times, May 17, 2008)

"The heavens declare the glory of God,
the vault of heaven proclaims his handiwork,
day discourses of it to day,
night to night hands on the knowledge.
No utterance at all, no speech,
not a sound to be heard,
but from the entire earth the design stands out,
this message reaches the whole world." (Psalms 19.1-4)

Modern science began when the Bishop of Paris wrote a letter condemning 219 heresies based on the science of Aristotle. The source of these heresies was the Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), known in the West as Averroes. The letter is known as the Condemnation of 1277:

"We excommunicate all those who shall have taught the said errors or any one of them, or shall have dared in any way to defend or uphold them, or even to listen to them, unless they choose to reveal themselves to us or to the chancery of Paris within seven days; in addition to which we shall proceed against them by inflicting such other penalties as the law requires according to the nature of the offense....
25. That God has infinite power, not because He makes something out of nothing, but because He maintains infinite motion....
66. That God could not move the heaven in a straight line, the reason being that He would then leave a vacuum.... "

Heresy No. 25 is a single attack and Heresy No. 66 is a double attack on God's omnipotence. The Bishop of Paris and his advisers from the faculty of theology at the University of Paris knew that vacuums did not exist in nature. However, they could see no reason why vacuums could not exist. They assumed that God thought the same way they did, and concluded that vacuums were possible. They also reasoned that God could move heaven, just as He could move everyone to believe in Him, if He wanted.

Editorial Review:

In The First Christmas, two of today's top Jesus scholars, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, join forces to show how history has biased our reading of the nativity story as it appears in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. As they did for Easter in their previous book, The Last Week, here they explore the beginning of the life of Christ, peeling away the sentimentalism that has built up over the last two thousand years around this most well known of all stories to reveal the truth of what the gospels actually say. Borg and Crossan help us to see this well-known narrative afresh by answering the question, "What do these stories mean?" in the context of both the first century and the twenty-first century. They successfully show that the Christmas story, read in its original context, is far richer and more challenging than people imagine.

Death by Love: Letters from the Cross (Re:Lit)

Mark Driscoll, Gerry Breshears

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Crossway Books Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $12.70

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Christology
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Soteriology
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Real people. Real sin. Transformed lives. A compilation of heartfelt letters written from a pastor to his people that explains Jesus’ work on the cross.

Death by Love is a unique book on the cross of Jesus Christ. While many books debate the finer points of the doctrine of the atonement, what is often lost are the real-life implications of Jesus’ death on the cross for those who have sinned and have been sinned against. Written in the form of pastoral letters, Death by Love outlines the twelve primary effects of Jesus’ death on the cross and connects each to the life of a different individual.

Driscoll, one of America’s most influential pastors, and Breshears, a respected theologian, help readers understand, appreciate, and trust in Jesus’ work on the cross in a way that will transform their lives. Both deeply theological and intensely practical, this book shows how everyone can find hope through the death of Jesus Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth

Pope Benedict XVI

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Doubleday Amazon Marketplace: 83 new & used starting at $8.39

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Catholicism -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Catholicism -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Catholic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 154 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“This book is… my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’” —Benedict XVI

In this bold, momentous work, the pope—in his first book written as Benedict XVI—seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent “popular” depictions and to restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the Gospels. Through his brilliance as a theologian and his personal conviction as a believer, the pope shares a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of Jesus and incites us to encounter, face-to-face, the central figure of the Christian faith.

From Jesus of Nazareth… “the great question that will be with us throughout this entire book: But what has Jesus really brought, then, if he has not brought world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God! He has brought the God who once gradually unveiled his countenance first to Abraham, then to Moses and the prophets, and then in the wisdom literature—the God who showed his face only in Israel, even though he was also honored among the pagans in various shadowy guises. It is this God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the true God, whom he has brought to the peoples of the earth. He has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about where we are going and where we come from: faith, hope, and love.”

The Jesus I Never Knew

Philip Yancey

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Zondervan Amazon Marketplace: 126 new & used starting at $2.90

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( Y ) -> Yancey, Philip -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( Y ) -> Yancey, Philip -> Paperback
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( Y ) -> Yancey, Philip -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 168 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

An old adage says, "God created man in His own image and man has been returning the favor ever since." Philip Yancey realized that despite a lifetime attending Sunday school topped off by a Bible college education, he really had no idea who Jesus was. In fact, he found himself further and further removed from the person of Jesus, distracted instead by flannel-graph figures and intellectual inspection. He determined to use his journalistic talents to approach Jesus, in the context of time, within the framework of history.

In The Jesus I Never Knew, Yancey explores the life of Jesus, as he explains, "'from below,' to grasp as best I can what it must have been like to observe in person the extraordinary events unfolding in Galilee and Judea" as Jesus traveled and taught. Yancey examines three fundamental questions: who Jesus was, why he came, and what he left behind. Step by step, scene by scene, Yancey probes the culture into which Jesus was born and grew to adulthood; his character and mission; his teachings and miracles; his legacy--not just as history has told it, but as he himself intended it to be.

Yancey is not alone in his examination of the "real" Jesus. Publishing today is replete with writers committed to setting the story "straight,quot; joining countless others who, over the past 2,000 years, have determined to discover the truth about Jesus. But where others would deconstruct and discount, Yancey disarms and discloses. We become colleagues with him as he examines the accounts of the life of Jesus. And among the things that we discover is that Jesus himself leaves us few options: either he was who he said he was or he was nuts.

Philip Yancey was awarded the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year award for this book in 1996 by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. It's not the first, nor the last, award Yancey has won for his writing. But the writing is not necessarily the great gift of this book. Yancey allows the reader to discover, along with him, The Jesus I Never Knew. --Patricia Klein

Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions (Relit Theology)

Gerry Breshears, Mark Driscoll

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Crossway Books Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $11.91

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Christology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Solid as a rock! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is very well written. It's got everything a bible-believing Christian would want in a book- theology, sarcasm, humor, facts, stories, and JESUS! I love Driscoll because he holds fast to the Bible and to Jesus yet is able to hold culture in an open hand. So much of the American Christian culture now blends with the secular culture around it. The result is truth is relative, in order to be an "educated" Christian we need to engage in "conversations" about Christian beliefs and allow room to change what the bible says about God and what the culture says about Jesus. Well, Driscoll does not let that happen, amen!!

This book is a great hermaneutic about the life of Jesus and answers so many questions that both non-christians and christians have about Jesus and his life. Driscoll really keeps Jesus at the center of the book and then lets culture come from the outside. In this book Jesus influences culture. So much of the Christian church today lets culture be in the center and Jesus sits on the outside.

This book benefits everyone, both for the non-christian who knows peanuts about Jesus, to the new christian who needs a foundation for his life, and to the pastor who preaches to hundreds and thousands of people every week about Jesus. I think that this book will have the same influence on the church 50 years from now that C.S. Lewis's books now have.

Editorial Review:

Some two thousand years after he walked the earth, Jesus Christ is still a hot topic. And for all the ridiculous, twisted, Da Vinci Code-esque conspiracy theories and lies about Jesus that have permeated popular culture and even the academy over the years, the truth about his character, nature, and work has not changed. So what exactly is the truth about Jesus Christ?
That's the question the authors of Vintage Jesus seek to answer by breaking it down into a number of sub-questions about Jesus, including Is Jesus the only God? Why did Jesus come to earth? Did Jesus rise from death? Why should we worship Jesus? and others.

Jesus: 90 Days With the One and Only (Personal Reflections)

Beth Moore

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $24.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: B&H Books Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $8.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Christology
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Worship & Devotion -> Devotionals
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Knowing Jesus Better 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As usual, Beth Moore has done what every Bible teacher should do--she has pointed the reader to a closer walk with Jesus, a stronger relationship with Him, and a deeper commitment to Him. Each lesson is short, to the point and thought-provoking. This book is well-worth the investment, and I have already given one as a gift.

Editorial Review:

Best-selling author Beth Moore has an amazing gift for insightful Bible character studies. Millions have been drawn to her inspired lessons, and the media has called her "America's Bible teacher." The PERSONAL REFLECTIONS series reintroduces Beth's most beloved character-driven books, expanding them into 90-day experiences that include nearly all of the text from her original work, plus thoughtful questions and journal space to engage readers throughout this special time of study.

Jesus is the new presentation of Moore's classic, Jesus, the One and Only. These intimate reflections on God's one and only Son will invigorate and reward readers who long to grow closer and know more about our Savior.

The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind--A New Perspective on Christ and His Message

Cynthia Bourgeault

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Shambhala Amazon Marketplace: 7 new & used starting at $9.93

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Philosophy of Religion -> Christianity
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Christology
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A New View 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Cynthia Bourgeault is a hidden treasure. When I first read her, I encountered, for the first time, the Jesus and the Christianity I had always looked for and longed for. This was confirmed to me yet again with the publishing of the her new book, "The Wisdom Jesus."

With the publication of this book, I was moved to do something I never do: give a religious book to a Catholic priest. And the results have been stunning. The priest was blown away by Bourgeault's synthesis of Jesus and his time on earth. He found new angles on both the Eucharist and the Beatitudes. He can't stop thinking about the book and was moved to give it to another priest. This priest read it and said, "Who is this woman, and why have we never heard of her?" He, too, felt changed by the beauty of Bourgeault's work and promptly bought all her books. He passed it on to another priest, and the story continues.

Cynthia Bourgeault needs to be read by everyone trying to make sense of a Christianity that has been tainted over the centuries. She returns us home. Her wisdon gives me great hope for my faith and my world.

Editorial Review:

If you put aside what you think you know about Jesus and approach the Gospels as though for the first time, something remarkable happens: Jesus emerges as a teacher of the transformation of consciousness. Cynthia Bourgeault is a masterful guide to Jesus's vision and to the traditional contemplative practices you can use to experience the heart of his teachings for yourself.