Product Description

On February 9-10, 1996, six internationally known Jesus scholars participated in the first national symposium to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Talking about the historical, religious, and cultural significance of Jesus, these scholars drew mass media attention and inspired a phenomenally successful follow-up discussion group on the Internet. Jesus at 2000 makes the symposium available to those seeking an introduction to the controversial historical study of Jesus and Christian origins and to those wishing to examine the intricacies of this New Testament scholarship more carefully. In addition to the papers presented by Marcus J. Borg, John Dominic Crossan, Alan F. Segal, Harvey Cox, Karen Jo Torjesen, and Huston Smith, this book includes questions from the symposium as well as a concluding chapter that introduces the historical study of Jesus and Christian origins to the newly curious. Readers will appreciate the wide range of perspectives offered, from historical Jesus scholarship to Jewish studies, early Christian history, world religions, and religion and culture. Written for a general audience, the book will be useful in both academic and church settings for those wanting to know what the academy is saying about Jesus.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1089632 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

A Good Place To Begin The Journey
For anyone interested in learning more about the work of the Jesus Seminar and contemporary Jesus scholarship this is as good a place as any to begin the journey. The diverse essays are mainly excellent. Most chapters are accompanied by questions and responses recorded during the actual scholarly symposium commemorating the 2000 anniversary of the birth of Jesus held at Oregon State University in 1996. The notes for each chapter are extensive and I find the list of resources at the end of the book to be very helpful for someone who is just beginning to become curious about the study of the historical Jesus.

Jesus Seen From Many Different Vantage Points
Marcus Borg has written the introduction and two of the book's eight essays. I found it useful to read Borg's contributions first mainly because he describes with such clarity the basics of modern Jesus scholarship.

Allan Segal is a leading Jewish scholar and Huston Smith is a well-known philosopher and historian of religions. All of the book's six contributors seem to approach the subject from different vantage points. The result is a very stimulating reading experience.