The Life of Jesus (Great Minds Series)
by Ernest Renan
List Price:
Our Price: $8.40
You Save: $6.58 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.49 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ernest RenanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1991-12-03
ISBN: 0879757043
Number of pages: 237
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Book Reviews of The Life of Jesus (Great Minds Series)
Book Review: Jesus: an extraordinary man!
Summary: 5 Stars
Renan was thrown out of the "Collège de France" for having written that Jesus was an extraordinary man. He is THE, or at least one of the most important founders of the secular interpretation of Jesus, amazingly derived essentially from John's Gospel rather than from the Synoptics. His book is an important landmark to have, if not on our bookshelves, at least in our memories. For the happy few, it's easier as always to read in the original French rather than the translated version. Writing styles have also considerably changed since the romantic literature era. And many ideas and discoveries have been made since Renan's mid-nineteenth century days and he would have loved all the material disclosed a hundred years later by the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi library as well as all the archaeology related in the "Bible Unearthed". The book may seem a bit outdated today, but what insight and intellectual courage!
Aware of many unresolved problems, Renan prophesized that the correct interpretation of the bible would come from a layman using a critical approach and is devoid of any desire to destroy the dogma or to protect it. If we follow his recommendations, we have to look for someone who wants to discover the real meaning (I'm sure that the Jesus of the Gospels is just as alien to Church readings as to scholarly revisions) of these ancient texts and who is neither a Christian apologist nor an already convinced atheist. Who will square the circle?
Summary of The Life of Jesus (Great Minds Series)
In this classic work, renowned rationalist and scholar of religion Ernest Renan is the first biographer of Jesus to present him as entirely human. Renan describes Jesus as a popular religious leader and self-proclaimed Messiah who increasingly advocated the overthrow of Roman rule and the establishment of a theocracy. To support his apocalyptic vision, Renan's Jesus was not above using trickery and deception, as in the raising of Lazarus. The impression left by Jesus on his disciples was so profound that they began to proclaim his Resurrection and presence among them shortly after his death. Even conceding Christ's historicity, it is still seriously debated by modern biblical scholars whether a reliable life of Jesus can be gleaned from the gospels. For this very reason, the questions raised by Renan a century ago about the facts surrounding Jesus' life and the authorship of the gospels are still far from settled. "The Life of Jesus" has provoked both controversy and praise since its publication in 1863.Church History Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Church History Books
Dying to Live: The Power of Forgivenessby Harold L. Senkbeil
Concordia Publishing House; Published: 1994-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.50
Price in other shops:
The Templars: The Dramatic History Of The Knights Templar, The Most Powerful Military Order Of The Crusadesby Piers Paul Read
Da Capo Press; Published: 2001-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.00
Price in other shops:
Is There a God?by Richard Swinburne
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.19
Price in other shops:
William Tyndale: A Biographyby David Daniell
Yale University Press; Published: 1994-11-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $62.92
Neither Saints Nor Sinners: Writing the Lives of Women in Spanish Americaby Kathleen Ann Myers
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-08-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops:
Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Centuryby Mark Sedgwick
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2009-07-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.04
Price in other shops:
Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age (Compass)by Ruth Harris
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2000-12-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.89
Price in other shops:
The Other Bibleby Willis Barnstone
HarperOne; Published: 2005-09-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.00
Price in other shops:
The Gnostic Gospels of Jesus: The Definitive Collection of Mystical Gospels and Secret Books about Jesus of Nazarethby Marvin W. Meyer
HarperOne; Published: 2005-02-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.69
Price in other shops:
The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force ....by Rodney Stark
HarperOne; Published: 1997-05-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Atheism: The Case Against God (Skeptic's Bookshelf)by George H. Smith
Prometheus Books; Published: 1979-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.83
Price in other shops:
The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasaby John Dominic Crossan
HarperOne; Published: 1993-02-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.47
Price in other shops:
A History of the End of the World: How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilizationby Jonathan Kirsch
HarperOne; Published: 2007-09-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.66
Price in other shops:
An Introduction to the New Testament (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library)by Raymond E. Brown
Yale University Press; Published: 1997-10-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.53
Price in other shops:
Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Mattersby N. T. Wright
HarperOne; Published: 2011-10-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.57
Price in other shops:
The Essence of Christianity (Great Books in Philosophy)by Ludwig Feuerbach
Prometheus Books; Published: 1989-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
Jesus Christ and Mythologyby Rudolph Bultmann
Prentice Hall; Published: 1981-05-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.63
Price in other shops:
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus)by Bart D. Ehrman
HarperOne; Published: 2007-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.25
Price in other shops:
The Quest of the Historical Jesusby Albert Schweitzer
Dover Publications; Published: 2005-02-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.75
Price in other shops:
The Life of Jesus, Critically Examinedby David Friedrich Strauss
FQ Legacy Books; Published: 2010-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99