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Title: Jesus : What He Really Said and Did by Stephen Mitchell ISBN: 0064490092 Publisher: HarperTempest Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 2
Rating: 1
Summary: Wholly Inaccurate
Comment: If you want a scholarly book that brilliantly deals with who Jesus was, read Ravi Zacharias's "Jesus Among Other Gods." There is an adult as well as a teen version of Zacharias's book. It contains the answers you seek. Mitchell's book, however, lacks substance, adequate research, and fair analysis. I challenge Mitchell to read Zacharias's book as well and see if he still holds to the theories he puts forth here. It'll be tough -- Zacharias is a brilliant theologian who makes his case beautifully and thoroughly in "Jesus Among Other Gods." If Mitchell can come up with a substantial refutation of Zacharias's arguments, I'd like to see it (yes, Mr. Mitchell, that's a challenge to you.)
Rating: 2
Summary: What a piece of wishy-washy garbage.
Comment: I picked up this book at the local libarary, thinking it would be a scholarly analysis of the scriptures. When Mitchell claimed that he had done "research" and discovered which parts of the New Testament were added and which might really be attributable to christ, I thought he would present more evidence than "Anyone can tell Jesus wouldn't have said THAT!" ...
If you want to read feel-good, new-agey ramblings about Jesus, this is the book for you. If, like me, you were looking for a book that provides an in-depth, well thought out, well-researched, scholarly investigation of the nature of the original jesus, go elsewhere, without a doubt.
The only explanation I can see here is that this book is listed for "young adults." I can only hope this is why Mitchell dumbed the book down so much - because otherwise he's not a very good writer on top of everything else!
Rating: 1
Summary: The simplified, incomplete gospel according to Mitchell
Comment: If you want a book that explores which of Jesus' sayings are really authentic, look elsewhere: Mitchell is so wrapped up in being P.C. and "spiritual" that he turns this book into a mixture of misinformation and half-truths. Another caution: Mitchell is not concerned with God in any Judeo-Christian or even theistic sense of the word, only as another "reality."
For starters, as it has been pointed out in reviews on Mitchell's other book, "The Gospel According to Jesus", Mitchell's criteria for deciding whether a saying attributed to Jesus is authentic or not is whether it sounds right to him! How unscholarly and self-centered can you get? In the introduction he compares what he is doing to Thomas Jefferson's version of the gospels (which leaves out the Resurrection entirely) except that "unlike him, I was able to use the precision tools of modern scholarship. I also used the spiritual intuition that I had deepened over many years of Zen training. I selected and translated only the passages that seemed to me authentic accounts and sayings of Jesus, and I left out every passage that seemed like a later addition." (xxiv-v) Listen to him! Does he really consider that a better method than Jefferson's?
The biggest flaw is that Mitchell is quite haphazard in documenting and citing biblical passages. One example of a passage: "The kingdom of God doesn't come if you watch for it. It isn't in heaven. It doesn't come only after you die. No one can point and say 'it is here' or 'it is there.' For the kingdom of God is within you." (22). This should be from Luke 17:20-2, except it doesn't say "It doesn't come only after you die." This is a belief Mitchell would like the reader to believe, closer to Buddhism than biblical Christianity. In many places Mitchell forgets to indicate where the biblical text ends and his own opinion begins, which unscolarly and dishonest. Also, not every biblical passage in the book is cited, not even in the notes at the end of the book. He even disregards how much of the New Testament is directly from the Old Testament. People who want factual evidence to study, shun this book.
If you want to decide whether this book is for you, skip to the Afterword: "The authentic Jesus, as I see him, was not a divine being (whatever that means), born of a virgin mother, surrounded by angels and wise men, and essentially different from all other humans. ... At the age of about thirty, he had an extraordinary experience of waking up to the truth. ... He was a man in love with God, who gave himself completely to the acts of human kindness that proceeded from that love. At this point you may be thinking, 'Jesus teachings sound wonderful, but what good are they? What do they mean for me? ... How can I love bigots and racists, for example? ... These are questions people have been asking for thousands of years. The fact is that no one, not even the greatest teacher, can show you how to love. A teacher can point you in the right direction, but that's about all. 'Some say my teaching is nonsense,' Lao-tzu says in the Tao Te Ching... But how do you look inside yourself? One way is meditation ... Another way ... is called the Work of Byron Katie. (NOTE: she is Mitchell's wife! To me, he's just offering more of the same) Whatever method you find, when you're able to look inside yourself deeply and understand your own mind, your life will become more peaceful. ... So the best way to follow Jesus' teachings is not to follow them at all but to live them. When you're able to look inside yourself deeply, you'll find that the teacher who taught Jesus will teach you. That teacher has no name. It is closer to you than breathing, nearer to you than your own thoughts." (109-112)
I should point out that Mitchell gets some of the historical points in Jesus' life correct, mainly that he was a Jew and crucifixion was a horrible way to die, but that's about it. Mitchell's Jesus might as well be another new-age teacher. Ultimately, it seems to me, you can search for truth either inside or outside yourself. If you are flawed, then what you find within yourself will also be flawed. As for contributing to my search for truth, I was disappointed by this book.
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Title: The Gospel According to Jesus by Stephen Mitchell ISBN: 0060923210 Publisher: Perennial Pr Pub. Date: 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Essence of Wisdom: Words from the Masters to Illuminate the Spiritual Path by Stephen Mitchell ISBN: 0767903064 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 19 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: A Book of Psalms: Selected and Adapted from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell ISBN: 0060924705 Publisher: Perennial Pr Pub. Date: 1994 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Book of Job by Stephen Mitchell ISBN: 0060969598 Publisher: Perennial Pr Pub. Date: 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Enlightened Heart by Stephen Mitchell ISBN: 006092053X Publisher: Perennial Pr Pub. Date: 1994 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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