Product Description

The death of Jesus is one of the most hotly debated questions in Christianity today. In his massive and highly publicized The Death of the Messiah, Raymond Brown -- while clearly rejecting anti-Semitism -- never questions the essential historicity of the passion stories. Yet it is these stories, in which the Jews decide Jesus' execution, that have fueled centuries of Christian anti-Semitism.

Now, in his most controversial book, John Dominic Crossan shows that this traditional understanding of the Gospels as historical fact is not only wrong but dangerous. Drawing on the best of biblical, anthropological, sociological and historical research, he demonstrates definitively that it was the Roman government that tried and executed Jesus as a social agitator. Crossan also candidly addresses such key theological questions as "Did Jesus die for our sins?" and "Is our faith in vain if there was no bodily resurrection?"

Ultimately, however, Crossan's radical reexamination shows that the belief that the Jews killed Jesus is an early Christian myth (directed against rival Jewish groups) that must be eradicated from authentic Christian faith.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #150159 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-08
• Released on: 1996-02-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In a book sure to generate both conversation and controversy, John Dominic Crossan, author of two well-regarded books on the historical Jesus, names the New Testament Gospels' insistence on Jewish responsibility for Jesus' death as Christianity's "longest lie." Crossan argues particularly against many of the theories posed in Raymond Brown's The Death of the Messiah. While Brown finds that many of the events in the stories of Jesus' last days are plausible historically, Crossan claims that almost none of the events are historical. According to Crossan, they are "prophesy historicized," accounts written by looking back at the Old Testament and other early materials and then projecting those prophecies on whatever historical events occurred. Because many of those early writers were persecuted by the Jewish authorities, they threw in a heavy dose of propaganda against the Jews. As Crossan aptly states, these gospels were relatively harmless when Christians were a small sect. When, however, Rome became Christian, those anti-Semitic narratives became, and continue to be, lethal. Well argued and highly readable, Who Killed Jesus? also includes an important epilogue stating Crossan's own faith perspectives on the divinity and resurrection of Christ. Scholars rarely go this far, yet such a confession provides another valuable entry into this fascinating material.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The two main theses of this extraordinary book are that the roots of anti-Semitism spring from gospel narratives of the death of Jesus and that the Romans, not the Jews, killed Jesus as a revolutionary agitator inimical to their continued governance of Judea. Crossan, a former Roman Catholic priest and now a noted expert on the life of Jesus, fascinatingly describes here two types of historical writing: 1) history remembered?history written as it actually happened?and 2) prophecy historicized, a tendentious interpretation of what really happened made to conform to or "fulfill" ancient prophecies?in this case, supposed prophecies about the life of Jesus uttered by Hebrew prophets. According to Crossan, the passion accounts blaming the Jews for Jesus' arrest and crucifixion are based on this second type of writing and are thus myths if not downright lies. He pleads for a reevaluation of the passion stories, which have caused such animus toward Jews for the past 2000 years. An excellent study for lay readers and specialists; recommended for larger religion collections.?Robert A. Silver, formerly with Shaker Heights P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Given the conjunction of concern with Jesus and public discourse in the ascendancy of the "Christian coalition" in our own historical moment, Crossan's decision to make this argument available to a popular audience is a timely one. Briefly, Crossan contends that the understanding of the passion narratives in the canonical Gospels as historical "fact" is not only wrong, but also dangerous. It is dangerous because of the particular way in which the confusion of "interpretation" and "fact" came in this case to be backed by power. Crossan notes that, for Christians, the Gospel accounts are divinely inspired, but that inspiration comes through human beings in human communities and can come as inspired propaganda. When Christianity was a relatively powerless sect within Judaism struggling like other sects for the hearts and minds of the Jewish community, its propaganda about "Jewish responsibility and Roman innocence" was relatively harmless. But as Christianity and the Roman Empire became inextricably linked, that propaganda became the lethal basis for transition from a theological controversy within a religious community to propaganda directed by one religious community against another to genocidal anti-Semitism. What may have been relatively harmless propaganda at its origins has become, Crossan argues, "the longest lie." The scholarly debate behind this discussion asks whether the passion narrative is derived from "history remembered" or from "prophecy historicized." Crossan has argued consistently for the second option, and he wrote this book largely in response to Raymond Brown's influential Death of the Messiah, which defends the first. The book is a lucid, accessible guide to the controversy, but, more important, it is one of the best accounts of how prejudice is transformed into racism in the conjunction of mythological and political power. Steve Schroeder

Customer Reviews

Crossan Calls Us to a Mature Faith
Crossan compares and contrasts the Passion Narratives (written to explain the crime, arrest, trial and abuse, execution, burial, and resurrection of Jesus) in the four Gospels and includes a fifth, the Gospel of Peter. With uncompromising scholarship, Crossan contrasts the stories with the history of first century Palestine, and discuses the origins of the Passion of Jesus in the Old Testament. While readers must be prepared to let go of myth and miracle, we are left with the sense that something even more powerful existed in the person of Jesus. He was a rebel in the truest sense, fighting against the 'normalcy of civilization,' i.e., empire/domination as usual. God's Kingdom--available here and now, not somewhere hereafter--directly opposed the rule of Rome. As was typical in those times, any troublemaker was quickly dealt with via execution.

I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Crossan at a seminar this past February. He calls us to a mature Christian faith, a faith which strives to restore justice (equality) through service to an unjust world. This is not 'new' Christianity, but original Christianity.

An extended book review
John Dominic Crosson's 1995 book is written in response to Raymond Brown's 1994 book The Death of the Messiah. Crosson systematically takes Brown's positions apart, one by one, closely examining the gospels with a special focus on the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Peter (which appears in an appendix). Crosson demonstrates what is most likely historical and what is literary, and his analyses are very impressive. His focus on the death of Jesus provides ample opportunity to accumulate some formidible information about this facet of the life of Jesus.

Despite the obvious scholarship and Crosson's easy to read writing style, the book never gets beyond the "Brown said, I say..." level of exposition. Moreover, Crosson has an annoying habit of opening up a topic and then telling the reader to "stay tuned" because he is really going to discuss it later.

There is value in this book, but not as much if Crosson had simply written his own book instead of trying to critique Brown's book. To get the full value from this book, one has to read Brown's original book.

I feel sorry for him.
JD Crossan is an ex-priest and product of the 1960s who left his vocation. Time and time we see this associated with a pathological sense of guilt as is sadly shown by this book. Though clearly talanted, Crossan's personal sense of shame/guilt cloud his reason. His drivel continues in his other works. Look to other writers on Jesus to get healthier analysis of Jesus.