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speesh's review against another edition
5.0
Right, straight off, let's keep this objective. The 'shocking' part. No, not really. Not if you've had your eyes, ears and mind open for most of your adult life. Shocking maybe, if you're a mid-west American 'Christian' I'll admit, but then, they don't really count as thinking people, now do they? Not recently - not since November 2016 anyway.
I think most rational people, would be fairly up-to-date with the possibility, at least, that Jesus was married and married to Mary Magdalene, whether it says so in the Bible or not. And that's the funny thing, because, as this book points out, there is evidence in the actual Bible, the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Bible, to show that Jesus was married and married to Mary Magdalene. However, because that evidence isn't in the form of "And lo! Jesus said I do, and Mary said I do and the priest said 'I now declare you (Son of) man and wife," it does give all the 'call this number and pledge money now Christians,' wiggle room. The Catholic church would just stay silent on this sort of thing, theirs' isn't this, original Christianity anyway, so they could remain unaffected.
This book is about evidence from the early Christian church, the church started - or continued, depends on how you look at it - by Jesus and his disciples, brothers and people who knew him, heard him and believed in his words. This book is about interpreting the text of a 1,450-year old manuscript, which was found, forgotten in the British Library. It's written in Syriac, a later form of Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, and includes a text about about 'the Story of Joseph and Aseneth.'
The book deals with an absolutely exhaustive, fascinating, dissection and discussion about the Joseph and Aseneth text. It looks at the text, from every imaginable angle. It puts the theories to the test, mentions the arguments for, and discusses away the arguments against. It is a detective story in part, a theological discourse in another part. Personally, while the above description doesn't exactly make it sound the most accessible and/or tempting of books, I found it spell-bindingly fascinating. Simcha has a good style of writing, which sets things out very clearly and then turns and twirls the argument around, allowing any possible doubt to also come in and have its day. Even the really theological point of a needle stuff is made easily readable. What I perhaps found most interesting, was the history of the early Christian church. The Christianity, as I said, that was the first Christianity, before Paul got hold of it (remember, he never saw, met, or knew Jesus at all) and twisted it out of all recognition - even to Jesus himself I suspect - and thoroughly stamped out the 'competing' but original Christian ideas and teachings.
I did have reservations at certain points, but then at some time or other in the book, all those reservations were satisfied. If you want a really objective look at early Christianity and the real message of the historical Jesus, then you really need to read one of the Simcha Jacobovici books.
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I think most rational people, would be fairly up-to-date with the possibility, at least, that Jesus was married and married to Mary Magdalene, whether it says so in the Bible or not. And that's the funny thing, because, as this book points out, there is evidence in the actual Bible, the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Bible, to show that Jesus was married and married to Mary Magdalene. However, because that evidence isn't in the form of "And lo! Jesus said I do, and Mary said I do and the priest said 'I now declare you (Son of) man and wife," it does give all the 'call this number and pledge money now Christians,' wiggle room. The Catholic church would just stay silent on this sort of thing, theirs' isn't this, original Christianity anyway, so they could remain unaffected.
This book is about evidence from the early Christian church, the church started - or continued, depends on how you look at it - by Jesus and his disciples, brothers and people who knew him, heard him and believed in his words. This book is about interpreting the text of a 1,450-year old manuscript, which was found, forgotten in the British Library. It's written in Syriac, a later form of Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, and includes a text about about 'the Story of Joseph and Aseneth.'
The book deals with an absolutely exhaustive, fascinating, dissection and discussion about the Joseph and Aseneth text. It looks at the text, from every imaginable angle. It puts the theories to the test, mentions the arguments for, and discusses away the arguments against. It is a detective story in part, a theological discourse in another part. Personally, while the above description doesn't exactly make it sound the most accessible and/or tempting of books, I found it spell-bindingly fascinating. Simcha has a good style of writing, which sets things out very clearly and then turns and twirls the argument around, allowing any possible doubt to also come in and have its day. Even the really theological point of a needle stuff is made easily readable. What I perhaps found most interesting, was the history of the early Christian church. The Christianity, as I said, that was the first Christianity, before Paul got hold of it (remember, he never saw, met, or knew Jesus at all) and twisted it out of all recognition - even to Jesus himself I suspect - and thoroughly stamped out the 'competing' but original Christian ideas and teachings.
I did have reservations at certain points, but then at some time or other in the book, all those reservations were satisfied. If you want a really objective look at early Christianity and the real message of the historical Jesus, then you really need to read one of the Simcha Jacobovici books.
All my reviews: Speesh Reads
Facebook: Speesh Reads
psalmcat's review against another edition
4.0
OK, well, this was interesting. There are quite a few leaps of logic here that ain't necessarily so. Nothing like cutting history apart and ignoring the bits that don't fit your theory
However, it was interesting to read about all the political intrigue in the Roman empire that was going on at the same time Jesus was preaching. And I'm not too worked up about the possibility that Jesus was married and had children. That doesn't really make a lot of difference for me in terms of my faith. The possibility that Mary Magdalene was some kind of Greek temple priestess prior to meeting Jesus is a little weird. Some of the other parts of this...I'm mulling over, but I'm not convinced.
However, it was interesting to read about all the political intrigue in the Roman empire that was going on at the same time Jesus was preaching. And I'm not too worked up about the possibility that Jesus was married and had children. That doesn't really make a lot of difference for me in terms of my faith. The possibility that Mary Magdalene was some kind of Greek temple priestess prior to meeting Jesus is a little weird. Some of the other parts of this...I'm mulling over, but I'm not convinced.
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