BOOKS: 'Jesus of Nazareth' by Pope Benedict

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PauloFreire2 said:
I think the Pope’s book is pretty bad. It’s boring, way too long, and lends aid and comfort to Fundamentalists by touting the Bible as a theological unity, when it’s not. The Gospels are infinitely more important than the other parts. The **Life of Christ **should be our focus.
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The bible is a theologyal unity. That is what the Catholic Church has taught for many centuries. Read the catechism around paragraph 117 or so. The gospels have a special place in the Church and in the bible but that does not affect the unity of Scripture. Scripture is one organ inspired by God. The life of Christ happened to be the whole focus of this book.

The popes new book did nothing but focus on the key events in Christs life. For example His baptism, temptation, proclamation of the kingdom, Sermon on the Mt, and etc. There is nothing other than the life of Christ in this book.

The popes book is absolutely amazing. I finished it about a week and a half ago. I thought the chapter on the sermon on the mount was excelent. The chapter on the Kingdom of God was good too. I look forward to the second part.
 
I really am enjoying the discussion of Rabbi Jacob Neusner’s work. He points out that no reforming Rabbi would have said the things attributed to Jesus, only one with the authority of God.
 
PauloFreire2 said:
I think the Pope’s book is pretty bad. It’s boring, way too long, and lends aid and comfort to Fundamentalists by touting the Bible as a theological unity, when it’s not. The Gospels are infinitely more important than the other parts. The **Life of Christ **should be our focus.
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You’re the first one I’ve heard that didn’t like and appreciate this work.
 
Heaven forbide the Pope teach Jesus is the Son of God!😛
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then empty (too) is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. 15 Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.
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NAB 1 Corinthians 15:14-17
 
I just bought it today! I can’t wait to sink my teeth in…will post my opinions in a day or two, depending on how busy I am - darned housework gets in the way of my reading!! 😉
 
I’m about 40 pages into it, and I think it’s great. It’s rather easy for me to read. I understand the general idea the Holy Father is talking about.

I try to write quotations from the book on the blank pages at the beginning and end of the book. I don’t think I’ll have enough room.

the words about the Antichrist and fundamentalism on page 36 really hit the nail on the head. I have been surrounded by many such antichrists, people who are afraid or unwilling to read the Bible as the word of God.

From just so much reading, I’m glad I bought the book. It’s supposed to be the first of two, so stay tuned. I don’t think it’s boring at all. So far, it is like a homily from a very educated and patient man, who is trying not to scare us that he is the Pope, or something.

An earlier partial quote from page xxi (or thereabouts) is “…I trust the gospels.” YEA! So do I.
 
I have read it and thought it to be very good, he challenges many theologeons who have taken Jesus down to the human only level, I thought his insight was very refreshing. I’m looking forward to his next book.
 
The Holy Father is such a talented theologian and writer, that he writes such an insightful book as if he was playing the piano and loving every moment:

**"…I trust the gospels…" **page xxi So do I.

“…**And the Antichrist with an air of scholarly excellence, tells us that any exegesis that reads the Bible from the perspective of faith in the living God, in order to listen to what God has to say, is fundamentalism…” **page 36 Yes, and I’ve met this anti-christ many times.

“…The theological debate between Jesus and the devil is a dispute over the correct interpretation of scripture, and it is relevent in every period of history…” page 36

“…God alone is to be worshiped…” page 45

" …Let us return, then, to the Gospel, to the real Jesus…" page 55 Yes, and the sooner the better.

“…God is always at the center of the discussion…” page 63 Yes, but that’s not always obvious when I listen to some people talk.

"…all the scriptures refer to Jesus…" page 64 I knew it and that’s what is so exciting.

"…the sermon on the mount is the new Torah…" page 68 This discussion alone is worth the price of the book.

“…**Jesus] is the reference point of the righteous life…” **page 90, and **"…righteousness …[is] the term for the conformity to the Torah, the word of God…" **page 88

Well, I’m just past page 110. The HF is not “shooting blanks” in this book, for sure. What a thoughtful reflection on the Jesus of scripture and history, as he would say.
 
There’s a man who was commenting about the book’s cover on YouTube. He is (I believe) is a Protestant and said that the Pope’s name shouldn’t be above Jesus’. Jesus should be above the Pope. Then the guy quotes a verse saying something like “above all names” etc. I replied back saying that it’s common to have the title under the author, or the author under the title.

Looking at it now, it does look a bit weird. But I sure hope that the Pope didn’t mean it to be that way.
 
1st, I doubt the Pope designed the cover. 2nd, I’m sure it was the publisher just trying to capitalize on the Pope’s popularity. 3rd, Do you really think there’s a possibility Benedict think’s he’s bigger than Jesus???😉
 
Brian_C said:
3rd, Do you really think there’s a possibility Benedict think’s he’s bigger than Jesus???😉
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Of course not!

The YouTube user just thinks he knows all and is completely ignorant, and he’s a grown man! I guess there’s a lot of them out there anyway. 😦 If you want the link I can provide it.
 
I’ve spent a lot of time reading through the anti-Cath stuff lately. I guess I never really paid attention to it when I was Baptist and now it just fascinates me.
 
MarkA16 said:
There’s a man who was commenting about the book’s cover on YouTube. He is (I believe) is a Protestant and said that the Pope’s name shouldn’t be above Jesus’. Jesus should be above the Pope. Then the guy quotes a verse saying something like “above all names” etc. I replied back saying that it’s common to have the title under the author, or the author under the title.

Looking at it now, it does look a bit weird. But I sure hope that the Pope didn’t mean it to be that way.
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This reasoning is a joke. It’s typical of the extreme fundamentalist point of veiw. The is no intelligence connected with this argument.
 
About 60 pages in.

Tremendous!

A previous poster is right.

Our Holy Father is not shooting blanks.

He’s even, methodical, powerful, authoritative with no bombast.

The truth outs and trumps falsehood.

I especially like that he’s employing the same historical-critical method that has been so prevalent since the 40’s.
 
I have not yet finished the book yet but I find “Jesus of Nazareth” to be a great exegetical work. I am really enjoying it. It is scholarly yet very readable. I think it has broad appeal across the spectrum of christian readers, serious scholars and the average Christian seeking to know Jesus on an initmate level. It also illustrates an understanding of the role of scripture in the life of the Christian experiance and faith…

So far I have enjoyed it!

Can’t wait to get to the end and to the next installment…
 
from what i’ve read so far (about 3 chapters), you come away with a tremendous amount of respect for 1. the Pope’s intellect and 2. his ability to render into accessible, almost everyday, language complex theological ideas and arguments, without the appearance of dumbing down, and to invest the issues he’s discussing not only with relevance but even urgency.
 
Finished reading it. It’s a tremendous book, the best book I’ve ever read next to the Bible (and I think that’s the best way to read it, too.)

For someone unprepared, the book starts out explaining its purpose, to refute some claims of historical / critical exegesis that the historical Jesus and the Jesus of the gospel are two different people, and that we don’t really know Jesus.

Of course, he says his study says all that is wrong, and he sets out to show why.

You don’t need to read any other book to understand this one, and that’s because it’s so well written. Just invest the time to read the beginning a bit more slowly so you understand his issue.

This book is more than a baseball no-hitter and several grand-slams rolled into one. It’s a tremendous bible study and a great response to those who are under the spell of the anti-christ (page 36).
 
Crumpy said:
This book is more than a baseball no-hitter and several grand-slams rolled into one. It’s a tremendous bible study and a great response to those who are under the spell of the anti-christ (page 36).
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This is my sense also.

I’m mid-way into his exposition of the Our Father. Pious reading indeed and at its very best!! Pulls your heart right up towards God, and feeds that inner desire to become as conformed to His will as possible and progress in the devout life towards holiness.

I have “Wow” written in the margin in many places.
 
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