Posted on 07/08/2008 1:06:50 PM PDT by yankeedame
Has anybody read A.N. Wilson's "biographies"
Jesus
and/or
Paul: The Mind of an Apostle
I was just cruising around Amazon books and spotted these. I wondered if they were any good.
Wilson is a brilliant writer and thorough researcher. But he has an axe to grind against all things Christian. He also biod CS Lewis.
In Wilson's interpretation, Jesus was a Galilean holy man, an heir to the prophetic tradition, who possessed charismatic healing powers; it is improbable that this monotheistic Jew ever believed himself to be the Second Person of the Trinity or that he instituted the Eucharist. Wilson proposes that the feast at Cana may have been Jesus's own wedding; that the woman who poured ointment over his feet and wiped them with her hair is a detail "too strange" to have been invented; that Jesus's cousin John the Baptist came to disbelieve that Jesus was the Messiah; and that the Stranger seen by Jesus's disciples after his death was probably Jesus's brother James. This biography also suggests that Judas was innocent of betraying Jesus, that "the Pharisees were among the most virtuous men who had ever lived," that Jesus was never tried by the Jewish Sanhedrin, and that Paul was the high priest's servant who supervised Jesus's arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Typical Jesus-denying dribble.
I found the best biography of Jesus outside of the Gospels to be JESUS AND HIS TIME by Henri Daniel-Rops.
Wilson's also a novelist and writes a column for the London Daily Telegraph on Mondays. If you want to know what he's thinking that's as good a place as any to find out. Whatever one thinks of his views, he is pretty smart guy, though he can be opinionated in the way of a lot of Englishmen.
"In universities and intellectual circles, academics can guarantee themselves popularity -- or, which is just as satisfying, unpopularity -- by being opinionated rather than by being learned." -- A.N. Wilson
If Wilson wrote a biography of George W. Bush it would go like this.
George was a big oil man who was selected, not elected. George did not believe he won, but he took office anyways. George was a likeable guy who couldn't put two words together. September 11th was most likely planned by George. Joe and Vallerie Plame were honorable characters who were victims of George's attacks. Democrats were among the most virtuous people ever and would never say anything untruthful about George.
Albert Schweitzer wrote some very interesting things about Jesus although they were not a true biography as such. He wrote an interesting book about Paul as well. Schweitzer was not ever given the credit I think that he was due as a theologian. The Life and Epistles of Paul by Conybeare and Howson is a book to read if anyone is interested in the life of Paul.
Try “The Origin of Paul’s Religion” by J. Gresham Machen. Machen fought long and hard in the first decades of the 20th century against the influence of liberal theology. The writing style is a little stiff but ultimately rewarding. Good Luck!
That's why I was on Amazon, to look up some of the other things he had written. And, yes, I saw he did the piece (or should I say "a number"?) on C.S. Lewis. The reader/reviewers had their coup knives out, that's for sure.
Also, thanks to one and all for suggestion on other books on this subject. I know I need to start reading more "Bible-as-History" type books...hence my post.
Wilson's probably at his best dealing with individual psychology -- what makes a person tick. He's a novelist, so that comes naturally to him.
When he has a big idea or theme to develop he doesn't always put things together in the most convincing way. The parts add up to more than the whole, that's to say, the portraits of writers or thinkers or politicians are more convincing than the big picture argument.
So biography is his strength, rather than history. My recollection of one of his history books is that it started well, with vivid pictures of what people were going through, and just sort of petered out towards the end.
In the Eighties, Wilson had a reputation as a young fogy -- an English conservative, which can be very different from the American version (Tony Blair was more of a friend to the Bush Administration than some British Tories, for example).
Just wanted to add a book to the list.
JESUS the PHARISEE by Harvey Falk, Paulist Press
Title sounds provocative, but just because of general misimpression about meaning of “pharisee.”
Actually term was of well-established social use at the time and, according to reasonable views, not at all exclusive of its use on the cover.
Eye-catching cover aside, general impression the book left was more of Paul the Pharisee, and as I remember it, plausibly documented.
I did not explore the subject then, when I saw the book long ago, but having since examined much related material, the thesis holds up as related to Paul, that Paul was an ardent Pharisee all along, and his change of heart was a way to carry his spiritual cause, sincerely, to a new and newly beloved audience.
An impressive “paradigm shift” in understanding Paul.
Well worth acquiring if book is available.
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