Books The edgy, adult Jesus youve never seen
RABBI JESUS: AN
INTIMATE BIOGRAPHY: THE JEWISH LIFE AND TEACHINGS THAT INSPIRED
CHRISTIANITY By Bruce Chilton Doubleday, 300 pages,
$25 |
By ARTHUR JONES
Open this book and see Jesus as youve never seen him. In
modern terms, as the illiterate runaway laboring under the serious social
stigma (for the times) that he was conceived before his parents were married.
And the entire small town knew it.
If other critics report this is Jesus as he never was, ignore
them. Author Bruce Chilton, an authority on Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke,
has a take on Jesus that keeps one reading this book as if it were the
scriptures. Youll find yourself stopping and pondering, marveling at what
this incident or that conveys and means to you personally.
In a way, this reaction, reading as if the book were scripture,
isnt surprising. Chiltons starting point is the Aramaic version of
the scriptures -- which were oral, not written. Learning the scriptures 2,000
and 3,000 years ago required prodigious feats of memory. Theres no proof
Jesus could read or write -- he didnt need to if everything was committed
to memory and most of his followers were illiterate, too.
Chilton fashions Rabbi Jesus from his time using the building
blocks of those scriptures and the archeological revelations gleaned from
excavations where Jesus lived and died.
Chilton has Jesus, a searching and tougher-than-youd-think
teenage kid, hanging around the temple because he senses theres something
there for him. Next Jesus is moving deeper into the search, hanging around John
the Baptist who is purifying people in a new way. He joins up with John, but
breaks painfully with him -- in Chiltons reading of the scriptures -- in
order to purify not simply with water, but with the spirit.
To make some of his case, Chilton has to downplay Lukes
gospel. The author also has to take a chance on the readers willingness
to suspend suspicion long enough to see how the story line shapes up.
Some of Chiltons images of the wild and scruffy and hungry
teen linger and linger. Chiltons version of the edgy adult Jesus
challenges and ultimately makes sense. The whole package is enthralling.
Take a chance. This is one heck of a good read. And it left me
feeling better than ever about the Jesus we try to serve and follow.
Of course, maybe Im just a sucker for a good scene setter --
not Tom Clancy, but Graham Greene.
Arthur Jones is NCRs editor-at-large. His e-mail
address is ajones96@aol.com
National Catholic Reporter, January 5,
2001
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