I was interested in Barrie Wilson's book "How Jesus Became Christian" because it ostensibly explored the differences between Paul and the disciples who knew Jesus. However, upon reading it, I found it disappointing on several levels. Rather than exploring how these differences showed diversity within the early Christian faith, he denies that Paul and Jesus's disciples even shared the same religion, and he views Jesus himself as a xenophobic Jew whose main interest was in purging Palestine of any foreign influences. The book is mainly an exposition of a grand conspiracy theory directed at Paul and his successors. I reviewed the book in much greater detail in a blog that I created to serve as a repository for much longer postings than what I normally post here.
Update 6/10/2004: I decided it was a dumb idea to create that other blog, so I've moved my long review over to this blog, which you can read here, and back dated it so that it appears immediately after this posting.
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4 comments:
Rather that focusing on what you perceive that the author did not do, and what you perceive that the author should have done, why don't you review the book for what it is, rather than what you want it to be? Put aside your biases which seem to be abundant, and use a critical, but open, mind to review the book to be helpful to readers who may not have the same level of knowledge and expertise in early Christianity than you claim to have.
Ggrubbs, rather than review my review for what you think it should have done, why don't you review my review for what it is, rather than what you want it to be?
Seriously, my what I wrote was an honest expression of my reflections on the book. I bought the book with a lot of high hopes, and ended up being disappointed in it. You can agree or disagree with what I wrote. That's your privilege. You are also free to write your own review that reflects your own point of view if you want.
By the way, in my review, I believe that I went out of my way to try to be fair in explaining what his point of view was, even as I disagreed with it. A lot of my review was an exposition of what his own argument was before I offered my own commentary on it. And I also do not claim to be an expert on early Christianity.
I have decided to move my review back into this blog. I decided it was a silly idea to create a separate blog for long reviews.
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