January 23, 2008

Book Review: Reinventing Jesus


This book is a group effort by three conservative scholars: J. Ed Komoszewski, M. James Sawyer, and Daniel B. Wallace. The subtitle "How Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead Popular Culture" is a great teaser as to what the book is about.

In my seminary studies, I've read many books of this type that give the evidence supporting the Bible, the historical understanding of Jesus, etc. I had thought that they were all the same, but this one is different.

These authors do an excellent job of presenting the facts in a way that was interesting and accessible. If you are interested in learning more about the history behind the Bible, this is a great place to start. It presents its case thoroughly without getting too technical.

The authors offer ample (though not overpowering) evidence against such claims as:

Corruption of the ancient texts of the New Testament
Errors in selecting the canon
The idea that the early church did not recognize Jesus as divine
Christianity as an adaptation of pagan religions

They discuss such proposals as The Da Vinci Code and the Jesus Seminar along with other popular misunderstandings of Jesus and outline the fallacies behind them.

From the back cover: "Reinventing Jesus cuts through the rhetoric of extreme dfoubt to reveal the profound credibility of historic Christianity. Meticulously researched yet eminently readable, this book invites a wide audience to take a fristhand look at the primary evidence for Christianity's origins. Reinventing Jesus shows believers that it's okay to think hard about Christianity, and shows hard thinkers that it's okay to believe."

I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about learning more about the true origins of Christianity.

2 comments:

  1. My Dad especially likes to read books like this, so perhaps this would be a good Father's Day gift. How does this one compare to Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ"?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jacki, I think they are both good, but I like how Reinventing Jesus hits on fewer topics, more in depth.

    ReplyDelete

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