"Excavating Jesus" alternates sections on archaelogy and writings about the Holy Land about the time of Jesus. If the two were woven together into a single fabric, this would be a good book, but it isn't. You read a passage describing some aspect on Jesus's life and suddenly you find a few pages about the excavation of a Roman bath. Moreover, much of the text isn't really about Jesus but ranges far back and far forward. The idea of examining archaelogical and textual material in the same book may have been good, but the execution is lousy. The works of two different authors are interspaced -- not integrated.

I thought also that Crossan, one of the authors, was too anxious to contradict the bible. Crossan seems to question the validity of the bible more than he questions the truth of his other written sources. A little more balance would be better.

I found myself skipping many sections of this book which didn't interest me to find a few sections which are very good. The book tends to get better, and more relevant to the life of Jesus, toward the end. This book might be used as a reference to be dipped into on occasion, rather than a narrative to be read from beginning to end.

Crossan and Reed have produced a very interesting book. Reed's archeological discoveries shed a lot of light on the world of Jesus. For Christian believers, these discoveries add another dimension to the credibility of the faith. The Biblical 'discoveries' were not as helpful. Crossan tries to delve into the mind of Jesus and his contemporaries.

Crossan is identified as a 'premier historical Jesus authority'. Christians believe that Jesus was not only a historical Jewish wandering preacher, but also truly God at the same time. Ordinary scholars, who subscribe to the philosophic position that only things verifiable by empirical data are to be affirmed, cannot affirm any actions that are caused solely by God- any such actions are to be attributed to natural causes or any other alternative explanations which do not include God.

Yet does not the title of 'historical Jesus authority' connote the willingness to additionally include divine actions as really affirmable? Crossan seems not to see it that way. He is therefore forced to explain whatever Jesus and his followers did as at best their own subjective interpretations of reality. Alleged miracles, accordingly, should be explained naturally. The definitive miracle in the New Testament, and in the minds of Christians, is the actual resurrection of Jesus. Crossan can only muster a 'stipulation' (p 255) that the actual resurrection occurred so that he can interpret the 'resurrection' as a 'corporate event' rather than the traditional interpretation of a 'singular event'. These views do not, to this reviewer, prove very helpful to Christians.

Nevertheless, this book opens up plausible glimpses of what Jesus and his followers faced during their lives. These glimpses do anchor the New Testament in our flesh and blood reality. Augustus, Herod, and Caiaphas come to life in their own right. This book takes us to places most of us will probably never get to visit. It certainly is worth the price.

The world's premier Historical Jesus expert and a brilliant young archaeologist of the Galilee team up together in a fascinating new book that digs down through the complex layers of ancient ruins and ancient texts to uncover a fuller portrait of Jesus and the first century Palestine where he lived. In their unique collaboration, *Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts*, John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed explore and weave together the ten most significant archaeological findings from ancient Palestine with the ten most significant textual discoveries of modern biblical studies. The result of their combined efforts is an unforgettable glimpse into the everyday life of Jesus of Nazareth as we've never seen before.

Crossan, the best-selling author of several authoritative books on the Historical Jesus including *The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant* and *The Birth of Christianity*, marries his exhilarating and provocative portrait of Jesus as a counter-cultural itinerant Jewish preacher of a radically just and egalitarian Kingdom of God with the phenomenal advances in biblical archeology and cultural anthropology that have revolutionized those disciplines over the last one hundred years. Reed, author of the highly-praised study *Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: A Re-examination of the Evidence* and lead archaeologist at the current Sepphoris excavations in the Galilee, provides compelling descriptions of first century material culture that persuasively paint a clear picture of the clash of two kingdoms--the earthly imperial Kingdom of Rome as practiced by the Herods and Caesar with tacit cooperation of leading Jewish elites, and the divine but also earthly Kingdom of God as preached by Jesus and his peasant followers.

Reed highlights the stark contrast between the lavish palaces and marble basilicas of the Roman client-king Herod the Great and his tetrarch son Herod Antipas with the grinding poverty and agricultural exploitation of Jesus'peasant neighbors in Nazareth who lived only an hour's walk from the Romanized city of Sepphoris, Herod's glorious capital in the Galilee. The authors demonstrate how the ubiquitous ritual baths, ritually pure stone vessels, absence of imperial icons and specialized burial chambers found throughout Palestine indicate the steadfast determination of first century Jews to resist non-violently and hold onto their distinct religious practices and covenental way of life under the divine rule of the Jewish God of Justice, even as those practices set them on a direct collision course with the distributive injustice of Roman-Herodian commercialization in the name of empire-building.

Crossan and Reed lead us on a pilgrim's view tour of Jerusalem's magnificent Second Temple that fills our senses with the sights, smells and sounds of the priestly sacrificial rites occurring there on a daily basis as Jewish and Gentile pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire crowded there to admire Herod the Great's architectual handiwork, all overseen by ever-vigilant Roman soldiers from the nearby Antonia fortress. But the beauty and majesty of Herod's Temple and its highly politicized elite cult of wealthy land-owning priests clashed ambiguously with the sacred Torah's insistence that land, the material basis of life itself, belonged to God, not Caesar.

Through its highly readable exploration of stones and texts, material remains and textual remains, ground and gospel, *Excavating Jesus* helps us thoroughly understand what Jesus of Nazareth's radical life, ignoble death and vindicating Resurrection were really about--enacting a vision of a Eutopian world of justice and equality under a covenental God who wants us to fairly share the bounty of the earth and the material basis of life among all God's children in both the first century and the twenty-first. After reading this book, you will never again see Jesus or the message of the Gospels in the same light.

Yeah, I still have the same old gripes about Truman's overall writing style (or lack thereof), but they've lessened in intensity now that she's found in Mac Smith a decent sleuth. Too bad I know it won't last. (See my review for Murder in the Pentagon.)

...

Margaret Truman has woven together her knowledge of Washington
politics and a great mystery in "Murder at the Kennedy Center."
And she sure knows how to interweave a complicated plot. As soon
as Mac agrees to take a ace, he runs into countless problems:
Senator Ewald, it seems, has not be as...
his political supporters might believe; ...Soon a South American dictator and a
conservative evangelist muddy the waters even more.

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery, he learns more about his
friend than perhaps he had wanted to know. In a short period of
time, he has a long list of suspects!

Truman has done an excellent job of creating vivid characters and
developing a plot that will keep you alert. She has also managed
to mirror a number of contemporary politicians and headlines in
this novel; I think you'll have fun deciding who is being
modeled.

The description of a Democratic party gala is described with the intimacy of one who has actually attended such an affair. It is for this reason that the reader trusts the author in the other relevant portions of the plotting and structure of this well-told tale of mayhem in our nation's capital. This is a fine addition to the author's stunning series of mystery novels using the backdrop of the great institutions of Washington, D. C.

This book is VERY useful in order to be prepared for what Bible verses (as well as Book of Mormon verses!) Mormons will use to try to convince you of their doctrine. It will prepare you to answer Mormon challenges to the Bible and to standard Christianity beliefs. I've read this book cover-to-cover and it's an excellent reference.

Books like this ARE necessary for those not extremely familiar with the Bible (such as myself) because Mormons don't tell you about everything they believe. They tell you the parts that sound like Christian teachings. Not until way down the road do you learn that they think that their god was a guy like us living on a planet like us that transcended into a "higher being." Their god had a literal sexual union with Mary to produce Jesus. They tell you this only after they get you to believe that Mormonism is the only true Church, so then you must believe all the stuff that follows.

THIS is precisely why we must be prepared to witness to Mormons when the come to us. And be prepared properly to do so. They are very prepared to witness to US. This book is very specific and was written by an ex-Mormon and an ex-Jehovah's Witness who are knowledgeable on the subject.

I have at least 6 books about Mormonism and every one (including this one) says that Mormons are wonderful and sincere people. There is no hate taught here. Judge for yourself about their doctrine, but you must be informed before you can! By talking with Mormons, you will never get the whole story. They only show the comfortable side. This book is a GREAT start towards more complete knowledge about them.

This book is very good to read. It lets the reader see how cults take scripture from the bible and take it out of context. Christ came and died on the cross to save us from our sins, because there is none righteous. Its so amazing that God loved us so much that he would die for us. If you want to sincerly know Christ you need to investigate. As a christian I do not follow blindly my leaders, I study the bible and research what they say for myself, and so should mormons. Mormons why are you so afraid of books that reveal truths about the lds past? If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart you will be saved. No where in the King James bible does it talk about " the burning of the bosoom".

Yummy ios the word that comes to mind, sicne tyhis books meets all my needs.

This book lacks it all....depth, character development, writing style, creativity, and did not hold my interest past page one. The author(s) have a done a poor job (again). A definite non-read!

A dreary, depressing tale with no redeeming aspects. The characters are poorly drawn with the most unrealistic child figure since Macbeth's son (Shakespeare). A sad, sad story poorly written. The other two are so much better.

This book has it all....depth, character development, writing style, creativity. It is another great offering from its creative and incredible authors.

The character of John is intriguing and the research behind this super series is flawless.

I love this series and can hardly wait for the next one!

Don't miss this!

I have to say that John Reed's Ten Days That Shook The World works more as a period piece today than as history. Still, you might look at the guy as an early example of what Hunter Thompson called, "Gonzo Journalism." Reed was reporting history as he saw it happen. There is always something to be said for that.

John Reed lived a short and adventurous life. This three part compilation of his works was excellent to read because of Insurgent Mexico, and the War in Eastern Europe. Both are excellent, and are worth buying this book for its historical importance and for our modern experience in these regions. If Mexican history and Eastern Europe interest you, this is a great read. I enjoy journalistic accounts, and this book really fits the bill. 10 Days that Shook the World is interesting as a period piece and to see that the Commies perhaps duped him but is not as fascinating as the first two works.

This book was helpful in the respect that it answered some general questions that we both had about the divorce process. It is good at explaining some of the legal aspects in ways that the average person can understand, but it could have expanded on the information a little more.

I think the authors spent a little too much time dealing with the emotional side of divorce, which I believe should have been left for a separate book....like "Divorce Support for Dummies".

If you are looking for a place to start...this is a good book. However, if you are looking for more meat and bones...there are more helpful books out there.

This is a very nice book, filled with beautiful photos of horses, farms, and the world of racing.

If he stuck to the facts it would be 1 or 2 pages long. He could have put all he knew about Mormon's on the cover.

Found this book very enlightening.Mormons can't complain when this book uses their own writings to show contradictions and errors of the LDS Church

After slogging my way through 1/3 of this story, I realized I didn't give a bean about any of the characters. Before abandoning it, I skimmed the rest to see if I was going to miss anything. I don't believe I did.

It's hard to believe that the person who wrote "A Separate Peace" wrote this dreadful thing.