With the same passionate scholarship and analytical audacity he brought to the character of God, Jack Miles now approaches the literary and theological enigma of Jesus. In so doing, he tells the story of a broken promise-God's ancient covenant with Israel-and of its strange, unlooked-for fulfillment. For, having abandoned his chosen people to an impending holocaust at the hands of their Roman conquerors. God, in the person of Jesus, chooses to die with them, in what is effectively an act of divine suicide.
On the basis of this shocking argument, Miles compels us to reassess Christ's entire life and teaching: His proclivity for the powerless and disgraced. His refusal to discriminate between friends and enemies. His transformation of defeat into a victory that redeems not just Israel but the entire world. Combining a close reading of the Gospels with a range of reference that includes Donne, Nietzche, and Elie Wiesel, Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God is a work of magnificent eloquence and imagination.
With the same passionate scholarship and analytical audacity he brought to the character of God, Jack Miles now approaches the literary and theological enigma of Jesus. In so doing, he tells the story of a broken promise-God's ancient covenant with Israel-and of its strange, unlooked-for fulfillment. For, having abandoned his chosen people to an impending holocaust at the hands of their Roman conquerors. God, in the person of Jesus, chooses to die with them, in what is effectively an act of divine suicide.
On the basis of this shocking argument, Miles compels us to reassess Christ's entire life and teaching: His proclivity for the powerless and disgraced. His refusal to discriminate between friends and enemies. His transformation of defeat into a victory that redeems not just Israel but the entire world. Combining a close reading of the Gospels with a range of reference that includes Donne, Nietzche, and Elie Wiesel, Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God is a work of magnificent eloquence and imagination.
Jack Miles is a writer whose work has appeared in numerous national publications, including "The Atlantic Monthly," the "The" "New York Times," "The" "Boston Globe," "The" "Washington Post," and "The" "Los Angeles Times," where he served for ten years as literary editor and as a member of the newspaper s editorial board. The recipient of a Ph.D. in Near Eastern languages from Harvard University and a former Jesuit, he has been a Regents Lecturer at the University of California, director of the Humanities Center at Claremont Graduate University, and visiting professor of humanities at the California Institute of Technology. His first book, God: A Biography, won a Pulitzer Prize and has been translated into fifteen languages. Currently senior advisor to the president of the J. Paul Getty Trust, a foundation supporting art and scholarship, Dr. Miles lives with his wife and daughter in Southern California."
Miles does for Christ what he did for God in his successful God: A Biography. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
In God: A Biography, Miles observed that God undergoes remarkable changes in the biblical narrative, moving from action to silence. In this astonishing new book, Miles applies the same method to Jesus, God Incarnate, with even more remarkable results, arguing that "the changing of the mind of God is the great subject, the epic argument, of the Christian Bible." Engaging in close readings of the Gospels (particularly John's), as well as sweeping impressions of the entire Bible, Miles intriguingly shows that God's incarnation in humanity was a way of talking once again to God's people. After Israel experienced defeat at the hands of the Babylonians, God promised to defeat this enemy, restoring Israel. But, forgetting this promise, God allowed Israel to continue to suffer, even as God struggled to address the situation in a different, less violent way. Miles argues that when God became human in Jesus of Nazareth, God suffered with Israel, and offered some revolutionary new teachings that indicate a change of mind. As God Incarnate, Jesus taught humanity that he must die in order to bring about a restored paradise. Weaving philosophy and literature into his reflections on the Bible, Miles offers literary perspectives on the life of Christ that are at once provocative and revelatory. After reading this book, one can never look at God, Jesus or the Bible in quite the same way. (Nov. 5) Forecast: Miles's God: A Biography nabbed a Pulitzer Prize and enjoyed exceptional sales; Knopf hopes that this follow-up, which is a selection of the BOMC, History Book Club and QPB, will achieve similar heights. The title will launch with a 60,000-copy print run. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Provocative and deeply engaging. . . . This is a spectacular story, and Miles tells it well. . . . Exciting reading. "--The New York Times Book Review" No one who reads it will be able to think about even the most familiar Biblical scenes in quite the same way. --"Newsday " The brilliance of Jack Miles's new book on Christ is that it manages to "make strange" the best-known story in history. . . . Stratlingly original. " The New Statesman" As a way of seeing [God], Miles s book has great power and depth. "--The New Yorker""
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
