Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus - Softcover

Cahill, Thomas

3.96

2,620 ratings by Goodreads

9780745950990: Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 074595099X ISBN 13: 9780745950990

Publisher: Lion Books, 2002

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In Desire of the Everlasting Hills, Thomas Cahill takes up his most daring and provocative subject yet: Jesus of Nazareth, the central figure of Western civilisation. Introducing us first to the people Jesus knew, Cahill describes the oppressive Roman political presence, the pervasive Greek cultural influence, and especially the widely varied social and religious context of the Judaism in which Jesus moved and flourished. These backgrounds, essential to a complete understanding of Jesus, lead to the author's stunningly original interpretation of the New Testament that will delight readers and surprise scholars. And from this reading emerges a portrait of Jesus as a real person, sharp-witted and sharp-tongued, but kind, humorous and affectionate, shadowed by the inevitable climax of crucifixion. Mary emerges as not quite the "perpetual virgin" of popular piety, but still a vivid presence and forceful influence on her son, while the much-maligned apostle Paul, carrier of Jesus' message and the most important figure in early Christianity, finds rehabilitation in Cahill's revealing, realistic portrait. This is a book for believers and non-believers alike, an interpretative history that invites readers into an ancient world to commune with some of the most influential people who ever lived.

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Product Description:

This text introduces the reader to Jesus of Nazareth. It describes the political climate of the time, the people Jesus knew and places them in a social and religious context in order to understand more about Jesus the person.

Review:

Desire of the Everlasting Hills is another present from the pen of Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization and The Gifts of the Jews.

In this, the third volume of the bestselling Hinges of History series, he knits together history, politics, sociology, and faith with contemporary insights that yield remarkable results. After painting with broad brush strokes an entertaining picture of the Greek, Jewish, and Roman world, Cahill focuses on Jesus. With illuminating deductions and clever speculation, Jesus is seen though the eyes of his biographers in their Gospel accounts. Each of these authors' lives is reconstructed in such a way that the richness of their writing and their subject matter is wonderfully enhanced.

The section on Paul, detailing how his life and letters shaped the early church, should be required reading for every student of the Bible. From his beginnings in the cosmopolitan city known as Tarsus through his calling, like the patriarchs and prophets before him, he becomes "the perfect vehicle for this moment in the development of the Jesus Movement." His mix of Greek reasoning with rabbinical training casts the stories of the early church into a thoughtful theology. He is seen here as the earliest egalitarian who not only impacted the early church but all of western civilization.

Cahill challenges many traditional religious ideas, while also taking on some of the more radical contemporary interpreters of biblical literature. As with the other volumes in this series, the marginal notes are filled with a wealth of interesting information. Combining his own fresh translation of many New Testament highlights with respect and humour, Thomas Cahill's book is for the believer and non-believer alike. --Tracy Danz

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