Jesus of Nazareth

(see also Christian Fundamentalism, Christian Pacifism, Liberation Theology: US, Liberation Theology: Latin America, Liberation Theology: Asia, Liberation Theology: Africa, Bible in America)

Basics

Some two hundred million Americans join a billion others around the world in professing faith in a God who walked the earth as Jesus of Nazareth. Tens of millions study the Bible, listen avidly to preachers, & claim to know & attempt to follow Jesus Christ faithfully -- sometimes asking "What would Jesus do?" as a guide to action & decision-making in everyday life & politics.

Yet Christian Americans & others have called upon the Gospel of Jesus to justify war, the arms race, slavery, greed, empire, racial discrimination, genocide, lynching, capital punishment, vindictive incarceration, gun proliferation, xenophobia, homophobia, anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, book-burning, hate crimes & a host of other assaults on human solidarity -- none of which appear to be consistent with the loving practice & precepts of Jesus of Nazareth.

Uncomfortable with this anomaly, many Christians have moved beyond fundamentalist precepts to consider the full range of reflection by Biblical scholars & Christian thinkers, artists & activists around the world on the deeper meanings for people living today of the life, ministry, death & resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

On the Web: Articles

On the Web: Specialized Sites

NT Gateway: The Historical Jesus.

In the Library: Articles

Boff, Leonardo. "Jesus, a person of extraordinary good sense, creative imagination & originality," in W. Ferm (ed.) Third World Liberation Theologies: A Reader (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1986).

Richardson, Miles & Marta Eugenia Prado & Barbara Bode. "The image of Christ in Spanish America as a model for suffering: an exploratory note," Journal of Inter-American Studies 12 (1971):246-57.

Segundo, Juan Luis. "Christ & the human being," Cross Currents (spr 86):39-67.

Sobrino, Jon. "The historical Jesus & the Christ of faith: the tension between faith & religion," Cross Currents 27,4 (win 77-8):437-63.

In the Library: Non-Fiction Books

Adam, Karl. The Christ of Faith: The Christology of the Church (NY: Image, 1957).

Batstone, David. From Conquest to Struggle: Jesus of Nazareth in Latin America (Albany: SUNY, 1991).

Berrigan, Daniel. Jesus Christ (NY: Doubleday, 1973).

Boff, Leonardo. Jesus Christ Liberator: A Critical Christology for Our Time [1972] (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1978).

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Christology (London, 1966).

Borg, Marcus. Jesus: A New Vision. Spirit, Culture & the Life of Discipleship (San Francisco: Harper, 1991).

__________. Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus & the Heart of Contemporary Faith (San Francisco: Harper, 1994).

__________ (ed.) Jesus at 2000 (Boulder: Westview, 1997).

__________ & N.T. Wright. The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions (San Francisco: Harper, 1999).

Bussmann, Claus. Who Do You Say? Jesus Christ in Latin American Theology (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1985).

Cardenas Pallares, Jesús. Un pobre llamado Jesús (México, 1982).

Carmody, Denise Lardner & John Tully Carmody. Jesus: An Introduction (Belmont CA: Wadsworth, 1987).

Chesnut, Glenn F. Images of Christ: An Introduction to Christology (Minneapolis: Seabury, 1984).

Chilton, Bruce. Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography (NY: Doubleday, 2000).

Comblin, José. Jesus of Nazareth: Meditations on His Humanity (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1976).

Cox, Harvey. When Jesus Came to Harvard: Making Moral Choices Today (NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2004).

Cowdell, Scott. Is Jesus Unique? A Study of Recent Christology (Mahwah NJ, 1996).

Crossan, John Dominic. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (San Francisco: Harper, 1994).

__________. The Essential Jesus: What Jesus Really Taught (San Francisco: Harper, 1995).

Craveri, Marcello. The Life of Jesus (NY: Grove, 1967).

D'Costa, Gavin (ed.) Resurrection Reconsidered (Oxford, 1996).

Dear, John. Jesus the Rebel: Bearer of God's Peace & Justice (Franklin WI: Sheed & Ward, 2000).

Dickens, Charles. The Life of Our Lord, Written for His Children during the Years 1846 to 1849 (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1934).

Dri, Rubén R. La utopía de Jesús (México, 1984).

__________. Insurrección y resurrección: la práctica liberadora de Jesús de Nazareth (México, n.d.).

Driver, Tom F. Christ in a Changing World: Toward an Ethical Christology (NY: Crossroad, 1981).

Echegaray, Hugo. La práctica de Jesús (The Practice of Jesus ) (Lima: CEP, 1980; English trans. Matthew J. O'Connell; Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1984).

Elizondo, Virgil (ed.) Way of the Cross: The Passion of Christ in the Americas (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1992).

Endo, Shusaku. Life of Jesus (Mahwah NJ: Paulist, 1989). Perspective of a great Japanese Christian novelist.

Fiorenza, Elizabeth Schüssler. Jesus: Miriam's Child, Sophia's Prophet: Critical Issues in Feminist Christology (NY, 1994).

Flynn, Frank (ed.) Christology: The Center & the Periphery (NY, 1987).

Funk, Robert W.; Roy W. Hoover & the Jesus Seminar. The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say? The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993).

__________. Honest to Jesus: Jesus for a New Millennium (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996).

Jefferson, Thomas. The Jefferson Bible: The Life & Morals of Jesus of Nazareth (Boston: Beacon, 1989 & many earlier eds.).

Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus & the Truth of the Traditional Gospels (San Francisco: Harper, 1996). Critical view of Jesus Seminar's work.

Kapen, Sebastian. Jesus & Freedom (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1977).

Lane, Dermot A. The Reality of Jesus (Mahwah NJ: Paulist, 1975).

Machovec, Milan. A Marxist Looks at Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976).

Mackay, John A. The Other Spanish Christ: A Study in the Spiritual History of Spain & South America (NY, 1932). Perceptive account by a Presbyterian missionary of long experience in Peru.

McGregor, Pedro. Jesus of the Spirits (NY: Stein & Day, 1966). The Jesus of Brazilian spiritualism.

Míguez Bonino, José (ed.) Jesús: ni vencido ni monarca celestial (Faces of Jesus: Latin American Christologies) (Buenos Aires, 1977; English trans. Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1984). Richly instructive anthology.

Nolan, Albert. Jesus Before Christianity (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1978).

Nouwen, Henri. Christ of the Americas: Dying & Rising & Coming Again (Washington, 1983).

Pope-Levison, Priscilla & John R. Levison. Jesus in Global Contexts (Louisville KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1992).

Rahner, Karl & Pinchas Lapide. Encountering Jesus - Encountering Judaism: A Dialogue (NY: Crossroad, 1987).

Rius. Jesús alias el Cristo (México, 1985). Liberationist view in comic form.

Segundo, Juan Luís. Jesus of Nazareth Yesterday & Today, vol. I: Faith & Ideologies (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1984).

__________. Jesus of Nazareth Yesterday & Today, vol. 2: The Historical Jesus of the Synoptics (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1985).

__________. Jesus of Nazareth Yesterday & Today, vol. 3: The Humanist Christology of Paul (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1986).

__________. Jesus of Nazareth Yesterday & Today, vol. 4: The Christ of the Ignatian Exercises (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1987).

__________. Jesus of Nazareth Yesterday & Today, vol. 5: An Evolutionary Aproach to Jesus of Nazareth (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1988).

Sinclair, Upton. Jesus: His Secret Life (Philadelphia: Mercury, 1952). Orig. A Personal Jesus.

Sobrino, Jon. Christology at the Crossroads (Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1978).

__________. Cristología desde América Latina (Jesus in Latin America) (México, 1977; English trans. Robert R. Barr; Maryknoll NY: Orbis, 1987).

Vermes, Geza. Jesus the Jew (London: Collins, 1973).

Wessels, Anton. Images of Jesus: How Jesus is Perceived & Portrayed in Non-European Cultures (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990).

In the Library: Fiction

Endo, Shusako.

Leñero, Vicente. El evangelio de Lucas Gavilán (The Gospel of Lucas Gavilan) (México, 1979; English trans. Robert G. Mowry; Lanham MD: University Press of America, 1991). Luke's account of Jesus' life reset in the world of Mexico City construction workers.

Pérez Esclarén, Antonio. Jesús of Gramoven (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1980). Jesus' story reset in the slums of Caracas.

In the Library: For Young Readers

In the Library: Poetry

In the Library: Drama

In the Library: Photography

CD & Audio

Film & Video

"The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Il Vangelo secondo Matteo)" [1964], dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, ?m. In video stores.

" The Greatest Story Ever Told" [1965], dir. George Stevens, ?m. In video stores.

" Son of Man" [1969], dir. Gareth Davies, ?m. In video stores.

" Jesus Christ Superstar" [1973], dir. Norman Jewison, ?m. In video stores.

" Godspell" [1973], dir. David Greene, ?m. In video stores.

" Jesus of Nazareth" [1977], dir. Franco Zeffirelli, ?m. In video stores.

" Monty Python's Life of Brian" [1979], dir. Terry Jones, ?m. In video stores.

" The Last Temptation of Christ" [1988], dir. Martin Scorsese, ?m. In video stores.

" Jesus of Montreal" [1989], dir. Denys Arcand, ?m. In video stores. Jesus story reset in contemporary Canadian city.

" The Gospel of John" [2003], dir. Philip Saville, ?m. In video stores.

" The Passion of the Christ" [2004], dir. Mel Gibson, ?m. In video stores. Focus on excruciating process of his judicial execution, with little or no reference to substance of his life & ministry.