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The Essential Jesus: What Jesus Really Taught
A concise presentation of the authentic teachings of Jesus, combined with images from early Christian art, offer a portrait of Jesus as a revolutionary teacher, healer, and leader
199 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1994
3 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
John Dominic Crossan
68 books295 followersJohn Dominic Crossan is generally regarded as the leading historical Jesus scholar in the world. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Historical Jesus, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Birth of Christianity, and Who Killed Jesus? He lives in Clermont, Florida.
John Dominic Crossan was born in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1934. He was educated in Ireland and the United States, received a Doctorate of Divinity from Maynooth College in Ireland in 1959, and did post-doctoral research at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1959 to 1961 and at the École Biblique in Jerusalem from 1965 to 1967. He was a member of a thirteenth-century Roman Catholic religious order, the Servites (Ordo Servorum Mariae), from 1950 to 1969 and was an ordained priest in 1957. He joined DePaul University in Chicago in 1969 and remained there until 1995. He is now a Professor Emeritus in its Department of Religious Studies.
John Dominic Crossan was born in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland in 1934. He was educated in Ireland and the United States, received a Doctorate of Divinity from Maynooth College in Ireland in 1959, and did post-doctoral research at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 1959 to 1961 and at the École Biblique in Jerusalem from 1965 to 1967. He was a member of a thirteenth-century Roman Catholic religious order, the Servites (Ordo Servorum Mariae), from 1950 to 1969 and was an ordained priest in 1957. He joined DePaul University in Chicago in 1969 and remained there until 1995. He is now a Professor Emeritus in its Department of Religious Studies.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 27, 2018
This slight book concludes Crossan's Jesus trilogy with a series of aphorisms, parables and pre-Constantinian artworks he believes attributable to the early movement. The image he draws of Jesus thereby is that of a utopian social-revolutionary acting at the grassroots, what he calls a 'sapiential eschatologist' as opposed to an 'apocalyptic' one--in other words, god won't miraculously inaugurate what he calls 'the kingdom'. We, however, can. Right here. Right now. It's a comforting image to secular progressives like myself. No superstitious credulity required, but the utopian vision and the preferential option for the poor maintained. Quite a boon to the liberal clergy and, one presumes, a way to retain one's faith. Further, it is plausible, Crossan knowing his stuff and the quest for the historical Jesus being, as ever, endless.
June 6, 2016
This is Crossan's offering of what he thought to be the legitimate sayings of Jesus. I did not like how the book was formatted. Explanations of the sayings were in a separate section forcing you to go back and forth. As for the content, I think Crossan goes too far in stripping Jesus of his theological and metaphysical underpinnings. Crossan keeps turning Jesus simply into a "Rabbinical Karl Marx" type figure; which I sincerely doubt.
August 18, 2010
The Essential Jesus by John Dominic Crossan takes what he believes are sayings by the so-called "historical Jesus" and interprets them in light of Jesus' mission to bring the Kingdom of God on earth.
He translates key bible verses reflecting this opinion and sheds new light on some confusing and somewhat routine verses of scripture. His translations are fresh, eye opening and very poetic.
For example, Matthew 5:13, normally translated along the lines of "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?" It is a verse that I could never make complete sense of as it stands.
Crossan translates it thusly: "What if those who are salt, must themselves be seasoned?" In other words, "What if those who are supposed to have all the answers and wisdom, need answers themselves?"
It is easy to see, after reading this book, why Jesus was executed. His teachings were not all about nebulous good feelings for all, but about how the current power structure was not living up to its purported level of insight and how the only people truly blameless in a corrupt society were the truly destitute (as opposed to "the [mere:] poor").
Crossan translates the famous verse from the Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:20) as
Only the destitute
are innocent;
the implication being that only those with absolutely nothing have not participated in any way in the corrupt power structures of society.
Much food for thought in this short and easy to read book.
He translates key bible verses reflecting this opinion and sheds new light on some confusing and somewhat routine verses of scripture. His translations are fresh, eye opening and very poetic.
For example, Matthew 5:13, normally translated along the lines of "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?" It is a verse that I could never make complete sense of as it stands.
Crossan translates it thusly: "What if those who are salt, must themselves be seasoned?" In other words, "What if those who are supposed to have all the answers and wisdom, need answers themselves?"
It is easy to see, after reading this book, why Jesus was executed. His teachings were not all about nebulous good feelings for all, but about how the current power structure was not living up to its purported level of insight and how the only people truly blameless in a corrupt society were the truly destitute (as opposed to "the [mere:] poor").
Crossan translates the famous verse from the Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:20) as
Only the destitute
are innocent;
the implication being that only those with absolutely nothing have not participated in any way in the corrupt power structures of society.
Much food for thought in this short and easy to read book.
December 26, 2025
A few disclaimers: I didn’t read the first two installments in this trilogy (because I found this book at a used book store) and I didn’t technically read all the way through this one because the formatting makes it inconvenient to do so (see below).
1. Formatting
The formatting of this book is certainly a choice. The first section has some background on the sociopolitical context of the time of Jesus. The second section is a collection of Jesus’ sayings, interpreted/translated by Crossan according to his 5 translation principles (individual/social, political/religious, interpretation/translation, structural/spatial, and minimal/poetic). These sayings are interspersed with pre-Constantinian depictions of Jesus. The third section is Crossan’s explanation of Jesus’ sayings and reflection of the artwork.
This format made the book difficult to read all the way through. If you wanted to understand Crossan’s take on a certain saying, you had to flip back and forth between the saying and the explanation. It’s clear that the book was intended to be more of an index or reference text rather than a sit down and read kind of book.
2. Translation
There’s some good and bad here. I appreciate the work that Crossan has done to maintain the poetic quality of Jesus’ sayings. He formats many sayings as parallels or chiasms. This highlight the contrasting natures present in Jesus’ teachings. It also helps put the teachings of Jesus into a format that is easy to commit to memory.
However, there’s a glaring issue with the simplicity of Crossan’s translations. While it may be true that the earliest followers of Jesus would have committed these teachings to memory prior to their transcription in the three Synoptic Gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke don’t present us with a loose collection of Jesus’ sayings. They present these teachings in a very decisively constructed narrative, designed to convey the character of Jesus and the kind of life he offers in God’s Kingdom. When stripping them from this context, it’s easy to relinquish Jesus into just another political revolutionary.
1. Formatting
The formatting of this book is certainly a choice. The first section has some background on the sociopolitical context of the time of Jesus. The second section is a collection of Jesus’ sayings, interpreted/translated by Crossan according to his 5 translation principles (individual/social, political/religious, interpretation/translation, structural/spatial, and minimal/poetic). These sayings are interspersed with pre-Constantinian depictions of Jesus. The third section is Crossan’s explanation of Jesus’ sayings and reflection of the artwork.
This format made the book difficult to read all the way through. If you wanted to understand Crossan’s take on a certain saying, you had to flip back and forth between the saying and the explanation. It’s clear that the book was intended to be more of an index or reference text rather than a sit down and read kind of book.
2. Translation
There’s some good and bad here. I appreciate the work that Crossan has done to maintain the poetic quality of Jesus’ sayings. He formats many sayings as parallels or chiasms. This highlight the contrasting natures present in Jesus’ teachings. It also helps put the teachings of Jesus into a format that is easy to commit to memory.
However, there’s a glaring issue with the simplicity of Crossan’s translations. While it may be true that the earliest followers of Jesus would have committed these teachings to memory prior to their transcription in the three Synoptic Gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke don’t present us with a loose collection of Jesus’ sayings. They present these teachings in a very decisively constructed narrative, designed to convey the character of Jesus and the kind of life he offers in God’s Kingdom. When stripping them from this context, it’s easy to relinquish Jesus into just another political revolutionary.
August 12, 2018
Ironically inessential.
John Dominic Crossan re-interprets quotes attributed to Jesus from the five gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas, and imagery from the early Christian church (pre-Constantine.)
Crossan emphasizes Jesus's radical egalitarianism, often finding economic interpretations to familiar parables and interpretations. Consequently, he sometimes downplays Jesus's apocalyptic tendencies.
"The Essential Jesus" might help you look at some of Jesus's parables in a different light. However, there are much better books available about viewing Jesus from a historical perspective -- some of which are written by Crossan himself.
John Dominic Crossan re-interprets quotes attributed to Jesus from the five gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas, and imagery from the early Christian church (pre-Constantine.)
Crossan emphasizes Jesus's radical egalitarianism, often finding economic interpretations to familiar parables and interpretations. Consequently, he sometimes downplays Jesus's apocalyptic tendencies.
"The Essential Jesus" might help you look at some of Jesus's parables in a different light. However, there are much better books available about viewing Jesus from a historical perspective -- some of which are written by Crossan himself.
April 19, 2019
A slim and powerful volume by a respected Jesus scholar. His analysis and contextualization if sayings and images of the historical Jesus are accessible and impactful.
January 11, 2021
A way to hear Jesus from an entirely new perspective. I loved it.
June 20, 2025
"Every fox has a den,
Every bird has a nest,
Only humans are homeless."
Every bird has a nest,
Only humans are homeless."
March 10, 2022
This is a great volume, looking at the sayings of the historical Jesus. It was interesting looking at the context and the earliest images. The part I found the least interesting was the inventory of images, which I found rather dry, but it had some moments. All-in-all a volume worth looking into if you have an interest in the historical Jesus as I do.
July 26, 2011
My main beef with this book was the way it was presented. it has a thorough introduction, then it has an array of jesus's sayings which scholars agree are most authentic, each alone on its page like a haiku. Occasionally a pre-constantine art image of Jesus is included among the sayings. Then, there are the end notes for the sayings, each one a solid paragraph, and finally discussions of the symbolism of the art. i had to keep two bookmarks in the book to navigate this annoyingly hypertextual format. why couldn't it have been saying on the left, interpetation on the right, and then another section with art on the left, interpretation on the right? It would have required a little more paper to print, but I think it would've boosted comprehension immensely, especially since this is a book that challenges our assumptions of the context of Jesus's teachings.
Beyond that, the content of the book taken as a whole is very good. Crossan is up front about the fact that he may have over translated to counterbalance received understandings, and the language is spare and gruffly beautiful. A few of the images don't look like anything, and a few seem to be blowups of low-rez jpgs, but with 1700-1800 year old documents, sometimes that's the closest even bigwig scholars can get.
Beyond that, the content of the book taken as a whole is very good. Crossan is up front about the fact that he may have over translated to counterbalance received understandings, and the language is spare and gruffly beautiful. A few of the images don't look like anything, and a few seem to be blowups of low-rez jpgs, but with 1700-1800 year old documents, sometimes that's the closest even bigwig scholars can get.
June 30, 2017
This is a brief summary of the conclusions of Crossan's life-time of study and research into the life, teachings and ministry of Jesus from a historian's perspective. He provides original translations of the sayings that he considers to be most certain based upon the historical evidence. He also provides a sampling of early Christian depictions of Jesus' ministry, mostly from pre-Constantinian art from the late 3rd Century. Surprisingly, depictions of the crucified Jesus were almost unheard of until after Constantine's revolution. The most common early depictions of Jesus are of him sharing meals and healing. This corresponds well with the most reliable descriptions of Jesus' ministry as one of healing and of sharing.
March 11, 2016
I didn't read the endflaps of the book so when I began to read this book - so when I expected a story of Jesus life - I was surprised by the learned things that were in the book. So I did learn a few new things but they weren't essential to what I really wanted to learn about Jesus. the book is more about man's interpretation of Jesus and early Christians.
December 23, 2007
Buku yang berat, bukan cuma karena isinya tapi juga karena bahasa Inggrisnya banyak yang tidak saya mengerti, jadi terpaksa deh bacanya sambil bolak-balik buka kamus :)
December 31, 2011
Who said what? Did Jesus actually say what is attributed to him. A good beginners guide to what jesus said in the new testament.
February 28, 2015
sheds interesting light on the sayings of jesus, especially how politically charged his teachings actually were.
December 4, 2012
Interesting take on Jesus sayings - in the spirit of the Jesus Project.
March 20, 2013
Interesting to see quotes from the historical Jesus. The commentary was useful as well, but I would have preferred it be nearer each quote and not ll compied at the end.
February 25, 2016
I'm keeping this one. A new translation of his most famous sayings, with analysis, especially of the parables
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews