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The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library
The Death of the Messiah, From Gethsemane to the Grave, Volume 2: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels
Since its original publication in 1994 as a two-volume hardcover boxed set, The Death of the Messiah has lived up to early expectations and become the benchmark by which any future study of the Passion narratives will be measured. Now available in paperback, Raymond E. Brown's masterful study examines every detail of the four Gospel stories of the final agonizing days of Jesus' life. Where others simply describe the accounts of the death of the Messiah as if they were one seamless whole, Father Brown reads and explains each Gospel on its own terms and elucidates the themes that make each one unique. "The Death of the Messiah" is the ideal complement to Brown's Birth of the Messiah, as thorough and expert in its handling of the Passion narratives as his book on the infancy narratives of the Gospels.
752 pages, Paperback
Published December 18, 1998
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About the author
Raymond E. Brown
137 books100 followersRoman Catholic priest, member of Society of Saint-Sulpice and a prominent biblical scholar, esteemed by not only his colleagues of the same confession. One of the first Roman Catholic scholars to apply historical-critical analysis to the Bible.
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March 2, 2015
One of our finest Biblical scholars looks at the Passion narratives.
Raymond Brown lovingly and thoroughly takes apart the Passion narratives and puts them back together again. Knowing how much famous Catholic writers like Thomas Merton struggled with the church censors, its remarkable that Brown was allowed to write as honestly as he has. To quote Marcus Borg, Brown "takes the Bible seriously, but not literally".
One of the great revelations for me was his including the Gospel of Peter in his comparison. A fragment of this later gospel (dated around 100-200 C.E.) was found about 100 years ago, and the fragment dealt exclusively with the passion week. This gives Brown a wonderful tool to compare what was being said and written about the death and resurrection of Christ after the the four canonical gospels were written, and gives him a helpful tool to explore sources for all five.
The Gospel of Peter is discussed thoroughly in Appendix 1. Nearly all the appendices are as or more valuable than the commentaries themselves. They include topics like dating the Crucifixion, difficulties in translation, Judas Iscariot, comparing the sacrifice of Isaac to the Passion, Jewish groups (such as the Sanhedrin) named in the Passion, Old Testament references, Jesus' predictions of his death, and what PreMarcan Narrative might have existed. All these topics are dealt with lovingly, thoroughly, and with no punches pulled.
I read the two volumes of "The Death of the Messiah" during the last two Lenten seasons, and read his "Birth of the Messiah" over Advent this year. Reading Brown is like going in for difficult but necessary surgery that ultimately leaves in you much better health than when you started. He makes clear that much has been mythologized, molded to fit with Old Testament passages and prophecy, adapted from oral traditions, and tweaked to serve the developing theology of the first century church. And yet--he is convinced, and is quite convincing--that we indeed read here of astonishing events, and an astonishing life, that forever changed the world.
Raymond Brown lovingly and thoroughly takes apart the Passion narratives and puts them back together again. Knowing how much famous Catholic writers like Thomas Merton struggled with the church censors, its remarkable that Brown was allowed to write as honestly as he has. To quote Marcus Borg, Brown "takes the Bible seriously, but not literally".
One of the great revelations for me was his including the Gospel of Peter in his comparison. A fragment of this later gospel (dated around 100-200 C.E.) was found about 100 years ago, and the fragment dealt exclusively with the passion week. This gives Brown a wonderful tool to compare what was being said and written about the death and resurrection of Christ after the the four canonical gospels were written, and gives him a helpful tool to explore sources for all five.
The Gospel of Peter is discussed thoroughly in Appendix 1. Nearly all the appendices are as or more valuable than the commentaries themselves. They include topics like dating the Crucifixion, difficulties in translation, Judas Iscariot, comparing the sacrifice of Isaac to the Passion, Jewish groups (such as the Sanhedrin) named in the Passion, Old Testament references, Jesus' predictions of his death, and what PreMarcan Narrative might have existed. All these topics are dealt with lovingly, thoroughly, and with no punches pulled.
I read the two volumes of "The Death of the Messiah" during the last two Lenten seasons, and read his "Birth of the Messiah" over Advent this year. Reading Brown is like going in for difficult but necessary surgery that ultimately leaves in you much better health than when you started. He makes clear that much has been mythologized, molded to fit with Old Testament passages and prophecy, adapted from oral traditions, and tweaked to serve the developing theology of the first century church. And yet--he is convinced, and is quite convincing--that we indeed read here of astonishing events, and an astonishing life, that forever changed the world.
Displaying 1 of 1 review