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Revolution in Judaea: Jesus and the Jewish Resistance
A compelling, engrossing study of the historical Jesus views him as a leader of the Jewish resistance against the Roman Occupation who became transformed through the Gospels into a divine being
Hardcover
First published September 26, 1973
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 28, 2013
My dad's talked to me about this books for decades so I figured it would be time to read it.
Great book.
Hard to "believe" (no pun intended) that Jesus's life has been so distorted posthumously (I guess you could call it AD?).
Will have to read the invention of Christianity by same author some time.
What a scholar.
Great book.
Hard to "believe" (no pun intended) that Jesus's life has been so distorted posthumously (I guess you could call it AD?).
Will have to read the invention of Christianity by same author some time.
What a scholar.
May 17, 2018
Hyam Maccoby was a brilliant scholar. I've read several of his other books but had not read this one until recently. In Revolution in Judaea, Maccoby analyses the Christian Gospels to unpack the true aims and motivations of the historical Jesus. As in his other books, Maccoby employs Tendenz theory to great effect. Tendenz theory was developed by the German theologian F.C. Baur in the early 19th century and posits that each of the Gospels was written with a tendenz. The German word sounds like 'tendency', but the meaning is not identical; the German word connotes almost a bias or purpose, rather than just a habit or predisposition, as in the English meaning. Maccoby's starting thesis is that anything in the Gospels that clearly runs counter to its tendenz must be closely examined and its implications unraveled, because the incident or topic must have been so well known at the time that any alteration or "editing" would discredit the author and the Gospel.
in Revolution in Judaea, Maccoby employs this technique to show that Jesus's mission was not to reveal himself as a man-god and preach about the kingdom of heavan, but rather was to reestablish the Davidic Kingdom on Earth and free the Jews from the vicious tyranny of the Romans.
If you are a Christian, this, and the rest of Maccoby's ouvre, will challenge your faith. If you are a Jew or other non-Christian, you will gain great insight into the historical Jesus's character and mission.
Some reviewers have complained that Maccoby has no proof for his conclusions, or that his work is all speculation. These are not fair assessments. His reasoning is deductive - if A, then B; if B, then C, etc. until he reaches his conclusions, which admittedly are startling and upsetting to many Christian readers. Even if you discount some of his conclusions, if you look at his work as a whole his conclusions are remarkably self-consistent and paint a very plausible - from the Jewish perspective - picture of Jesus and the birth of Christianity.
Revolution in Judea fits in neatly with the rest of Maccoby's books, which are all (or at least the several that I have read) interrelated. Revolution details Jesus's mission, and the political circumstances of Israel at the time. Jesus the Pharisee examines Jesus's teaching and concludes that he was not at all a rebel or revolutionary against Judaism but instead was an adherent of Judaism's mainline denomination, the Pharisees. The Sacred Executioner examines the ancient practice of literal human sacrifice and shows that Judaism developed as a rebellion to the awful practice, while Christianity embraced it as its mythological underpinning and forced the Jews to play the unwilling part of Jesus's sacred executioner. The Mythmaker examines the historical Paul and shows that he was not a Pharisee as he claimed, but instead was someone who grew up in the Hellenic tradition; and further, that his Christian teachings had almost nothing to do with Judaism, but instead are based on a fusion of Gosticism and the Mystery Cults of the near east. And finally, Judas Iscariot and the Myth of Jewish Evil examines the character of Judas and shows he was likely one of Jesus's brothers. It also shows that in the Christian tradition, Judas was the embodiment of the Jews and Jewish evil and explores the hellish consequences of the Judas tradition for the Jews, reaching the ultimate conclusion that the Holocaust was not an aberration but rather was the natural culmination of Christianity (or at least a certain strand of it) in the Age of Reason.
I would highly recommend Revolution to Jewish and other non-Christian readers. If you are a Christian whose faith is absolute and unshakable, you should probably skip this, since it will just make you irate. But if you are an intellectually adventurous Christian, I urge you - actually, I dare you - to read Revolution and Maccoby's other books mentioned above.
in Revolution in Judaea, Maccoby employs this technique to show that Jesus's mission was not to reveal himself as a man-god and preach about the kingdom of heavan, but rather was to reestablish the Davidic Kingdom on Earth and free the Jews from the vicious tyranny of the Romans.
If you are a Christian, this, and the rest of Maccoby's ouvre, will challenge your faith. If you are a Jew or other non-Christian, you will gain great insight into the historical Jesus's character and mission.
Some reviewers have complained that Maccoby has no proof for his conclusions, or that his work is all speculation. These are not fair assessments. His reasoning is deductive - if A, then B; if B, then C, etc. until he reaches his conclusions, which admittedly are startling and upsetting to many Christian readers. Even if you discount some of his conclusions, if you look at his work as a whole his conclusions are remarkably self-consistent and paint a very plausible - from the Jewish perspective - picture of Jesus and the birth of Christianity.
Revolution in Judea fits in neatly with the rest of Maccoby's books, which are all (or at least the several that I have read) interrelated. Revolution details Jesus's mission, and the political circumstances of Israel at the time. Jesus the Pharisee examines Jesus's teaching and concludes that he was not at all a rebel or revolutionary against Judaism but instead was an adherent of Judaism's mainline denomination, the Pharisees. The Sacred Executioner examines the ancient practice of literal human sacrifice and shows that Judaism developed as a rebellion to the awful practice, while Christianity embraced it as its mythological underpinning and forced the Jews to play the unwilling part of Jesus's sacred executioner. The Mythmaker examines the historical Paul and shows that he was not a Pharisee as he claimed, but instead was someone who grew up in the Hellenic tradition; and further, that his Christian teachings had almost nothing to do with Judaism, but instead are based on a fusion of Gosticism and the Mystery Cults of the near east. And finally, Judas Iscariot and the Myth of Jewish Evil examines the character of Judas and shows he was likely one of Jesus's brothers. It also shows that in the Christian tradition, Judas was the embodiment of the Jews and Jewish evil and explores the hellish consequences of the Judas tradition for the Jews, reaching the ultimate conclusion that the Holocaust was not an aberration but rather was the natural culmination of Christianity (or at least a certain strand of it) in the Age of Reason.
I would highly recommend Revolution to Jewish and other non-Christian readers. If you are a Christian whose faith is absolute and unshakable, you should probably skip this, since it will just make you irate. But if you are an intellectually adventurous Christian, I urge you - actually, I dare you - to read Revolution and Maccoby's other books mentioned above.
April 22, 2016
Not a good book. The book presents arguments against Christianity. These are old news, easily answered by anyone with a basic knowledge of Christianity. The book does not offer anything new. The author uses poor logic, circular reasoning, and does not make his case well. I love a challenge, but this book did not provide one.
February 22, 2024
I rated it at 5 stars since it presented some unique arguments that made me think, though I don't agree with many of his propositions or conclusions, and think some of them stand on some of the flimsiest of evidence. As an old saying goes, "all models are wrong, but some are useful." Maybe his model could offer some insights without swallowing it all - hook, line and sinker.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews