Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium

The right kind of book, according to Ehrman, is one that portrays Jesus roughly as Albert Schweitzer did, as a first-century Jewish apocalypticist: "This is a shorthand way of saying that Jesus fully expected that the history of the world as we know it (well, as he knew it) was going to come to a screeching halt, that God was soon going to intervene in the affairs of this world, overthrow the forces of evil in a cosmic act of judgment, destroy huge masses of humanity, and abolish existing human political and religious institutions. All this would be a prelude to the arrival of a new order on earth, the Kingdom of God." Ehrman's is a historical-Jesus book, a very smart, humble, and humorous popular summary of Christian and secular evidence of Jesus' life, work, and legacy. He believes that apocalypticism is the true core of Jesus' message, and that comfortable middle-class complacency among scholars, clergy, and laypeople has forged a counterfeit, domesticated, "ethical" Jesus to cover up their befuddlement about his misprediction of the apocalypse. The book will frustrate many readers because it offers no real guidance regarding what one should do with Jesus' apocalypticism. Its project--to prove that Jesus was wrong about the apocalypse--may even appear destructive to some. Yet the argument is convincing enough to induce among careful readers a constructive experience of confusion. Jesus makes readers ask the very question it appears to ignore, in a newly humble way: how, then, should we live? A serious matter, but considering humanity's endless string of wrong answers and infinite capacity for self-delusion, worthy of some good belly laughs, as well. --Michael Joseph Gross

Product Description
In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first-century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings.

Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament (and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter), Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet--a man convinced that the world would end dramatically within the lifetime of his apostles and that a new kingdom would be created on earth. According to Ehrman, Jesus' belief in a coming apocalypse and his expectation of an utter reversal in the world's social organization not only underscores the radicalism of his teachings but also sheds light on both the appeal of his message to society's outcasts and the threat he posed to Jerusalem's established leadership.

To me, Ehrman's arguments are far more persuasive than those of members of the Jesus Seminar who believe that Jesus was not an apocalypticist. Ehrman does not push unorthodox views, but presents consensus views of Bible scholars to the general public. Ehrman emphasizes Jesus' Jewish environment during the first century. He explains that Jesus was not unique except in his supposed resurrection. Christianity is based not on the actual resurrection of Jesus, but on belief in his resurrection. Written sources claim that healings and exorcisms were accomplished by other Jews in ancient times, and by Hebrew prophets. Ehrman also points out the diversity of Christian views during the first and second centuries. As any scholar taking a true historical approach must, he makes no evaluation of supernatural events. A special treat is Ehrman's sense of humor. A must read for those wishing to understand the historical Jesus, as opposed to a theological Jesus.


One of the Best   April 1, 2006
S. E. Moore (San Diego, CA United States)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

I previously reviewed Margaret Barker's book as the best book written about Jesus in modern times. From a spiritual and esoteric perspective, I still feel that way. However, from an historical perspective Ehrman is the best and most concise.

Ehrman doesn't try to create his own gospel. He accepts the gospels for what they are and cuts through to the basic common denominator. Jesus, from an historical perspective, started out as an apocalyptic prophet who continued the message of his mentor, John the Baptist as a result of the turbulent political climate in Palestine. Jesus saw his role as preparing Israel for the imminent end of the world heralded by Daniel's "Son of Man" and the coming Kingdom of God.

This is not a comforting book for people who subscribe to the warm and fuzzy gospel of health and prosperity. The radical teachings of Jesus have to be taken at face value (which so many so-called "fundamentalists" refuse to do.) Jesus did not support family values and seemingly had no regard for the present world. The idea of leaving your home and family, giving away all of your wealth and possessions, and taking up a cross of martyrdom can only make sense if one believes that the present system is going to end very soon and thus has no real value. Jesus had no interest in making the world a nicer place because it was going to end. His role was to prepare Israel for the future.

One of many examples Ehrman gives is the nonchalant attitude Jesus has about rendering unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Far from being a gesture of submission, Jesus essentially was saying that Roman coins would have no value in God's Kingdom and since Caesar and his kingdom would soon end, why fight it? The same applies to Jesus' teachings of unconditional forgiveness, love of enemies, and turning the other cheek. In the real world, there could be no law and order or justice if this were put in practice (a point excellently brought out by Joseph Klausner's "Jesus of Nazareth"). Jesus wanted his followers to cancel all the debts that others owed them since they would soon be judged by God. Jesus demanded unconditional love of God and man as well as a fearless willingness to die as a martyr for the sake of the Kingdom. To prepare for the Kingdom, all ties with the present have to be broken.

Ehrman claims that Jesus' prediction of the destruction of the Temple was authentic in light of it being replaced by a new Temple. The fact that "no stone would be left in place" is contrary to the fact that after 70 a.d., the Western Wall was left standing. Thus it is not a gospel writer trying to explain that event.

Ehrman's explanation of the parable of the mustard seed is that Jesus and his followers represent the Kingdom coming into the present which would someday encompass the entire world. Jesus' miracles and exorcisms were a prophetic demonstration of the presence of that Kingdom where the sick would be healed, the dead would be raised, and demons would be banished. Luke's "the Kingdom of God is among you" reinforces this concept as opposed to the esoteric idea that it is "within you" as proposed by Tolstoy.

These ideas were also shared by the Apostle Paul whose radical ideas can be seen in light of the imminent destruction of the present order (no time to impose kosher laws on gentiles wanting to enter the Kingdom). Like Jesus, Paul believed his generation would see the Kingdom (1Thess. 4:15-17).

Even though Jesus talked about The Son of Man as someone other than himself, his immediate followers, after his crucifixion, believed that The Son of Man would be Jesus returning from Heaven. Judas' betrayal was not simply telling the Temple mercenaries where Jesus' was (they could have followed him on their own). What Judas really probably betrayed was Jesus' messianic claims which he revealed only to his disciples. The fact that Jesus was crucified as the King of the Jews leaves no doubt that Jesus believed himself to be the Messiah of Israel. The fact that Jesus' followers believed he would return as the Son of Man can only be explained by their firm belief that he was raised from the dead by God.

Ehrman claims that modern evangelical doomsayers like "Hal Lindsay and his ilk" pick and choose what they want Jesus to say. I would add that these prophets for profit may talk as if the world were ending but they sure don't live as if it were ending (which is why I refuse to take them seriously).



This is the one   February 20, 2000
(The mome rath@aol.com) (Waialua, Hawaii)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

As an amateur scholar who has read/studied over thirty works on the historical Jesus, I would like to take this opportunity to highly recommend Bart Ehrman's Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium. If you read only one popular book on the historical Jesus, this should be the one. If you are waiting impatiently for the third installment of Meier's A Marginal Jew; this should provide a pleasant and useful distraction. If after reading Ehrman's book, you find yourself wanting more of the same, I would like to suggest Dale C. Allison's Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet. Shalom.


The sky is falling   December 3, 2003
23 out of 25 found this review helpful

Last night I celebrated my completion of Bart Ehrman's tome Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. It took a bit of searching before I could find a scholar such as Bart Ehrman, but now that I've found one I'm eager to explore the whole of his writings. He is like my pet historian now. I will name him Squishy and he will be mine and he will be my Squishy.

In this book Ehrman takes on the staggering task of trying to find the true historical Jesus. Giving his reasons for rejecting the Jesus Seminar's attempts of doing the same by rejecting the gospel accounts and relying strictly on outside evidence, (Ehrman covers exactly how scarce this evidence is) he instead dissects the gospels to try to understand Jesus's original message.

Throughout the book Ehrman paints a pretty clear and logical picture of the popular view among historians, that the probability is Jesus was one of many apocalyptic Jewish prophets living in that era, his only unique characteristic being that some people believed he was resurrected by God (and later, that he was God). He believed that the end of the world would be coming during his lifetime, when a cosmic judge known as "The Son of Man" would ride down from the heavens, destroy all evil and establish a physical "Kingdom of God" on Earth in which the lower-class would rule over the rich and pious. Ehrman then illustrates how Jesus's teachings and ethics make perfect sense in this context.

Prominent throughout the book is Bart Ehrman's trademark... the exteme care in not offending the faithful. He handles the topic with wit and sensitivity, reassuring the reader that he is not attempting to undermine anyone's faith, but merely to illustrate what is historically probable based on the materials we have to work with.

On the downside, in order to preserve this view of Jesus one must edit out huge portions of the gospels, and while Ehrman does a good job justifying which parts are likely true and which are probably made up, the question still arises how you can trust what's left in a religious text after you've stripped out the parts that are obviously false.

In the end, we still can't really know anything for sure... this message seems to be written between the lines of every page in this book. The book feels like it's more of an answer to the many other Jesus books on the market that try to paint him as some kind of early Marxist or gay rights advocate. And I believe that's this book's true purpose: To present to the layperson the limited information an honest critical review of the gospels gives us about the historical Jesus while keeping him in his own context, as a Jew living in the first century, instead of as a screen to project your world view onto... whether it's cynicsm, feminism, Marxism, Republicanism, Christianity or any other modern belief structure.


Best popular book on Jesus   May 11, 2004
Zeeshan Hasan (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
18 out of 19 found this review helpful

There are an awful lot of books about Jesus, but in three years of divinity school I didn't find any as clear and readable as this one.

Ehrman takes the view generally prevalent in top American universities, that Jesus was a Jewish apocalypticist who believed that the world was about to end, and consequently preached a message of extreme morality to ensure one a blessed existence in the afterlife (an idea which apocalypticism probably introduced to the Judeo-Christian tradition). This view holds that the common Christian ideas, that Jesus was the divine Son of God who was born from a virgin and died for the sins of humanity, were all later traditions invented as the early Christian community tried to make sense of the crucifixion and the fact that the world had in fact failed to come to an end.