Justin Poythress' Book Review

"If the Bible belongs anywhere, it's in the church, not the academy. But that can't mean that it belongs only in the heart, not the head. That a wall separates belief and inquiry." (Fisk, A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesus, 27)

As we prepare to head to the Middle East, I find myself having an increasingly difficult time differentiating between faith and fact. Lately, I have been reading A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesus by Bruce N. Fisk. For this trip, my faith has a large impact on why I am going to Israel and the West Bank, however I still think that it is important to figure out the academic significance of this geographical area and the historical Jesus. It is important to ask questions about faith, and much of these questions take place in the academic setting.

Whether people recognize him as a prophet, a teacher, a revolutionary, or a Savior, much of the world population believes that Jesus did exist. Secular philosophers and pagan teachers have recorded historical documents on the life and teachings of Jesus. The question is, why is it important to question the historical Jesus? Doesn't he just belong in the church?

The simple answer to that question is that Jesus does not have to exist exclusively in the church or exclusively in the classroom. If Jesus existed, and he is in fact who he said he was, then humans simply cannot live life the same, regardless of religion, background, or education. The quest for historical Jesus is important to people everywhere, because his claims were so extreme and so radical that they just cannot be ignored.

According to Fisk, "when you stop questing for the 'historical' Jesus, any number of unhistorical, malleable, Silly Putty Jesuses fill the void... Detach Jesus from his ancient Semitic roots... and you can bend him any way you like" (16). Because of the radical claims that Jesus made, can you see why this would pose a problem?

People need to go on their own quest to sift through the facts and figure out who they believe that Jesus was and is. A Historical Guide to Jesus does an excellent job of outlining many of the places that Jesus lived, healed, and preached. It brings in many outside sources, including the Bible as well as pagan historians. Along the way, it follows the journey of Norm, a graduate student on his own expedition in Israel to look for his own answers, and he asks many thoughtful questions that are important to the individual's quest.

If any of you haven't started your book on historical Jesus, I would certainly recommend this one. I am about halfway through, and I have been keeping a notebook with all of the records of where Norm is traveling, and it has been a great way to sort out my thoughts and prepare to see the sites of historical Jesus.