Christ

A Crisis in the Life of God

By: Jack Miles

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

With the same passionate scholarship and analytical audacity he brought to the character of God, Jack Miles now approaches the literary and theological enigma of Jesus. In so doing, he tells the story of a broken promise–God’s ancient covenant with Israel–and of its strange, unlooked-for fulfillment. For, having abandoned his chosen people to an impending holocaust at the hands of their Roman conquerors. God, in the person of Jesus, chooses to die with them, in what is effectively an act of divine suicide.
On the basis of this shocking argument, Miles compels us to reassess Christ’s entire life and teaching: His proclivity for the powerless and disgraced. His refusal to discriminate between friends and enemies. His transformation of defeat into a victory that redeems not just Israel but the entire world. Combining a close reading of the Gospels with a range of reference that includes Donne, Nietzche, and Elie Wiesel, Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God is a work of magnificent eloquence and imagination.©2001 Jack Miles; (P)2001 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Miles is a master, provocative and accessible, in presenting a God who is ambivalent, hesitant, moody, offhand, remote and opaque.... All in all, this is the most compelling page-turner of the year."
--Bill Bell, New York Daily News

"The brilliance of Jack Miles’s new book on Christ is that it manages to “make strange” the best-known story in history."
--Edward Skidelsky, The New Statesman

"...an erudite and provocative literary tour de force that would make a perfect Christmas or Hanukkah present for believers and nonbelievers alike. It is truly impossible to catalog all of the literary riches in this reinterpretation of the New Testament."
--Susan Jaccoby, Newsday

"As a way of seeing, Miles’s book has great power and depth. Though he does not try to solve the problem of evil, his book gives us, with horrid clarity, the vision of a culpable, guilty, and finally atoning God..."
--James Wood, The New Yorker

"The faithful may be disturbed by Miles’ reading of the Bible as a portrait of a God capable of changing his mind... But Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God is, like Miles’ previous book, a stimulating, challenging work.
--Charles Matthews, San Jose Mercury

"...a daring critic who can provide his own translations of Hebrew and Greek. Regardless of our agreement or disagreement with him, he prods us to read these familiar stories afresh, with all their original suspense and drama, his analysis serving as an invitation for our own."
--Ron Charles, Christian Science Monitor

"...a literary vision of Christ with more insight, warmth, and verve (not to mention chutzpah), that have been seen...for many a year."
--Peter Heinegg, America

"This American ex-Jesuit...is a resuscitation artist. His style is exceptionally riveting. His theses are daring, his perspectives astonishing, his insights as daring as they are witty."
--Ludger LŸtkehaus, Die Zeit, Hamburg

God's purpose for mankind simplified

The whole bible and its purpose being explain in such a way that even atheist would understand.

Very, very thought provoking!

I loved it, it'll was well performed, and most of all it was insightful and thought provoking. I'm ready to read it or listen to it again to digest more of what this book and author have to offer.

Missed a lot of stuff

I also read his earlier book and think that one vastly superior. NT Jesus, viewed simply as the protagonist in a rich novel, as Miles does here, has many faults and flaws that are never even brought up or discussed here.

Instead we get a gloss of the protagonist. Ignoring most of the faults and flaws any objective reader can clearly see in the literary character of NT Jesus. For a look at this side of NT Jesus Miles mostly ignores I would suggest : The Bad Jesus - Hector Avalos

Thanks for your time!