Caesar and Christ (The Story of Civilization III)

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Want a Good Start on an Education?

HISTORY WELL DONE

Civilization vs. History

Valuable reference for historical novel readers

Pearls before swine

Caesar and Christ (The Story of Civilization III)
Will Durant
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Life of Greece (The Story of Civilization, Vol. 2)

Our Oriental Heritage (The Story of Civilization, Vol.1) (Our Oriental Heritage)

The Age of Napoleon: A History of European Civilization from 1789 - 1815 (The Story of Civilization, Vol. XI)

The Age of Faith (The Story of Civilization, Volume 4) (Story of Civilization)

The Renaissance (The Story of Civilization V)

ASIN: 0671115006

Customer Reviews:

Want a Good Start on an Education?.......2005-02-06

"Caesar and Christ" is the third thick volume of an amazing 45-year life work by Will Durant. I strongly advise you do not heed the academic reviews of "The Story of Civilization." There is no reason to assume the critics even read one volume of Durant's work. Be aware that academic philosophy professors list Hanna Arendt, a second rate intellectual, as the only significant female philosopher and ignore one of the most powerful minds of the post WWII era, Ayn Rand. Sure, she is flawed but she is greater than a Camus or a Chomsky. I strongly recommend reading "Caesar and Christ" and the entire 10 volume set of "Story of Civilization" - if you truly seek to be generally educated. You will learn more from Durant than from years of liberal arts schooling in any university. I never heard a professor mention Durant to students but I saw the entire set on the shelves of the private libraries of some major historians. Would you buy, own, read and keep 10 volumes of books you knew to be worthless? Ignore the academic mantra and decide for yourself.

Let me introduce you to this remarkable man. Durant was a gifted Columbia philosophy student who earned a PhD in philosophy. He was a major teacher-staff member of a now forgotten, fascinating private school movement, The Modern School movement. He served primarily as a head foreign language teacher. A real scholar, Durant mastered six important languages. Durant wrote and published "The Story of Philosophy" in the 1920s. To his surprise, it was an instant best seller. Durant's prose style, bright mind, and sharp wit made the book a little classic that has never been out of print. The book made him famous & independently wealthy and professors wrote to inform him that "Story of Philosophy" had caused a sharp increase in enrollment in philosophy courses.

Durant's book income allowed him to quit working and pursue his fascination with history. He devoted the rest of his life to researching and writing "The Story of Civilization," still a unique work. Do yourself a favor. Read the Introduction to any volume. Read a chapter of any volume before you decide whether to buy or read a volume of the history. The books are thick but Durant was a major prose stylist. His prose style and his wit will make you love reading Durant.

Durant found history writing to be too divided and too provincial. A real historian, Durant wanted to know something about world history. As you read his history, you must remind yourself of the year when the volume you are reading was written, especially the first three volumes. They read like Durant wrote them today. He writes with keen insight about the Arab world. He tried to correct a major error still prevalent today: The muth that Irish monastaries and monks preserved civilization for the Western world. Durant discusses at length how and why the Arabic world was the leader in learning & science during the middle ages. Arab scholars knew Latin and Greek and they studied the great Greek thinkers. Arab mosques pioneered free education & wealthier muslims practiced charity.
Durant wrote total history (he called it synthesis) before it was a fad in France. He covers art, architecture, literature, geography. When Durant explains the importance of the Mediterranean and describes the coast, you comprehend what he conveys to you. He was there. He was not on a taxpayer paid vacation, thinly disguised as "research." He was "there", at his own expense, for weeks studying the area (with his wife who knew another five languages, including her native Russian). Durant and his wife invested in at least three lengthy world tours to see and study the areas Durant wrote about and He wrote about the civilized world.

American history majors should read at least the "Our Oriental Heritage" volume. Serious art majors should read the entire 10 volumes. You will never read a historian who writes so well or with greater knowledge about the art, architecture and skilled crafts of different times and different peoples.

Enough. I leave you with this. By all means, read modern academic trashings of Durant's "Story of Civilization." Also, read the introductory remarks in each volume. You may be surprised to learn that Durant wrote each volume twice. He sent his final drafts to well known academic historians, according to their region of specialty. Durant then re-wrote each volume in response to detailed criticisms these professors sent him. No volume of "Story of Civilization" contains the 'whole truth' but very few modern histories of one year of one institution are more factually accurate. And no academic historian can lay claim to possessing the 'whole truth.' If you have a liberal arts graduate degree, read all ten volumes. You may gain the basic liberal arts education you wanted but did not get in six years of college.

HISTORY WELL DONE.......2005-01-01

It this third volume, Durant continues the story of man through the time of the height of Rome and Christ. Like the other volumes it is quite well done and despite what another reviewer's opinion is, quite comprehensive. Granted, I you want to read more about battles, etc. they you should probably look elswhere. I am of the school that a time period can only be understood by what they left behind, i.e. art, literature, politics, etc. rather than who they defeated in battle, or who defeated them. This is only my opinion though, others look at it differently. Also, I suppose if you are teaching a college course addressing this period of time, you would certainly want to gleen information from other sources. That not being the case on my part, I thought this was a wonderful overview of a very important epoch. I thought it was quite well presented. Recommend highly.

Civilization vs. History.......2004-05-23

The book has wonderful moments. It is lovingly written and often witty. However readers should be aware of Durant's definition of civilization. According to Durant:

"Civilization is social order promoting cultural creation. Four elements constitute it: economic provision, political organization, moral traditions and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. It begins where chaos and insecurity end. For when fear is overcome, curiosity and constructiveness are free, and man passes by natural impulse towards the understanding and embellishment of life"

If you want a history that incudes the brute forces of history (not solely its cultural creation) you will probably be somewhat disappointed. There is nothing wrong with Durant's msny sections on poetry, philosophy, painting etc. but it squeezes the space alotted to things like economic trends and military struggle. If you want to read this book, you should probably first read a regular history of Rome. You can then appreciate this book as icing on the cake.

Valuable reference for historical novel readers.......2002-11-04

It is an excellent history reference, although people may not read it from page one to the end like reading a fiction. College students may use it for academic reference and research papers.

However, if you are into Roman historical novels such as Colleen McCullough "First Man in Rome", "Grass Crown"..., Gore Vidal "Julian", Robert Graves "I, Claudius"..., Henryk K. Sienkiewicz "Quo Vadis"; Roman era fantasies such as Pauline Gedge "The Eagle and the Raven", Donna Gillespie "The Light Bearer", it definitely adds complimentary flavor to your reading by being aware of the political and social environment of Roman Empire. The chapters are not essentially in chronological layout, but, for example, a chapter devoted to Roman arts and letters, another for daily lives of the social classes. Whilst you are reading your novel in the middle and want to find out more about a particular topic, simply refer to the Index and the relevant chapters.

You would enjoy the novels, and possibly Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra", and the movies "Ben-Hur", "Spartacus", "The Fall of Roman Empire", "Gladiator" even more. And "Cleopatra" and "Quo Vadis" were made movies too.

The part of Early Christianity in the latter chapters, would help you in reading the Gospels, the Acts, and letters from Paul and the disciples. In the same manner, it helps you to appreciate more in reading Christian historical fictions such as Sholem Asch "The Nazarene" "The Apostle", Thomas Costain "The Silver Chalice".

An additional recommendation is Vol 4. "Age of Faith", sole focus of which is the discussion of the religions Judaism, Christianity, Islam in the Middle Ages.

Pearls before swine.......2000-01-03

It's too bad so few people have taken the trouble to read or even review Durant. "The Story of Philosophy" was a best-seller in 1929. Tom Clancy & Patricia Cornwell (sic) get listings as long as the day is long, but Durant just gets in left in the corner ignored. It's a shame.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from Their Beginnings to A.D. 325 (Story of Civilization, No 3)

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An excellent read covering all aspects of this period of History
ANOTHER WORK OF ART
Not for everyone
All roads lead to Rome, but this is the scenic route
An enduring contribution to History

Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from Their Beginnings to A.D. 325 (Story of Civilization, No 3)
Will Durant
Manufacturer: MJF Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1567310141

Customer Reviews:

An excellent read covering all aspects of this period of History.......2006-11-08

Will Durant's "Caesar and Christ" is the third volume in his eleven volume "Story of Civilization. As the title suggests, the book covers ancient Rome from the founding of the Republic, through the rule of Caesar and Augustan (Octavian), to the transition to the Empire period. The book concludes with the rise of the early Christian Church and previews the social, political, military, and economic condition that would eventually lead to Rome's decline and fall.

The prospective reader should be warned that the title of this volume may be a bit misleading. Yes, while both Caesar and Christ are leading figures in this ancient drama, they are by no means the principal focus of the book. Rather, the book covers all facets of this period of history, including philosophy, religion, the arts and literature, economics, military, social, and political history.

Overall, I found the book to be enjoyable and informative. However, not having studied this period of history in great detail previously, I did find trying to keep up with the all the names, players, places, events, and geographies detailed in the book a bit difficult, although not impossible.

I am looking forward to volume four of the series, "The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval Civilization-Christian, Islamic, and Judaic-From Constantine to Dante: A.D. 325-1300", which will likely be very insightful and informative in understanding the current issues affecting our modern world.

ANOTHER WORK OF ART.......2005-08-03

I must admit from the start, that I am a big Durant fan, ergo, I realize that my review here will certainly be slanted. That being said, I enjoyed this third volume of Durant's life work just as much as the other volumes. Durant has the ability to make even the mundane colorful and interesting. Unlike many detailed works of history, the author's style is is more prose than technical rat-a-tat. By the time you finish this volume, you have a pretty good feel of than time and era. No history book can cover it all, but if this volume is read for what it was meant to be, a overview (a detailed one though), it is one of the best in it's genra. I highly recommend this one and the rest of this author's work.

Not for everyone.......2003-11-27

I found this difficult to read. Durant's language is very colorful, almost poetic-sounding at times. He often uses far more words than are necessary to make his point. He strikes me as an old-school writer who is more concerned with impressing his reader with his writing ability than with actually communicating his subject matter in an effective and efficient manner. Some readers will like this style and others won't. Since you can find this and most of Durant's Civilization series in any public library I will simply recommend that you preview Durant and make sure his style works for you before spending your money.

All roads lead to Rome, but this is the scenic route.......2003-10-19

Only 40 years ago, Will Durant (whose wife, Ariel, was co-author of the later books) was among the most celebrated popular historians for the multi-volume Story of Civilization. Today, he is all but obscure. (I "Googled" his name and found only a single web site where he is mentioned -- and that's the site of the foundation administered by his estate).

Wherefore has his reputation dimmed so suddenly? I imagine that even when he was alive and publishing, academic historians dismissed him with their favorite put-down, that he was a mere "synthesizer." As if that wasn't bad enough, he was widely read by non-historians!

In today's academic Dark Ages, he is no doubt beneath contempt, since he doesn't see history as defined by economic, class and gender issues (although in fact he has plenty to say about all those -- he just doesn't focus on them as though they are the beginning and end of what makes the past important). Moreover, Durant assumes the currently unthinkable on our politically correct campuses: that western civilization and Dead White Males actually have given us a great deal that has timeless value.

But, if you have shaken off (or not been subjected to) the ideology of the PC drones of academia, Durant is just the writer to make history what it was meant to be: colorful, literate, mind-stretching. This is no sugar-coated account; he discusses the ugly, cruel and unjust aspects of the Roman Republic and Empire, but balances that by examining what was good and enduring.

Of the Story of Civilization books, I have read completely only this volume on the Roman world (I'm currently reading the previous volume on Greece), but have no hesitation in saying that Caesar and Christ is the best piece of historical writing I have ever encountered, and I suspect that the whole series has many of its virtues. Although he may be a "synthesist," Durant has obviously read deeply in the ancient writers, and has seen and pondered the art and artifacts of the Roman era.

The result is prose that sings, and encompasses both the "big picture" and fascinating, out-of-the-way detail. Durant gives you a survey of the personalities, the politics, the social world, the ideas, the literature and the arts of this period that shaped the western world. Far from being a piece of bone-dry "historiography," Caesar and Christ is a grand essay in the great tradition of Gibbon. The elegance and wisdom of the writing are something to marvel at.

If you are interested in the Roman era, you will find Caesar and Christ to be enormously rewarding.

An enduring contribution to History.......2003-03-24

"Caesar and Christ" (as well as all the eleven books of the majestic History of Civilization) has marked my youth as the tenderest introduction to History I have read - showing to me, several years since that personal discovery the vicissitudes of its writing. Today the Durant's oeuvre is seldom cited as a source of scholarly written History, but he and his wife (Ariel Durant) introduced a new, pioneering method of historical presentation and analysis, exploring many paralel dimensions of philosophy, morals, science, economy around a certain episode of humane history, in an astonishing tessitura. Since his days, History has become an astonishing knowledge network, richly modulated by gender, ethnical, special issues, but it is amazing to see that the rare intellectual gifts of a single couple (Will and Ariel) make a manking's history an enchanting work of artisanship, delicious to read today as it was for me decades ago. It is an enduring contribution to History, a best written selection we must be proud of prizing in our basic readings.

Render to Caesar: Jesus, the Early Church, and the Roman Superpower

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Reads like a dissertation.
Good Citizens as Gadflies
"Our Citizenship is in Heaven."

Render to Caesar: Jesus, the Early Church, and the Roman Superpower
Christopher Bryan
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195183347

Book Description

At the end of the 20th century, "postcolonialism" described the effort to understand the experience of those who had lived under colonial rule. This kind of thinking has inevitably brought about a reexamination of the rise of Christianity, which took place under Roman colonial rule. How did Rome look from the viewpoint of an ordinary Galilean in the first century of the Christian era? What should this mean for our own understanding of and relationship to Jesus of Nazareth? In the past, Jesus was often "depoliticized," treated as a religious teacher imparting timeless truths for all people. Now, however, many scholars see Jesus as a political leader whose goal was independence from Roman rule so that the people could renew their traditional way of life under the rule of God. In Render to Caesar, Christopher Bryan reexamines the attitude of the early Church toward imperial Rome. Choosing a middle road, he asserts that Jesus and the early Christians did indeed have a critique of the Roman superpower -- a critique that was broadly in line with the entire biblical and prophetic tradition. One cannot worship the biblical God, the God of Israel, he argues, and not be concerned about justice in the here and now. On the other hand, the biblical tradition does not challenge human power structures by attempting to dismantle them or replace them with other power structures. Instead, Jesus' message consistently confronts such structures with the truth about their origin and purpose. Their origin is that God permits them. Their purpose is to promote God's peace and justice. Power is understood as a gift from God, a gift that it is to be used to serve God's will and a gift that can be taken away by God when misused. Render to Caesar transforms our understanding of early Christians and their relationship to Rome and demonstrates how Jesus' teaching continues to challenge those who live under structures of government quite different from those that would have been envisaged by the authors of the New Testament.

Customer Reviews:

Reads like a dissertation. .......2007-07-18

I disagree with the other reviewers. This book reads like a disseration, I give it just two stars. Let me quote from page seven as an example, "how far can techniques of analysis that were developed in connection with the post-Enlightment colonial -- to be precise, postcolonial- experience of cultures formerly subject to nineteenth and twentieth century Western domination properly be applied to the ancient, largely Mediterranean world of the Roman Empire?"

I'm never really sure that what the author wants the reader to learn about Roman imperialism and how it relates Western imperialism. He never pulls out that WWJD (What Would Jesus Do)question with respect to modern imperialism. Without that, the reference to Western imperialism is meaningless. It just sits there.

There are also spurious references to slavery and the obvious point that slaves (or the vanquished) don't write history. Hey, I learned that through watching Star Trek.

I did find enlightening that Christianity NEEDED the Roman Empire (does that make imperialism good?). Till I read this book, I never realzied how that without the security (safe roads, safe harbors etc.) of the Roman Empire Christianity would not have spread so quickly.

The author also educated me on the nuances of the power structure between the Jewish establishment and the Roman Empire (as best as that power structure can be ascertained).

Also, on several theological points, the author takes a reasonable, middle ground. He will say biblical scholar so and so said such and such, while scholar so and so wrote the opposite. He convincingly writes why the middle ground (his position) is correct.

While there is something to be gained here, unless you are well-versed in the subject matter and really want to put your thinking cap on, I would chose something else for my free reading.

Good Citizens as Gadflies.......2006-05-09

One popular picture of Jesus back in the Sixties was "Jesus the Revolutionary," a sort of a "preincarnation" of Che Guevara whose attempt to overthrow Roman rule ended on a Roman Cross. This is the thesis of the Sixties era Trial of Jesus of Nazareth by S.G.F. Brandon, and it resonated on the college campuses of the Vietnam Era.

Bryan sets out to show the opposite: that Christ and Christians wanted for the most part to be good citizens of the Roman Empire, which they saw as ordained by God. But their stubborn refusal to participate in the rituals of state sponsored paganism and Caesar worship ran afoul of the law and repeatedly got them into hot water.

Whereas Brandon's book rode the tide of Sixties sentiment, Bryan's goes against the modern flow. In this postmodern era it is first degree political incorrectness to fasten responsibility for Jesus crucifixion on the Jewish authorities, but Bryan in effect does just that. He points out that the earliest Jewish sources on the subject name the "leading men" of the Jews as Jesus' prosecutors. He then makes the case that the Sanhedrin was not evil--merely a group of ordinary men trying to achieve a workable solution to the thorny problem Jesus presented.

Bryan makes a convincing case that Jesus and the early Christians were not revolutionaries in the mode of Che Guevara, seeking to replace bad government with misrule, but reformers in the mode of Martin Luther King, Jr., supportive of the government, but seeking to have it amend inequities in the way it ruled.

He further makes two salient points that should inform all Bible study, and indeed all historical study. 1. We should be careful that we do not retroject Twenty First Century sensibilities into the First Century world, and 2. The authors of the Gospels and Epistles most likely meant what they said and quite probably knew what they were talking about.

"Our Citizenship is in Heaven.".......2005-11-11

Professor Christopher Bryan clearly, cogently, and concisely explains or amplifies this Pauline notion of citizenship (Phil 3:20) by pointing out that "the biblical tradition challenges human power structures not by attempting to dismantle them or replace them with other human power structures but by consistently confronting them with the truth about their origin and purpose." "The prophetic tradition," he insists, "subverts the `powers that be' by insisting at every point that they should do their job" (p. 9; his emphases; cf. Jer 29:7). Bryan's argument-which he corroborates by substantial and fair-minded scholarship-is, in many ways, a study of another Pauline text which instructs us that the state "is a servant of God for your good" (Rom 13:4). Carefully grounding his argument in ancient texts as well as refined biblical exegesis, Bryan is at pains to explain the roots of the enduring tension which exists between "Caesar" and "God," between Christians who live in an "already" but also in a "not yet" (see p. 128-meaning that we have been redeemed but we are still exiles meant to "work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling" [Phil 2:12]).
If I were to choose a single passage which reflects the book's well-constructed thesis, this would be it: "Jesus does not question the authority of the pagan Caesar, within the spheres that God has allotted to him . . . , but still he sets that authority firmly within the sphere of God's overarching providence and power: `Render to God the things that are God's' (Mark 12:13-17; compare John 19:11). Caesar, like all who rule from Pharaoh onward, would ignore or oppose that providence at his peril" (p. 51). Political decision and debate are always squarely within, and necessarily informed by, moral tradition. Some of Bryan's readers, by the way, will be prompted to recall the best work of Eric Voegelin.
This necessarily brief review would, if it could, defend Bryan against the slings and arrows which will come his way, for he will, at points and places, no doubt be misconstrued, perhaps even malevolently. For instance, he does not say that we have no king but Caesar (cf. John 19:15c); he does not say that Christ was uninterested in how power is used (p. 127); he does not say that Paul was absorbed in a fight to end Roman rule (pp. 93, 105); and he does not say that God's will can never be fulfilled by violence (128). These convictions are, of course, out of step with the procrustean view of certain tendentious theologians who insist, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, that we owe nothing to the state, that Christ had only contempt for politics generally and for Rome particularly, that Paul was an insurrectionist, and that applied military power is always evil. In fact a key argument of his is that "Luke more than any other of the evangelists appears to be saying that Jesus' unjust condemnation comes about not because Pilate is Roman, but because of Pilate's failure to uphold Roman order (Luke 23:3-16)" (p. 101). Similarly, he contends that "there is scarcely any evidence at all . . . that Jesus or his followers regarded themselves or were regarded as security threats" (p. 115; cf. p. 63). It is, he says, "as a false prophet that Jesus is reviled (Mark 14:64-65; Matt. 26:66-68; Luke 22:63-65). And false prophets are to die (Deut. 18:20)" (p. 59).
In an argument that will remind some of Augustine or even, in some measure, of Niebuhr (perhaps of both Reinhold and H. Richard), Bryan makes a strong case that failure "to use one's gifts and powers, to act as if one did not have them or was not responsible for them, is merely to `bury' them, and that is to incur God's wrath (Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27)" (p. 127). One regrets only that Bryan chose to confine some of his most discerning analysis (references to Dante and expanded commentary about King Lear) to the notes (see pp. 172-173). Professor Bryan may not be familiar with the writings of the late international relations theorist Hans J. Morgenthau, but Morgenthau was a scholar who would have understood Bryan's arguments about both power and purpose, about might and right. Similarly, Vatican Council II, in Gaudium et Spes, held that "It follows also that political authority, both in the community as such and in the representative bodies of the state, must always be exercised within the limits of the moral order and directed toward the common good--with a dynamic concept of that good--according to the juridical order legitimately established or due to be established. When authority is so exercised, citizens are bound in conscience to obey. Accordingly, the responsibility, dignity and importance of leaders are indeed clear" (74, 4; cf. 1 Pt 2:11-17). Bryan may also be unaware of this passage, but it seems entirely consonant with (and rather a fair summary of) the arguments he has developed with great skill in this extraordinarily well-done volume. It deserves a wide and attentive audience.

Jesus Was Caesar: On the Julian Origin of Christianity: An Investigative Report

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Valuable insights into the origins of "ancient" history and religion.
space cowboy
Julian revelations
Carotta and Atwill. Modern detectives.
Key essential data couched in off-base explanatory framework

Jesus Was Caesar: On the Julian Origin of Christianity: An Investigative Report
Francesco Carotta
Manufacturer: Aspekt B V Uitgeverij
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 9059113969

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Valuable insights into the origins of "ancient" history and religion........2006-02-28

A highly interesting and provocative thesis exploring the origins of Christianity. The only element that is lacking is the realization that the Gospel story is an allegory on the yearly journey of the Sun around the signs of the Zodiac and that the Passion is an allegory on the yearly death and resurrection of the Sun around the winter solstice - see my review of Acharya S: "The Christ Conspiracy" -. However, if we bring in this element and the thesis of Fomenko - that all of "ancient" history (including religion) was invented during the Renaissance - see my review of Fomenko's "History: Fiction or science?" - we gain valuable insights into how the inventors/forgers went to work. First, given the similiarities between the Passion of Jesus and the Passion of Caesar, we must conclude that Caesar wasn't an historical person either: his murder is also a parody on the events at the winter solstice. Second, the similiarites between the Gospel account leading up to the Passion - note that in the synoptic gospels this period is just one year - and Caesar's Civil War indicate that both stories may derive from a common precursor, which is again based on the journey of the Sun around the Zodiac.
Then the following picture emerges: in the Middle Ages, the celestial drama at the winter solstice was played out on earth in the form of a mystery/Passion play, with either a deity or a deified ruler playing the Sun. Subsequently - after the invention of the printing press in the 15th century - stories were put to prose dealing with the journey of the Sun around the Zodiac; these stories took the form of either a journey - Odyssey, Argonauts, Jesus going to Jerusalem, etc. -, a quest - the 12 labors of Hercules, the Holy Grail/Arthurian stuff - or a war - Civil War, Jewish War -. Finally, link a Passion play - rewritten in prose - to a prose story, mix it with all kind of other stuff, and you obtain a Gospel. Take care to destroy - burn at the stake - all variant mystery plays - even better, forbid any mystery play at all - and variant stories, and force people on pain of gruesome torture and excecution to believe the "new religion", and finally we know how Christianity came about.

space cowboy.......2005-11-10

Jesus was Caesar? Please. It's like hip hop. Still today nobody knows hip hops origins. I like how people think its a black american movement, when its beginning was excessively multicultural. Please it began in NY. The most culturally diverse city ever. Even rich kids where pioneers. Hip hop is like Christianity. It's beginnings where extremely positive and fruitful, some say a Divine intervention. Then people start to own it and put it in a box. They change it and try to make it tangible. People can't believe in something higher than themselves. (kipa) They use hip hop to make money and use it for political gain. They use HIP HOP in efforts to become immortal. Squeezing it dry. Welcome to the state of hip hop todays "ROME". Hip hop will be used for evil completely the opposite reason it was created. They will succeed (if not already) to kill hip hop. But I prophecies that After that day Hip hop will rise from the dead and bring to light its truest nature. Because after all said and done there is only one truth. So Mr. Carotta congratulations on adding just one more layer to the story of Jesus. I respect your effort in trying to find truth, but make sure you find it. I agree that the story of Jesus might have been distorted to fit Caesars ego, like the Catholic church does so well, but that IS the TRUTH, Jesus was distorted by Romans not invented by Romans. The human experience in history is too real, intellectuals tend to separate themselves from the human element, casting a sterol distorted view.

Julian revelations.......2005-10-19

Some stories, may they be fictious or real, become successful all around the globe, adaptable to any cultural surroundings: tales like "Pinocchio", films like "The Godfather", real-life stories like that of Oscar Schindler, scientific revolutions like Einstein's theories of relativity, catastrophes like the 2004 Tsunami, religious narrations like those found in the New Testament. Why? Because they comprise the basic rules for telling a story: they are fascinating, interesting, compelling, unique, understandable and universal. Successful stories have a common and basic aesthetic and social value, because they tell you something about life as a human...and they tend to stay simple and focused in their emotional and intellectual contents. Good stories as well as major turning points in history will make you forget the chaotic complexity of earthly life, because they reduce and transcend existence to a brilliant, airy, clear, majestic and spherical order.

In the course of history, successful stories have always undergone cultural transformations and adaptations, and poignant historical events have always had far reaching consequences. In the 1950s the German theologian Ethelbert Staufer discovered that the Christian Easter liturgy isn't based on genuine Christian sources, but on the funeral ceremony and passion of Caius Iulius Caesar, the founder of modern civilization. This ceremony is one of the most important events in the history of mankind, for it decided not only on the fate of the Roman Empire, but the fate of Christianity, Europe and the whole world. An improvised funeral service, driven by a wide range of deep emotions from sorrow to love, from remorse to fury, turned into uproar and insurrection, shaped Rome for all times and sealed Caesar's apotheosis to the highest god of the state, Divus Iulius. A few generations later Caesar's stories, among them Asinius Pollio's "Historiae", were still being told, the god Iulius still being worshipped, especially in the Eastern colonies, where many of his veterans had settled after the Civil War. There, in a different cultural context, the story was altered, adapted, incorrectly translated, misinterpretated, supplemented with appropriate passages from the Biblia Iudaica, but nonetheless understood: its core and ethics were preserved, and after the Jewish War Christianity suddenly surfaced and swept into western Rome. Soon afterwards the Julian religion was extinct and forgotten.

In the book "Jesus was Caesar" by linguist and philosopher Francesco Carotta, Ethelbert Staufer's findings are anything but a coincidence, rather a logical result from a historical momentum and from cultural-dynamical phenomena, which Carotta reveals in a scientific tour-de-force rollercoaster ride. "Jesus was Caesar" is a praiseworthy and highly learned work of daring excellence. This is not some borderline esoteric pap, but a gritty and witty report that never loses its scientific seriousness. The reader will embark on a journey into the Roman womb of Christendom, where astounding parallels between the lives of Jesus Christ and Iulius Caesar are revealed. Strange enough, although Carotta finally presents to us the historical Jesus in overwhelming grandezza, orthodox scientists, believers and even atheists hate (and fear) this work, which has been available in other languages since 1999, because it is not a theory at all, but a huge cluster of historical, archeological, numismatic, cultural, theological and linguistic facts and accords. Moreover, "Jesus was Caesar" is the ever first, truly integral design on the origin of Christianity and the roots of the Christ, far beyond the mere myth that is being preached in our churches. As Jesus/Iulius did, this book will eventually change the world...if, yes, IF Francesco Carotta is right. Since this is highly probable, scientists and non-scientists, believers and non-believers are starting to feel comfortable with Carotta's findings. His book was once said to be of the same order of importance as the scientific discoveries of Galileo and Copernicus...and if this is all just a scientific hoax, it will still go down in history as one of the greatest and most thoroughly conceived pieces of art. Either way, it's a "must read".

Carotta and Atwill. Modern detectives........2005-06-22

Another reviewer finished his review with "Why not a Jesus from space"? These investigations demonstrate that very point: there WAS NO Jesus from space and the Biblical Jesus is not the person organized religion portrays. Are ALL of these parallels coincidence? Of course not!

Read both Carlotta and Atwill with an open mind. My opinion is that the truth about Christianity is peeping out after thousands of years of church cover-up and miscopied texts. It's about time. Arguing that the earth is less than ten millennia old is like calling nipples on men an example of intelligent design.

Key essential data couched in off-base explanatory framework.......2005-05-13

Carotta's book Jesus Was Caesar provides a major valuable contribution to recovering the history of formation of the Jesus figure by providing a thorough inventory of the parallels between the divinized Julius Caesar figure and the gospel Jesus Christ figure. His contributions abruptly halt there. His theory of parallels, his interpretation of the ramifications of the parallels, and his underlying model of the motivations for the parallels are completely incorrect, off-base, and purely misleading -- he's on the wrong track there.

This, by an author who has been a software developer, is one of those works that is like the memorable quip about the Apple Newton PDA (personal digital assistant): "It seems to have been made by a team consisting of a genius and an idiot." Because Carotta's work amounts to a useful inventory of parallels combined with a completely unsound interpretation of the ramifications of the parallels, because the book is completely distorted in such manner, the critiques of the book are typically distorted and off-base as well: they too are based on an entirely off-base model, theory, and interpretation of the ramifications of the parallels.

His useful inventory of parallels amounts to a set of data to be explained and fit into an explanatory framework. His explanatory framework for the data-set he discovered is completely incorrect. The following fallacies constitute his explanatory framework for the data in question:

o The Jesus figure was formed by repeated accidental miscopying.

Actually, the Jesus figure was a masterful deliberate creation. This point aligns with Atwill's book Caesar's Messiah, showing why one must read multiple books, views, and perspectives -- each one a mixture of insight and misleading distortion -- to piece together a viable explanatory framework.

o Jesus did exist historically. He was Caesar.

Actually, the Jesus figure was skillfully and deliberately crafted as a strategic modification of the divinized Caesar figure. It is arbitrary and meaningless, misleading and a poor description of the situation, to say that since the Jesus figure derives from the Caesar figure, this amounts to the historicity of Jesus.

o Jesus simply derives from a single figure, Julius Caesar.

Actually, the Jesus figure derives from around 100 figures -- combinations of real historical individuals, legends, mythic savior figures, mythic heroic figures, and so on.

o The Julius Caesar life-story as written-up basically constitutes historical fact.

Actually, the Julius Caesar life-story as written-up constitutes a blend of elements in standard ancient and Hellenistic mode, in which themes from the political domain were deliberately intermixed with themes from the mythic and religious domain.

The essential weakness of the book has nothing to do with the soundness of each parallel Carotta lists. Critics who attempt to disvalue the book on the basis of calling into question these claimed parallels are on the essentially wrong trail. The real substantial and significant weakness of the book is Carotta's interpretive and explanatory framework that he presents along with the set of parallels he has discovered and inventoried.

A sound explanatory framework for the data Carotta discovered -- the parallels between the figures of Jesus and Caesar -- is that the Jesus figure was deliberately and strategically crafted as a figurative and allegorical response, understood and recognized as a figurative response, to how the divinized Julius figure was used for the Roman imperial sociopolitical system.

The Jesus figure was created as a figurative response to how the divinized Julius figure was used for the Roman imperial sociopolitical system. It is entirely off-base to couch the data in the explanatory framework summarized in the title "Jesus Was Caesar".

Jesus Was Caesar? No -- not at all in the way Carotta describes. Jesus was a figurative response to how the Roman Empire used the figure of Julius as justification for its sociopolitical system.

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Caesar And Christ Part 1 Of 2
Will Durant , and Ariel
Manufacturer: Books on Tape, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 073662855X

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Part One Of Two Parts

Volume 3 of the monumental Story of Civilization, CAESAR AND CHRIST depicts the rise of Rome from a crossroads town to empire. The world's first republic, Rome spread its civilization over the Mediterranean and western European world. Its long, slow crumbling and final collapse plunged Europe into darkness and chaos.

The Pax Romana broke some heads. Jews felt the scourge in Judea, where Jesus of Nazareth met a dissident's death. His agony foreshadowed the Empire's over the next few centuries.

"Lively, stimulating and accurate." (Saturday Review of Literature)

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Caesar and Christ, The Story of Civilization, part III. A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from their Beginnings to AD 325
Will Durant
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000GSOX9K

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caesar and Christ
Will Durant
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0207942226

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Christ and Caesar in Modern Korea

A noble attempt fails to provide even-handed approach

Christ and Caesar in Modern Korea (Suny Series in Korean Studies)
Wi Jo Kang
Manufacturer: SUNY Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0791432483
Release Date: 2007-08-28

Book Description

A well-documented work on the history of modern Korea focusing on the history of Christianity in relation to politics.

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Christ and Caesar in Modern Korea.......1999-12-20

This is by far the best book on this topic available today. Dr. Kang has accurately captured religion during a period that has not been well documented. Anyone interested in learning more about the modern history of Korea must read this definitive work.

A noble attempt fails to provide even-handed approach.......1998-12-22

Mr. W. J. Kang, in the Chirst and Caesar in Modern Korea, tackled a subject which is very difficult to find in English language: Korean Christianity. More specifically, as the title suggests, Mr. Kang attempted to explore and discuss the development of Korean Christianity in political perspective. While his effort was noble and provided an invaluable service, the book suffers seriously from lack of original research and even-handed view of Korean Christianity. While conveying the political-activism of some South Korean Christians in the political reform, democratization, and reunification, Kang lumps a very diverse Christian groups in South Korea into one lump, giving the reader a very biased impression. Contrary to Kang's proposition, many of various politically active Christian groups and figures were and are outside of Korea's mainstream religious organizations. Kang's descritive narration of the history of Korean Christianity leaves anyone who has any knowledge of Korean Christianity with little insight. In addition, Kang, in his last chapter, states based on hearsay, that there are 5000 to 10,000 Christians in North Korea. As a Korea specialist, I find this sort of conjectures by the author, not only irresponsible but also misleading, as the North Korea's oppressive regime has systematically persecuted and outlawed any independent religion in North Korea. Had the author referred to Amnesty International's report on North Korea, he would have found the North Korea's official figures of North Korean Christians highly problematic, if not blatantly false. His enthusiasm for promoting reunification of Korea through religious cooperation seriously undermines his study. Moreover, Kang painstakingly tries to reconcile the fundamental Christian belief of One God with North Korea's Chuch'e Ideology and the personality worship of Kim Il-song and Kim Chong-il: "This anthropocentric political philosophy is an arrogant philosophy of humanism, placing human beings as the center and basis of all the judgement of human life and the world...However, Christians do take human justice and justification seriously. It was Christ himself who broke the Sabbath law of the Old Testament for the well-being of humanity..(p.162)" The author's justification of the North Korean regime which has imprisoned tens of thousands on trumped-up charges and other political/religious convictions under the Chuch'e Ideology (which the author ridiculously compares with Christianity) will baffle any reasonable reader. Furthermore, Kang portrays the 1994 nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula solely at the feet of US and South Korea. His lack of balanced view and deeper understanding of the issues involved left me speech-less. In sum, while the book, in general, is filled with important historical discussion, it suffers greatly from the author's own political agenda and bias.

The Story of Civilization: Part 111, Caesar and Christ

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The Story of Civilization: Part 111, Caesar and Christ

Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster, NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000G7KYNU

Product Description

752 pp hardcover of Will Durant's The Story of Civilization: Part 111, Caesar and Christ, A History of Roman Civization and of Christianity from their beginnings to A.D. 325. Boards deep red cloth with gilt lettering and drawing on front cover. Insider covers are detailed maps of Ancient Rome. Illustrated and indexed, Pages Clean, firm, no marks Minor shelf war bottom of spine & bottom corners. Great source book.

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