Synopses & Reviews
I have spent thirty years reconstructing the historical Jesus. I have done so self-consciously and self-critically and have tried to do the same on reconstructing myself. But what justifies this memoir is how my own personal experience, from Ireland to America, from priest to professor, from monastery to university, and ... from celibacy to marriage, may have influenced that reconstruction. Where has it helped me see what others have not, and where has it made invisible to me what others find obvious?-from A Long Way from Tipperary
From his upbringing in Ireland to front-page coverage in the New York Times and mention in cover stories in Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report, John Dominic Crossan-who has courageously pioneered the contemporary quest for the historical Jesus-has dared to go his own way. In this candid and engaging memoir, the world's foremost Jesus scholar reveals what he has discovered over a lifetime of open-eyed, fearless exploration of God, Jesus, Christianity, and himself. Crossan shares his provocative thinking on such issues as how one can be a Christian without going to church; whether God is vengeful, or just, or both; and why Jesus is more like Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. than like the Pope or Jerry Falwell.
Raised in the traditional Irish Catholic Church, Crossan inherited a faith that was "accepted fully and internalized completely but undiscussed, uninvestigated, and uncriticized." A dauntless spirit whose imagination was ignited not by piety but by the lure and challenge of adventure, he became a monk to travel and explore the world, unaware that his most thrilling quests would be scholarly and spiritual. "God had going the best adventure around," Crossan confesses.
Because he could never subject his theological convictions and historical findings to the restrictions of the Church, Crossan chose to leave the monastery and priesthood. Speaking of this time in his life, Crossan writes, "Not even a vow of obedience could make me sing a song I did not hear." But he never abandoned the Roman Catholic community or tradition and never lost his faith. He has devoted his life and career to a reexamination of what he calls "necessary open-heart surgery on Christianity itself."
About the Author
John Dominic Crossan was born in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, Ireland in 1934. He was educated in Ireland at Maynooth College, in Rome at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and in Jerusalem at the Ecole Biblique.
Crossan was a member of the 13th-century Roman Catholic religious order, the Servites, from 1950 to 1969 and an ordained priest from 1957 to 1969. He taught at DePaul University for 25 years and held a visiting professorship at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts. He has been a guest lecturer at many distinguished universities including the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. He was co-director of the Jesus Seminar from 1985-1996 and chair of the Historical Jesus Section of the Society of Biblical Literature from 1992-1998.
He has contributed articles and reviews for dozens of journals and has written 18 books over the last 30 years. The Birth of Christianity was a Publishers Weekly 1998 "best book of the year" while all four of his most recent -- The Historical Jesus, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, Who Killed Jesus and The Birth of Christiantiy --were national bestsellers for a combined total of 22 months. In a recent book, Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts, Crossan joins a brilliant archaeologist to illuminate the life and teaching of Jesus against the background of his world. He has received numerous academic awards over the years including the American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in Religious Studies and the Via Sapientiae Award, DePaul University's highest honor.
The list of his print, radio, and television interviews and reviews takes up over 13 full pages. Crossan's interviews include The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, National Public Radio's "Fresh Air", Larry King Live and he will be featured in the upcoming ABC special "The Search for Jesus" with Peter Jennings on Monday, June 26th 2000, 9:00-11:00 p.m. (ET).
He lives with his wife Sarah near Orlando, Florida.