I really, really enjoyed the first half of this book. The second half, however, took a very odd turn for a Catholic writer...

I definitely agree that Jesus didn't intend to make any political statements/begin political movements. But a Catholic writer saying that he didn't intend to start a church? Seems a little odd to me. I also think he really hated on Pope Benedict; I wasn't the largest fan of him, but he really seemed to dislike him.

So I'm now confused about where I stand on this author.

Re-read this from the great historian, journalist, and essayist Garry Wills and it didn’t have the same oomph post-“Zealot” or with more recent journalism, but … but … what a mind Wills had and on a personal note, what a great college prof and study-study-study role model for a journalist.

Wills has no idea what Jesus meant. Reading this book makes one suspect he's never read the new Testament. Anyone who publishes three pages of unattributed Internet urban legend twaddle as scholarly fact deserves to be trashed.

Beautifully written and insightful interpretation of the mission of Jesus!

I greatly enjoyed reading this well crafted book about the mission of Jesus and the resulting religions that emerged. The author exposes the errors of religious leaders, in their hunger for command and control of the growing movement that was preached as The Way to atonement with God, by the first Apostles. Mr. Wills carefully presents a serious and insightful interpretation of what and why Jesus said, and what the deeper meanings are.

Although he arrives at the same intellectual conclusions that most traditional Christian thinkers have, his journey is well worth reading and sharing, so I gave it 5 stars! Every sincere aspirant to what Christ really means should read this.
@WLIngramAuthor

A provocative and stimulating portrayal of the words and deeds of Jesus by a learned man with an obviously deep and thoughtful faith. Wills presents us with Jesus as the radical extremist who railed against ritual, priests, social and ethnic divisions, pride of place and the promises of politics. He is the Jesus who sought out the scoundrels, the unclean, and the outcast of his times and had no time for the proud elite. For Wills, the Messiah began the Reign of God at His Incarnation and confirmed it by His Death and Resurrection. His Reign continues to this day and cannot be owned by any one church or community, by no pastor or pope. At the end of the ages, when all will be made clear, one law will matter and that is the law of love. At the Judgment of the Nations, God will ask not who we are but what we did for those who needed us. What Jesus meant, despite all its apparent complexity, boils down to the very simple message of Matthew 25: 31-46. This is not a book solely for faithful Christians. Even those readers who have no particular faith will find much to contemplate within its pages.

In short, the author analyzes the Gospels and interprets the meanings of various important events, especially those of the Passion of Christ. I was especially interested in his views on how the Catholics church as a whole has diverged greatly from its roots. He goes so far as to say that we have once again become the people that Jesus came to change in the first place. Our ways, our beliefs, and our attitudes have all digressed to such that Jesus would not even recognize modern Christianity as his own.
A very interesting read with compelling arguments.

For those of you who love politics...and those of you who know precisely what Jesus meant when he said what he said...you need to read this book. Really good...and makes the meme I saw just now about feeding the poor even more sarcastic than it was meant. Wills "tells it like it is"....at least in his opinion as a practicing Catholic who studied for the priesthood and apparently has a really hard time with Pope Benedict.

For the time being, I'm going to give Gary Wills' masterful exegesis of Jesus's ministry a 4-star rating. After I read Wills' What Paul Meant, I want to reread What Jesus Meant. Not only does Wills give us penetrating insights, but his writing style is clear, straight-forward, and concise. I would even call his style of writing muscular, although I am not exactly sure what I mean by that. I might upgrade my rating after a second reading.

Amor y Caridad e Iglesia?

Es claro que el autor cree en Dios y esta a favor de vivir con amor y caridad. No me queda clara su opinion o actitud para con la Iglesia Católica.

I liked how Wills made you think about certain aspects of the church but I didn't like how he plainly stated this is the way things should be because I said so. Research why the church does what it does and then explain it using those reasons.

On the whole I enjoyed reading this book. It certainly presented a few new ways of looking at certain passages of Scripture. However, I do have a few issues with it.

Willis, near the beginning, decries those such as Thomas Jefferson who tried to remove anything smacking of the super-natural (miracles, healing, the Resurrection, etc.) and in that I agree with him, but he then proceeds to symbolically interpret almost every miracle event in the gospels. "Satan" is merely a symbolic representation of collective human badness; "Hell" is merely the fact that Jesus felt abandoned on the cross; the virgin birth, Mary being faithful; the temptations in the desert, Jesus' early years being trained (inexplicably) by the Essenes and then Jon the Baptist (remember Satan doesn't exist); those "possessed" were merely sick; and so on. I was a bit curious as to how he would explain the Resurrection, but that managed to be the one super-natural event he retains; why, I don't know.

He presents a Jesus who is anti-clerical, anti-liturgy, anti-religion; basically a mix of pietistic Quaker and "spiritual" hippie. He denies the validity of any Church (let alone the Roman Catholic Church), states that apostolic succession is a lie, that there is no Real Presence in the Sacrament (he doesn't even give baptism the time of day), etc. The strange thing is that this comes from a man who considers himself a Roman Catholic, and even has written a book entitled (apparently somewhat ironically) Why I am Catholic, which he doesn't seem to be at all.

Now, do not misunderstand me. I am not a "bible literalist" and agree that many of the stories in the Bible should be taken on a metaphorical level. What bothers me, then, is that, to me, Willis appears to do exactly what e spends a chapter condemning others of: namely creating a "Jesus" that sounds remarkably like he is. As a theologian, I can safely say that one should ALWAYS beware of a "Jesus" who agrees it you in every way.

So, worth a read, but probably not more than one.

A deeply moving and faith-affirming book. If you regard yourself as a Christian, you need to read this book. It strips down our faith to its most essential and most radical elements in simple, accessible prose.