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Originally Posted by Difflugia
The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord's Prayer by John Dominic Crossan is $1.99.
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For those who are not familiar with John Dominic Crossan . . . . he may be best known as a prominent member of, and sometimes spokesman for, the Jesus Seminar. The Jesus Seminar, which was active in the 1980's and 90's, ostensibly had the goal of determining what the real, "historical" Jesus actually said and did. The historical Jesus, in their minds, stands in contrast to the "Christ of faith," which is the one that is described in the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).
They concluded (although it seems to me that this conclusion was a foregone conclusion, because of the presuppositions, beliefs, and bent of those who participated) that much of what the Gospels said about Jesus--what he said and did--didn't really happen. One aspect that they seemed to take umbrage to was the accounts of supernatural acts--miracles--by Jesus. They would believe that those were ascribed to Jesus by "the community" (of Christians) years after Jesus lived. Furthermore, they would believe that many of the words that the Gospels said that Jesus spoke actually were put into his mouth by that community, too. The words of Jesus that they would especially believe to unauthentic would be any in which Jesus stated or implied that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, etc.
Crossan agrees with the conclusions of the Seminar, conclusions which make Jesus essentially a mere, ordinary man (although exceptional in non-miraculous ways). Interestingly, however, Crossan has written what seems like an endless number of books on this Jesus, reflecting an obsession that is hard to explain given his view of Jesus.
I'm not discouraging you from purchasing or reading the book, but I do feel that it is important to make you aware of his viewpoint about Jesus. What he says in the book surely is going to reflect that viewpoint.