Jesus Among Other Gods The Absolute Claims Of The Christian Message | Ravi Zacharias

Jesus Among Other Gods The Absolute Claims Of The Christian Message | Ravi Zacharias | One of the Best Contemporary Treatment of Christ

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Jesus Among Other ...

	Jesus Among Other Gods The Absolute Claims Of The Christian Message Ravi Zacharias, 2002 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 70 reviews view larger image
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Excellent, Intelligent Reading

I really got a lot out of this book. It is refreshing to hear someone with high intellect and first hand experience dealing with the various religions to expound on this subject. Ravi Zacharias KNOWS his stuff and critics of his book more than likely haven't done the superb in-depth studying that he has on this topic. It is well worth the time to read, if you really want to know more about the various religions and what is really behind them . I would suggest that if this book makes one angry, that most likely it is because the truth often stings. Highly recommended reading!

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One of the Best Contemporary Treatment of Christ

Ravi is sharp and brilliant. As a Christian apologist, opponents dare not challenge this God-anointed servant. His debating prowess is wonderfully tempered in this volume with great research and insight into the life of the One who is called Jesus of Nazareth, our coming King.

Many cudoes for this volume. Yes,Jesus among Other gods should be read over and over.

A unique perspective

I find Mr. Zacharias work to be very passionate and on the point. If you look at his background you will see that he was raised in a multi-religous and multi-cultural enviroment. I think he offers a very unique perspective to western thinkers and has in fact helped me address some questions of my own.

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Doesn't address the foundation

I was given this by a Christian friend. We are trading books back and forth and exploring spirituality. I can completely see how this book speaks to the individual who already accepts all tenants of the christian faith. He is a good writer and is clearly passionate. However, sometimes passion can get in the way of reason.

Most of my issues with the book have already been addressed in other reviews. However, a central fact the author assumes to be true is that Jesus did, in fact, claim to be God. His bible quotes come almost exclusively from John, a gospel that many scholars view as the least authoritative. This gospel was chosen by Iraneous in, I believe, the late 2nd century as *the* correct view of Christ's meaning. All others were squashed.

In order for one to fully look at this book with the criticism any similar work requires, one must first explore the source which the author so often cites. Hence, I encourage readers to look at Elaine Pagels' "Beyond Belief." I'm not saying everything she writes is true, but she gives an excellent historical account of how the early church developed - something any seeker (christian or otherwise) should come to understand. Remember, history is written by the winners. That doesn't always make what is written the truth.

Enjoy your journey...

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loosely stuctured and anecdotal

Three years ago I was at a crossroads, wondering if there was more to the Christian faith than the fact that my parents believed it. At that time a friend of mine gave me (among other books) Can Man Live Without God (also by Ravi Zacharias). At that time, that book was very important in helping me ask some of the right questions and begin to look for some answers. Since then I've heard many of Ravi's radio programs, seen a DVD of his, and just recently that same friend passed Jesus Among Other Gods along to me. Frankly, I didn't connect with this one very well. Perhaps I carried expectations into reading this that weren't met (I tried not to), but I don't think it really helped me very much. Perhaps I'm not the intended audience. The back cover states that he "contrasts the truth of Jesus with the founders of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism." This turned out to be a very minor aspect of the book. For each chapter Ravi takes a main idea reagarding Jesus and then collects a wide variety of illustrations, anecdotes, and loosely argued logical points, to try to illuminate that main idea. I just didn't find this approach very satisfying. The philosophy was very loosely incorporated, and the logic was very informal. Most of the time it seemed as if I couldn't really follow the train of his thought very clearly with the stories and examples tacked one after the other with a concluding paragraph as an attempt to tie it all together. Also, for someone who knows their Bible well, there wasn't a whole lot of incredible insight. There were definitely some gems tucked away, and it was especially great to get a glimpse of a few of the ways what Jesus said and did can be interpreted from an eastern mindset.

Perhaps this has more to do with style than anything else. Lately I've found myself drifting away from the romantic stream of Christian thought that includes Chesterton and Lewis, and I think Ravi Zacharias draws heavily from this stream.

One other thing stuck out to me, because I've been studying this issue quite a bit lately. I don't necessarily use this as a litmus test when evaluating authors, and I had already developed my opinion of the book by the time I reached this point (170 out of 190 pages), but it's interesting to note, nonetheless:

"Tragically, naturalism (in which all reality is explained in natural terms) and theism have collided in these opening verses of the Bible. Instead of understanding the intention and the context of those to whom the revelation was given, the naturalist mocks the Bible's description of God's act of creation as bereft of scientific sophistication. On the other extreme is the theist who tries to make the record of creation look like a cosmologist's dissertation and then struggles to defend it. No portion of scripture ever claims to be a piece of scientifically technical material, intended to satisfy a technician's mind. I have repeatedly heard popular iconoclasts ridicule the ancient belief that the earth was flat and the belief that the world was created in 4004 B.C., declaring these assertions to be taught in the Bible. They never pause to prove their point by showing you where they have read that in the Bible." (168)

"In the same manner as that small-town [Scopes] trial, we bring this prejudice to Genesis and think that we are capable of deciding whether God acted in six days or through fifteen billion years. That was not the intention at all." (171)

To say the least, I was very disappointed to read this, thinking Ravi to be much too intelligent to misunderstand young earth creationism to the point of caricaturing it this badly. On the other "extreme"? Equivalent to the belief in a flat earth (with the same amount of scriptural support)? Struggling to support this idea? On the contrary, the explanations of the data we see that are based on a young earth/global flood are the strongest scientifically that I've seen, and are being engaged by some of the most brilliant minds in the world today. I wish he had stayed out of this one.

So, all in all, I'm not saying this is a bad book, just that I didn't really get much of value from reading it. If you're hungry for the Indian perspective on the Christian worldview, let me recommend Vishal Mangalwadi instead.

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