From Jesus to Christ

The Origins of the New Testament Images of Christ, Second Edition

By: Paula Fredriksen

Narrated by: Pam Ward

Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

In this exciting book, Paula Fredriksen explains the variety of New Testament images of Jesus by exploring the ways that the new Christian communities interpreted his mission and message in light of the delay of the Kingdom he had preached.

A new introduction reviews the most recent scholarship on Jesus and its implications for both history and theology.

©1988 Yale University; Introduction to the Second Edition copyright 2000 by Yale University (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Brilliant and enjoyable.... Magisterial." (Géza Vermés, Times Literary Supplement)

Earlier Reviews too harsh

Thought it was a good listen and leads to additional reads. I relate to the comments about it being complex, with lots of interjected notes & references…they made it harder to listen to. I thought though that it was interesting and read well. If I had any complaint it was that perhaps the reader of the text read with a tone of skepticism and sometimes just a bit of sarcasm that I wondered if the author intended. Happy to have spent a credit and the time on the listen.

A well crafted study of the historical Jesus

While I don't agree with everything theologically, the author provides a very interesting treatment of the historical Jesus. It is quite technical. Having studied much theology over the years, I thought this would be a quick "listen to at 3x speed" book, just looking for new insights. However, I had to slow down since she took a unique approach to ask "who was Jesus". she also had a lot of rich historical information I had missed before. She also raises valid questions about the interpretation of scripture from a later Christian point of view vs. what was likely the point of view of the Jews, pagans, Christian Jews, and ex-pagan pagans. I really appreciated this book, but it requires concentration to listen to and a solid background in the Bible and 1st century history.

Dry and very complex though somewhat informative

I thought with the deep knowledge she had if she were to work with another person to present it in a more interesting format would have been more beneficial for the listener. The constant interruption of notes and at times the rambling on made it hard to listen to. I do appreciate her deep insights.

Not a good book for listening

probably this is a good book for reading but, at least for me, no for listening. It has so many references that continuously breaks the story and it really annoyed me. I am not going to finish it.

Narrative IMPOSSIBLE to follow !!

As an audio book, impossible to follow. I love history, but this is the first audiobook book I’ve had to give up on. Almost after every sentence a source or two or three are cited making it impossible to follow the narrative. As dry as the material is written, it just became torture after a few hours of listening.(that I listened that long was an accomplishment) I’ve made it through some pretty dry material but this one did me in. This is one book that needs to be read not listen to so that there is a choice of not referencing all the citations. It was a very poor decision to have it read this way. There is a reason why people choose an audio book instead of reading them.

Terrible narration

Pam Ward consistently mispronounces words (e.g., chuva) and even gets others dead wrong (what is Revelations?)