Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels

Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey's work in Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, in my estimation is unprecedented in its nature. What do I mean by this? As one who is an amateur in historical Jesus studies (researching for close to two years now), I have found this book to be the clearest, yet most exhaustive work in understanding Jesus through the eyes of a first century Jew. Bailey avoids any kind of jargon, thus using exemplary brevity and writes with a clear and understandable literary prose. On top of this, to make sure the reader understands what is being discussed, he often uses first hand stories that bring to life the teaching or action of Jesus he is working to expound upon.1Larry King, when the host of his show on CNN, was once asked who he would most want to interview if he could choose anybody from all of history. He said "Jesus Christ." The questioner then said, "And what would you like to ask Him? King replied, "I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me." 2 The question of "Who was Jesus of Nazareth?" is arguably the most important question that is presented to us human beings. The purpose of this work is exactly that. Though it is not focused as an apologetic, it works at discovering who the first century Jesus of Nazareth was. Bailey, though drawing on the literary critical tools founded in the enlightenment, simultaneously maintains an exceptionally high view of Scripture, and consistently works as a historian, theologian, and faithful Christian. He does not pick and choose with a Thomas Jefferson esque critical method, discounting the miraculous while holding to the natural. Thus, it is highly dependent on one's presuppositions regarding God and miraculous intervention throughout history to determine whether or not they will be in agreement with many of Bailey's proposals.Something I, in particular found phenomenally helpful was his vast knowledge of ancient Jewish literature. With this knowledge he clearly and concisely shows us in the introduction of his book different rhetorical literary structures to look for while reading Scripture. When coming across these structures in the texts that he covers, he shows them, and then uses them to understand it. The rhetorical literary structures mentioned are straight-line sequence parallelism, inverted parallelism (chiastic structure), and step parallelism.3With this covered he enters into the teachings and actions recorded by the Gospel writers. Part 1 covers the birth of Jesus, Part 2 covers the beatitudes, part 3 is focused on the Lord's prayer, part 4 covers dramatic actions performed by Jesus, part 5 focuses on Jesus' culturally radical treatment of women, and lastly part 6 emphasized exposition on the parables of Jesus.What I found extremely enriching in this book is Bailey's spirituality. Bailey, though a scholar, writes as a pastor, a mystic, a disciple and friend of the Lord Jesus. Nearly every time I closed the book, I felt a resonation within me that required a proper response either in worship, contemplation, and action (or all three for the matter). I believe that this book truly is an instrument of the Holy Spirit that brings conviction and causes the church to reform and radically engage the world as Jesus taught the early church to do.With all this said, I did have a few issues with this lovely tome. Bailey, I think at times tended to read into the text a bit much. When did this happen? This normally, but rarely occurred when pointing out rhetorical literary structures. Thus, I tend to think he pointed out non-existent rhetorical structures. The second and last issue is actually more of a wish. I wish that he spent more time on the book of John. The entire focus of this book was exposition on the teachings, stories, and actions of Jesus found in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke), with the exception of Jesus' engagement with the women at the well in John's Gospel.In summation, I think Bailey's book is without a doubt worth the read. Because it is a clear read, it is a book that should be on the shelf of the layman and scholarly alike. I urge the church to grapple with this fine work, for surely it will prompt the believer, pastor, and Christian scholar to worship with their mind, but moreover their heart as well.Grace & Peace,Daniel.

The sad thing about living in a Western influenced culture is that we rarely have the opportunity to hear and learn from our brothers and sisters in the East. Kenneth Bailey tries to remedy this issue with his book "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels.""Middle Eastern Christians have been called the forgotten faithful. The world knows that across the centuries there have been Jews and Muslims in the Middle East. For the most part, however Middle Eastern Christians evaporated from Western consciousness after the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451. Few are aware of the existence today of more than ten million Arabic-speaking Christians who possess a rich heritage of ancient and modern literature. Speaking a Semitic language, these Christians are a people who live, breathe, think, act and participate in Middle Eastern culture; they are rooted in the traditional ways of the Middle East. Their voices, past and present, need to be heard in biblical studies." (Preface, pg 11-12)Accordingly Bailey draws from a collection of Syriac, Hebrew/Aramaic and Arabic commentaries, Bible translations and other writings to bring a fresh look at the message of Jesus. It is this connection to our Eastern family that makes Bailey's book so refreshing and welcoming.In other words, this isn't a novelty book full of `new' theological ideas. Nay, a lot of what he says is similar to what I've heard before or has worked out myself with the Lord. The genius of the book is Bailey's reliance on the Church Fathers of the East who illuminate the culture around the life of Jesus.Take for example the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16. For those of in the West this parable tends to be ignored as it seems that Jesus is praising someone who cheats their boss and lies about it. Yet, as Bailey points out, the `missing' piece in the story is the community in which the steward and his boss lives in. Once you `add' that piece back into the story, you begin to realize that there is more subtlety to the steward's actions that glorified his master and placed him in a position of shaming the community as a whole or hiring the steward back."The parable is built on the psychology of an oppressed peasantry, such as is known to have existed in Galilee at the time of Jesus. The steward is a Robin Hood figure, a countercultural hero. But at the end of the story, Jesus calls him `a son of this age/world.' He is smart enough to know that his only hope to put his entire trust in the unqualified mercy of his generous master. His morals are deplorable. Nonetheless, Jesus wants `the sons of light' to use their intelligence, like the dishonest steward, and to trust completely in the mercy of God for their salvation." (pg 341)As you can see, this isn't so much a `new' concept as it is a deeper one with more meaning and depth. It's like watching a movie in 3-D as opposed to 2-D. You get the general jest of the film in both formats, but the 3-D version just brings things to life as the images bring you into the world of the movie. Bailey's culture studies does this with the life of Jesus, bring you into the world in which Jesus lived so that the depth and genius of his words and actions come alive."Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes" is definitely a good book to have on hand when studying the life of Jesus.Kenneth Bailey, by the way, is an American Presbyterian minister who spend 60 years (1935-1995) in the Middle East living and breathing the culture of the land. Forty of those years were spent teaching New Testament Bible classes in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Cyprus.PS => Bailey recently published a companion book called  Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians  While I personally have not read this one yet, I've heard that it is just as good as "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes." So if you are studying Paul or 1 Corinthians this may be a book worth picking up.

I'm only 3 chapters in but it's very enjoyable to read. It's highlighting points that I'd not considered before - not because they're dubious (far from it) but because they're actually looking at it from the point of view of Middle Eastern people (particularly in Jesus' time) and not from our Western viewpoint. Well worth the money. I'll be rereading it.

Das Buch ist gut zu lesen und wirft oft ein ganz neues Licht auf die Erzählungen im Neuen Testament. Besonders die Weihnachtsgeschichte mit Hirten, Stern und Könige wird richtig nachvollziehbar. Auch die Gleichnisse werden gut erklärt. Es ist aber auf Englisch..... ob es eine Übersetzung in Deutsch gibt weiß ich nicht.

If you want to take the stories in Matthew and Luke literally without believing in magic, this is the book for you. Bailey lived for four decades in the middle east, read and often speaks all the major languages, and has read the eastern commentaries written by people who still lived in similar cultures to the Gospel writers. This gives him a unique perspective, free of the western bias and of two millenia of misinterpretation by people who found the stories baffling. Many things that seem mysterious make perfect sense when the cultural context of the time is taken into account. Our "traditional" nativity stories are wildly at odds with the real lives of people in Judea and make the people of Bethlehem seem like perverted monsters. You will never look at a Christmas nativity pageant the same way again when you realize that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were welcomed into the home of the people they stayed with (probably Joseph's relatives) because someone else was already using the GUEST ROOM that most families had at the back of their home - not stuck in a barn that Judean peasants never built or used.Fabulous book - a must read for any Christian.

I was lent a copy of this book and it took many many months to finally pick it up ... And I was hooked from the first chapter ... So I bought my own kindle copy ... Really enlightening insights into the world behind Jesus - challenges common translations if the Bible too

I read lots of reviews on what people thought about the book.Very good reviews so I bought it came yesterday, I have started reading it and wow wow what an eye opener it was to learn about the inn or stable or house? I would recommend it to everybody.Quick delivery and perfect condition as described.