Review: Interesting read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 3, 2013
This is a very interesting book from a very learned biblical scholar.  The author takes us through the events of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ according to the Bible and the Tilmud.  He explains the legality of the trial of Christ, according to both Hebrew and Roman law with more detail than I have personally come across.  His knowledge of Hebrew law at this time is drawn from original sources, and therefore I would say as flawless as possible, without the author actually being a rabbi or Sanhedrin from first century C.E.  He does not go into the Roman law with as much detail.  However, based on his sources and descriptions, I cannot find any gaps or fallacies with this either.Mr Robinson also gives a lot of detailed information regarding the technical and historical aspects of these events.  I believe his portrayal is sound, however some assumptions have to be made to except his assertions: 1) that the Bible is true, and was not fabricated in anyway by its authors, 2) that the historical aspects of the Bible were written as fact and not metaphor, and 3) that Jesus Christ is the son of a Judeo Christian God.  I can’t personally say if these assumptions are true, as they very well may be, I am just noting that Mr Robinson’s key concepts in this book would not be valid if any of these assumptions are incorrect.  Most of his references supporting his facts are directly from the Bible, followed by the Talmud, and lastly from current biblical scholars and historians.  He does refer frequently to “ancient documents”.  In Chapter 7, he cites quite a number of them, and establishes the fact of a man named Jesus Christ very well, and many suggest a resurrection of Christ.  However, the bulk of his arguments are not based on these references, but more those mentioned above. That being said, his logic is very reasonable, and assertions follow the evidence that he gives.  Additionally, the manuscripts described in Chapter 7 are tremendously interesting and informative.A particularly resounding idea that Mr Robinson presents is that man’s reasoning is flawed, and therefore cannot reveal the truth without being based in the some Higher Power.  He states “God is the preexisting foundation for all deliberation and assertion.”  I think this does make sense, because science itself has proven that reason or logic often is inaccurate.  To illustrate, I have noticed that our numeric system, with all its mathematical reasoning, is flawed in many ways.  For example, if we apply our mathematical laws to the integer, -1, and then take its square root, we are left with an imaginary number (represented as i in algebra texts)that simply does not work.  And in this case, the human mind is just trying to count things! So, I think the premise that something greater than human understanding is necessary to know truth is quite valid.  Of course, the problem then is that humans have to access this Higher Power to know the truth.  Mr Robinson answers this by stating that the Bible fills that gap.  This may or may not be the case, but it really cannot be debated.  One has to accept the three assumptions noted above for this to work.So, altogether, this book was very interesting.  It contained a lot of information that I did not know.  As an interpretation of biblical texts, as well as the Talmud, and other supporting historical texts, it is very worth the read.  Regarding the key points that Mr Robinson hopes to drive home, particularly the redemption through the crucifixion and resurrection, I was not ultimately convinced.  One requires the presupposition of the Christian worldview for that premise to work.  Despite that, though, I enjoyed reading this and believe I have a better understanding of the account of Jesus Christ than prior to reading it.  I recommend it to all, regardless of their worldview.