A MYTH OF INNOCENCE (Foundations & Facets Series)
"A Myth of Innocence is surely one of the most important studies  of the origins of Christianity since Schweitzer's Quest. With a single  stroke, Burton Mack has shifted the investigation from the quest for a  singular genesis to the perspective of the social history and imaginative  labor documented in the texts." --Ron Cameron, Wesleyan University"A Myth of Innocence is the most penetrating historical work on  the origins of Christianity written by an American scholar in this century.  Its strikingly innovative feature is the recombination of literary and  social histories, and the placement of diverse Jesus movements into their  respective social contexts." --Werner H. Kelber, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly"This imaginative book is not just a study of the Gospel of Mark,  but of primitive Christianity in all its variegated forms, for which it  represents a new paradigm ... It deserves serious reflection and discussion  at several levels, in a variety of contexts, by quite diversified  discussion partners." --James M. Robinson, Professor Emeritus, Claremont Graduate  University"This is an epic-making work because it turns scholarship on its  head. Mack asks questions not about origins but about social meaning. The  entire conception of what we want to know, why we want to know it, and how  we shall find it out is new and compelling." --Jacob Neusner, Bard College