Restoring Abrahamic Faith: A Personal Manifesto
As chair of a large and thriving Department of Religious Studies in a public/state university (see the recent Profile in our UNC Charlotte magazine) I make every effort to keep my personal religious faith and our enterprise as a faculty in the area of the academic study of religion properly separated. There is some debate in our field on this question with arguments on both sides as to what extent one’s implicit religious or political views should become part of the teaching discourse. Although there is no need to avoid matters of religious faith in the classroom, and indeed such matters are part of our study, my position is that personal theology belongs elsewhere–particularly for those in public education.
That said, like Frank Moore Cross and many others in our field who were raised in Christian contexts, I have found myself more personally drawn toward the complex of ideas, concepts, tensions, and even contradictions, reflected in the Hebrew Bible, as I have noted previously in my Blog post “Reflections on the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.”
Back in 1991 I published a little book titled Restoring Abrahamic Faith with a small non-profit publisher called Genesis 2000. It was more or less in response to questions I was getting from many quarters regarding my own “beliefs.” It was mainly an attempt to save my “breath,” so I could refer it to those who were curious about my own personal faith, or the lack thereof. Also, in the final chapter of my popular book, The Jesus Dynasty, that was intended for general audiences far beyond my academic arena, I did include, a final “Conclusion” that delved into matters of faith and the consequences of historical Jesus studies–mentioning my view of “Abrahamic Faith.” In 2008 an expanded, 3rd edition, of that 1991 1st edition was released. It is now available either directly from the publisher (http://genesis2000.org) or through Amazon. And yes, alas, it also has a Facebook Fan page! It is not generally available in bookstores though it can be special ordered but for my Blog readers who order through the publisher, Genesis2000, or through Amazon, copies are autographed at no charge.
I am most pleased and gratified to have received a positive endorsement this 3rd edition of Restoring Abrahamic Faith, from none other than Dr. Barrie Wilson, professor of Religious Studies at York University in Toronto and author of the recent best-seller, How Jesus Became Christian. You can read all about him and his important book at his Web site: http://www.barriewilson.com/. Dr. Wilson’s book, out now in paperback, is in my view the most important book written on Christian origins, and Paul in particular, in the past decade.
Although I did not write Restoring Abrahamic Faith primarily for my academic colleagues it is surely gratifying to have someone of the caliber of Dr. Wilson to write so positively about the book. Here are his personal comments:
Hi James,
You’ve produced a superb manifesto in this book, very similar in many ways to my own personal credo. It is truly a wonderful, inspirational book that should draw people back to the fundamental biblical message, one which puts Jesus, James and John the Baptizer into context. I have added it to my “Recommended Reading” on my Web site. I think the chapter on The Messiahs is especially well done and I’ll direct my students to the book, especially for that chapter. What constitutes a Messiah, as opposed to a Savior, remains a perennial favorite amongst my students.
I personally learned a lot from the chapter on “The Plan” – hadn’t thought of thinking about the future quite that way – and “Turning To God” is very similar to the kind of message I advocate when speaking in churches/synagogues.
This coming summer I’m teaching an honors seminar on early Christianity. We’ll use The Jesus Dynasty and one of the research projects I’ll assign will have to do with what constitutes a Messiah. Those individuals will have to obtain Restoring Abrahamic Faith.
If you are interested I hope you will order a copy and let me know what you think of the ideas I present. As with many such books of this kind, readers tend to either love it or hate it, depending on one’s presuppositions and approach to matters of biblical faith. I welcome the dialog and discussions on the Facebook page are open.
