01/16/2002 Entry: ""
Posted by Maynard @ 10:48 PM MST
Book Review: Desire of the Everlasting Hills, by Thomas Cahill
I tried to like this book, honestly I did. But there is only so much humanism that this Born Again Christian can take before relegating this book to the shelf of forgotten, lackluster paperbacks that neither inspire nor reveal new ideas. After about the first 65 pages, the entirety of chapter one, the book devolves into a boring, lackluster diatribe of one man's personal interpretation of facts as questionable hearsay. The New York Times Book Review calls this book "Rare and inspiring ... A stunning success"; I find it common and drab, a stunning failure.
Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus
Author: Thomas Cahill
Reviewer: Matt Maynard
Anchor Books, 1999
$14.00 USD/ $21.00 Canadian
ISBN: 0-385-48375-4
TOC:
- Greeks, Jews, and Romans The People Jesus Knew
- The Last of the Prophets The Jesus the Apostles Knew
- The Cosmic Christ Paul's Jesus
- The Gentile Messiah Luke's Jesus
- Drunk in the Morning Light The People of the Way
- The Word Made Flesh The Jesus the Beloved Disciple Knew
- Yesterday, Today, and Forever The World After Jesus
I tried to like this book, honestly I did. But there is only so much humanism that this Born Again Christian can take before relegating this book to the shelf of forgotten, lackluster paperbacks that neither inspire nor reveal new ideas. After about the first 65 pages, the entirety of chapter one, the book devolves into a boring, lackluster diatribe of one man's personal interpretation of facts as questionable hearsay. The New York Times Book Review calls this book "Rare and inspiring ... A stunning success"; I find it common and drab, a stunning failure.
A humanist believes that Man (and inclusively, Woman) is the measure of all things, that beyond the capacities of the human mind there is nothing. Voltare is a prime example of a humanist, as is Thomas Cahill. Cahill writes well when describing history, which is the objective of the first chapter. His description of the setting for the remainder of the book is well done, thoughtful, and filled in some gaps in my personal knowledge of the history of roughly 400 B.C. to 0 A.D.
Cahill's primary shortcoming, however, is that he never considers the perspective of the early Christians. Do not make the mistake that this book is about Jesus; rather, it is a book about those who followed and wrote about Him. It doesn't even discuss Jesus' followers in detail, it concentrates mainly on the writings of the New Testament. Jesus is never considered to be that which His followers claim: the only begotten Son of God, Perfect God in the form of man. This idea is not even considered a point worth discussing, and is completely ignored. Its discussion would make for a much more enjoyable read, even if Cahill ended up disagreeing with it.
One thing that struck me as remarkable about this book was Cahill's ability to describe in great clarity the beginning structure of a thought process and proceed to the ultimate humanist conclusion, falling well short of a truly inspiring and stunning conclusion. For example, at the end of chapter six, Cahill paints a vivid picture of the end of the crucifixion, where:
"In the early Christian centuries, the blood and water from the side of Jesus were taken as the principal sacraments of Eucharist and Baptism, symbolic of the Church's birth. The Church is born from the side of Christ as Eve was born from Adam."
This is a Biblically consistent description of the Church's birth: a consistent correlation between the Old Testament metaphor and the New Testament spiritual reality. But it only gets worse from there.
"Humanity is redeemed by humanity - by the human suffering of Jesus issuing forth in even the last effusions of his human body. "The Church's one foundation," runs the graind old Methodist hymn, Is Jesus Christ her Lord; She is his new creation By water and the word: From heaven he came and sought her To be his holy bride; With his own blood he bought her, And for her life he died. Jesus is the bridegroom. We are the bride."
When reading this chapter I am reminded of an old Lone Ranger joke. The Lone Ranger and Tonto are riding along when they find themselves ambushed by a band of Indians. The Lone Ranger says to Tonto "I think we're in a pretty bad bind, Tonto!" to which Tonto replies "What do you mean 'We', Kemosabe?" Cahill presumes that "We" means all of humanity, consistent with his humanistic mindset present in the entire book. However, the Biblically consistent interpretation of this idea is that Jesus came to be the bridegroom for His Church only - those who surrender their entire lives and their entire heart to His leadership and rule. Humanity is not redeemed by humanity, it is redeemed by a perfect sacrifice - one made by God alone, not by a human. Cahill's humanist interpretation of practically everything is depressing, drab, and after about chapter three, predictable.
To summarize, Desire of the Everlasting Hills is a very humanistic interpretation of scripture, falling well short of the potential of the subject it discusses. If you are a humanist, you will enjoy this book, but that doesn't mean that you should read it. If you are a Christian, who really does believe that Jesus is God, you will find this dull and uninspiring, a book to be avoided at all costs. Spend your $14 elsewhere.
