The story of the transformation of jesus from divinity to CelebrityThe United States it is often pointed out is one of the most religious countries on earth, and most Americans belong to one Christian church or another. American jesus is a lively and often witty work of history. But as stephen prothero argues in american jesus, muslims, film, Buddhists, and popular culture; and among Jews, many of the most interesting appraisals of Jesus have emerged outside the churches: in music, and people of no religion at all.

Popular revisions of jesus are nothing new: Thomas Jefferson famously took scissors to the New Testament to produce a Jesus he could call his own. Prothero describes how Jesus was enlisted by abolitionists and Klansmen, by Teddy Roosevelt and Marcus Garvey. As an account of the ways americans have cast the carpenter from Nazareth in their own image, through the looking glass, it is also an examination, of the American character.

He explains how, the proliferation of jesus' image on broadway stages and bumper stickers, on the cover of Time and on the Internet, in our own time, in a Holy Land theme park and on a hot-air balloon, expresses the strange mix of the secular and the sacred in contemporary America. In prothero's incisive chronicle, the emergence of a cult of Jesus--as folk hero and commercial icon--is America's most distinctive contribution to Western religion.

.

Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity

Paula fredriksen, renowned historian and author of From Christ to Jesus, begins this inquiry into the historic Jesus with a fact that may be the only undisputed thing we know about him: his crucifixion. Rome reserved this means of execution particularly for political insurrectionists; and the Roman charge posted at the head of the cross indicted Jesus for claiming to be King of the Jews.

. To reconstruct the jesus who provoked this punishment, jewish and pagan, of Mediterranean antiquity, Fredriksen takes us into the religious worlds, the gospels, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and on into the ancient narratives of Paul's letters, through the labyrinth of Galilean and Judean politics, and Josephus' histories.

The result is a profound contribution both to our understanding of the social and religious contexts within which Jesus of Nazareth moved, and to our appreciation of the mission and message that ended in the proclamation of Jesus as Messiah.

Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States

Muslims draw on Blackness to construct their identities as Muslims. As well as dominant ethnic and religious structures within American Muslim communities. Yet muslim cool also demonstrates that connections to blackness made through hip hop are critical and contested—critical because they push back against the pervasive phenomenon of anti-Blackness and contested because questions of race, class, gender, and nationality continue to complicate self-making in the United States.

This is a form of critical muslim self-making that builds on interconnections and intersections, rather than divisions between “Black” and “Muslim. Thus, by countering the notion that blackness and the muslim experience are fundamentally different, Muslim Cool poses a critical challenge to dominant ideas that Muslims are “foreign” to the United States and puts Blackness at the center of the study of American Islam.

Interviews with young, religion and popular culture in the 21st century United States focuses on a new concept, black Muslims in Chicago explore the complexity of identities formed at the crossroads of Islam and hip hopThis groundbreaking study of race, “Muslim Cool. Muslim cool is a way of being an american Muslim—displayed in ideas, dress, social activism in the ’hood, and in complex relationships to state power.

Drawing on over two years of ethnographic research, Su'ad Abdul Khabeer illuminates the ways in which young and multiethnic U. S. Constructed through hip hop and the performance of Blackness, Muslim Cool is a way of engaging with the Black American experience by both Black and non-Black young Muslims that challenges racist norms in the U.

The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America

The color of christ still symbolizes America's most combustible divisions, revealing the power and malleability of race and religion from colonial times to the presidency of Barack Obama. Blum and paul harvey weave a tapestry of american dreams and visions--from witch hunts to web pages, Harlem to Hollywood, deepest terrors, Mormon revelations to Indian reservations--to show how Americans remade the Son of God visually time and again into a sacred symbol of their greatest aspirations, slave cabins to South Park, and mightiest strivings for racial power and justice.

Many others gazed at a messiah, not necessarily white, who was willing and able to confront white supremacy. Some envisioned a white christ who would sanctify the exploitation of Native Americans and African Americans and bless imperial expansion. The color of christ uncovers how, in a country founded by Puritans who destroyed depictions of Jesus, Americans came to believe in the whiteness of Christ.

How is it that in america the image of jesus christ has been used both to justify the atrocities of white supremacy and to inspire the righteousness of civil rights crusades? In The Color of Christ, Edward J.

The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus

Levine's humor and informed truth-telling provokes honest conversation and debate about how Christians and Jews should understand Jesus, the New Testament, and each other. In the the misunderstood jew, scholar amy-jill Levine helps Christians and Jews understand the "Jewishness" of Jesus so that their appreciation of him deepens and a greater interfaith dialogue can take place.

.

The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims

In fact, ross douthat of the new york times wrote that "if Aslan had actually written in defense of the Islamic view of Jesus, that would have been something provocative and new. Mustafa akyol's the islamic Jesus is that book --and even much more. For the islamic jesus not only tells the story of Jesus, and his mother Mary, as narrated in the Qur'an.

When reza aslan's bestseller zealot came out in 2013, there was criticism that he hadn't addressed his Muslim faith while writing the origin story of Christianity. It also explores how this Islamic picture of the Nazarene resonates with pre-existing Christian sources, especially Apocrypha. In particular, it unveils the fascinating similarity between Islam and "Jewish Christianity, " a strain in the early church that got branded as a heresy.

Jewish christians were observant jews who honored Jesus as a human -- not divine -- Messiah, and sought salvation by faith and works, not "by faith alone. Akyol shows how their peculiar creed vanished in history after the first few Christian centuries, but only to be reborn in 7th century Arabia by a new prophet named Muhammad.

This provokes puzzling questions about the origins of Islam. The islamic jesus also offers an "Islamic Christology, " and probes into Muslim beliefs on the "Second Coming. Perhaps most provokingly, when muslims are haunted by their own Herods, Akyol argues, it even contemplates, "What Jesus can teach Muslims today" -- at a time, Pharisees and Zealots.

.

Jesus Beyond Christianity: The Classic Texts

The volume features fresh translations of important texts, 'Key-Issues' introductions, questions for discussion and guides for further reading. This unique collection of readings promises to become an essential resource in the study of the world's religions, providing rich guidance for anyone seeking to understand the central convergences and debates between religious traditions.

Importantly, each set of readings ends with an entirely fresh reflection from a leading scholar in the field. Jesus beyond christianity: the Classic Texts features significant passages on Jesus from Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Every care has been taken to present these often controversial passages in a manner consistent with the aims of their authors; accompanying notes directly address challenging issues.

The fifty-six selections span two millennia of thought, including translated extracts from the Talmud and the Qur'an, and writings by Mahatma Gandhi and the 14th Dalai Lama. For the first time classic readings on Jesus from outside of Christianity have been brought together in one volume.

Jesus in the World's Faiths: Leading Thinkers from Five Religions Reflect on His Meaning: Leading Thinkers from Five Faiths Reflect on His Meaning

Thich nhat hanh, susanna heschel, hasan askari, ravi Ravindra, Mary Boys, and fifteen other leaders from five religions explore what Jesus means to them in their faith traditions and their personal faith experiences.

Christology: A Global Introduction

The book focuses on the global and contextual diversity of contemporary theology, including views of Christ found in the Global South and North and in the Abrahamic and Asian faith traditions. In this revised introduction, historical, an internationally respected scholar explores biblical, and contemporary developments in Christology.

. This new edition accounts for the significant developments in theology over the past decade. It is ideal for readers who desire to know how the global Christian community understands the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Made in America: A Cultural History from the Puritans to "The Passion of the Christ"

But how this came to be is a complex story--one that Stephen Nichols tells with care and ease. Jesus is as American as baseball and apple pie. Beginning with the puritans, showing at each stage how American notions of Jesus were shaped by the cultural sensibilities of the times, he leads readers through the various cultural epochs of American history, often with unfortunate results.

Always fascinating and often humorous, Jesus Made in America offers a frank assessment of the story of Christianity in America, including the present. For those interested in the cultural implications of that story, this book is a must-read.

Jesus in America: Personal Savior, Cultural Hero, National Obsession

As we have seen in recent presidential elections, and many Americans regularly enlist Jesus, the name of Jesus is often thrust into the center of political debates, their ultimate arbiter of value, as the standard-bearer for their views and causes. Fox shows how jesus influenced such major turning points in american history as:columbus's voyage of discoveryThe arrival of the English puritans and Spanish missionariesThe American RevolutionThe abolition of slavery and the Civil WarLabor movementsSocial and cultural revolutions of the sixties and beyondThe swelling tide of Christian voices in the politics and entertainment of todayFox gives an expert, lively account of all the ways that Jesus is portrayed and understood in American culture.

. The assassination of abraham Lincoln, which occurred on Good Friday, was popularly interpreted as paralleling the crucifixion of Jesus. Written by one of our most distinguished historians, Richard Wightman Fox, this book provides a brilliant cultural history of Jesus in America from its origins to today, demonstrating how Jesus is the most influential symbolic figure in our history.

Benjamin franklin understood Jesus as a wise man worthy of imitation. Extensively illustrated with images representing the multitude of American views of Jesus, Jesus in America reveals how fully and deeply Jesus is ingrained in the American experience. It is not a book about whether one should believe in Jesus, but about how Americans have believed in and portrayed him.

From the introductionjesus in America is a comprehensive exploration of the vital role that the figure of Jesus has played throughout American history. As one preacher put it, "Jesus Christ died for the world, Abraham Lincoln died for his country.