The Last Week by John D. Crossan, Marcus J. Borg (2006, Hardcover)

Any book by such respected scholars would be expected to be very well done, and this book does not disappoint.

The Last Week is about the week of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. On this Passover week, two kingdoms were present in Jerusalem. The representative of the kingdom of God, Jesus, rides into Jerusalem on a donkey from the east on what is now called Palm Sunday, with his rag-tag group of followers from Galilee. On the other side of town, Pilate, the representative of Roman imperial authority over Judea, rides in with all the fanfare and pageantry of royalty, as he relocates from Caesarea, on the coast, to Jerusalem for Passover week. Passover was a time of trouble, a time when nationalistic passions ran high, and there had been problems in previous years. This week, two kingdoms will be in conflict, and on the following Sunday, God will demonstrate which one wins.

The authors follow Mark, the earliest of the gospel writers, to recount the events of the week on a day by day basis. The way Mark organizes his gospel makes this easy. Much of the language is a theme Crossan often speaks on. It is the radical justice of God versus what is called normalcy for mankind. The Roman rulers, with collaborators in the Temple and the Sanhedrin, ran things pretty much as would be expected by any imperial power then or now, maintaining the status quo and the existing class privileges. Jesus stood opposed, and offered a radical alternative to business as usual.

Some things about the book I did not like. I could not accept some of their conclusions, such as their take on the cleansing of the Temple. I tried, but I think their position is a stretch. I thought they spent a lot of time absolving the Jews of that time from responsibility for Jesus' death. Perhaps European history requires such. But my view is, what difference does it make what agent God uses to accomplish his purposes? Besides, Scripture makes clear that both Rome and local leaders had ample reasons to want Jesus out of the way. And I wish they had spelled out their understanding of inspiration. In discussing how later Biblical writers differ from earlier ones in key areas, the stress is on the conception of the Christian community at the time. Throughout time, as early believers tried to find meaning in the events of this week, their understandings did not stay fixed, and the writers reflect the understandings of the time at which they wrote. The authors do not address the implications of these writers being moved by the Spirit and how that fact should impact our reading and interpretation of these writings. I wish they had stated head-on their view of New Testament inspiration.

You will probably not agree with all their conclusions, like me, but you will also probably really like the book. I found it hard to put down. I feel that I gained a lot of new understanding and insights, and I am very happy I read it.

There are many parts of the book which give the reader new understanding of what occurred, and are very interesting. My favorite part, however, was their long and well supported section concerning this question: why did Jesus have to die? Today, Christians fairly uniformly see this as a substitutionary death for the sins of mankind....a sacrifice. It may surprise you, as it did me, to learn that that was not the initial understanding of the purpose of his death. I will not give it away...read the book!