Top Jesus scholars Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan join together to reveal a radical and little-known Jesus. As both authors reacted to and responded to questions about Mel Gibson's blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, they discovered that many Christians are unclear on the details of events during the week leading up to Jesus's crucifixion.Using the gospel of Mark as their guide, Borg and Crossan present a day-by-day account of Jesus's final week of life. They begin their story on Palm Sunday with two triumphal entries into Jerusalem. The first entry, that of Roman governor Pontius Pilate leading Roman soldiers into the city, symbolized military strength. The second heralded a new kind of moral hero who was praised by the people as he rode in on a humble donkey. The Jesus introduced by Borg and Crossan is this new moral hero, a more dangerous Jesus than the one enshrined in the church's traditional teachings. The Last Week depicts Jesus giving up his life to protest power without justice and to condemn the rich who lack concern for the poor. In this vein, at the end of the week Jesus marches up Calvary, offering himself as a model for others to do the same when they are confronted by similar issues. Informed, challenged, and inspired, we not only meet the historical Jesus, but meet a new Jesus who engages us and invites us to follow him.
Bestselling authors and Jesus experts John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg come together for the first time to explore the last seven days of Jesus's life. Using the best of biblical and historical scholarship, they discover a new way of understanding the Passion Week and its monumental events by turning the traditional understanding of Jesus's passion on its head.
The Last Week is a day-by-day account of Jesus' final week in Jerusalem -- from his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday to the march to the cross. According to the book, Jesus entered his last week knowing he'd be directly challenging the Romans. This initiated several days of growing tension in which people were asked to choose which path they would follow - that of the current Roman empire, or Jesus's revolutionary way of love, forgiveness, and grace.
Marcus J. Borg is Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University and author of the bestselling Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, The Heart of Christianity, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, The God We Never Knew, and Jesus: A New Vision.
John Dominic Crossan is the author of several bestselling books including The Historical Jesus, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Birth of Christianity, and Who Killed Jesus? He lives in Clermont, Florida.
"Borg and Crossan brilliantly chronicle the mounting tension that forced everyone in Jesus's path to pledge allegiance -- either to Rome's way of power and oppression or to his way of love and equality."
- Los Angeles Times
