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Explaining Jesus

An Interdisciplinary Exploration of a Phenomenon

Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter

How exactly does one explain Jesus? That is the central question of this book. But the task

of explaining Jesus is complicated. For many nonbelievers, skeptics, or practitioners of non-

Jesus-based religions or spiritualities, it can be very strange to refer to a particular man who

lived in the first century CE as someone who is still living. Even for some believers, this idea

can be a difficult thing to understand—even given the teachings of their faith. Thus, whether

believer or nonbeliever or somewhere in-between, for the intellectually curious, there is need

for an explanation. Explaining Jesus explores the possibilities of a secular, interdisciplinary, science-based explanation for the phenomenon of Jesus.

Lexington Books

Pages: 232 • Trim: 6½ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-3323-2 • Hardback • November 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-3324-9 • eBook • November 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: Religion / Christianity / General, Religion / General

Explaining Jesus

An Interdisciplinary Exploration of a Phenomenon

Hardback

eBook

Summary

How exactly does one explain Jesus? That is the central question of this book. But the task

of explaining Jesus is complicated. For many nonbelievers, skeptics, or practitioners of non-

Jesus-based religions or spiritualities, it can be very strange to refer to a particular man who

lived in the first century CE as someone who is still living. Even for some believers, this idea

can be a difficult thing to understand—even given the teachings of their faith. Thus, whether

believer or nonbeliever or somewhere in-between, for the intellectually curious, there is need

for an explanation. Explaining Jesus explores the possibilities of a secular, interdisciplinary, science-based explanation for the phenomenon of Jesus.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 232 • Trim: 6½ x 9⅜

978-1-4985-3323-2 • Hardback • November 2018 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-4985-3324-9 • eBook • November 2018 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: Religion / Christianity / General, Religion / General

Author

Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter serves as special lecturer in writing and rhetoric, liberal studies, and the Honors College at Oakland University and is the author of Death in Documentaries: The Memento Mori Experience.

Table of Contents

Preface: A Problem-Driven Life

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Problem of Explaining Jesus

Part I

Chapter 1: Philosophies of Being a Person Like Jesus: Metaphysicalist, Dualist, Physicalist

Chapter 2: Discourse About Jesus: From the Vernacular to the Scholarly and Scientific

Chapter 3: Discourse About Jesus in Historical Scholarship

Part II

Chapter 4: A Turn to the Sciences: An Evolutionary, Physicalist Context for Explaining Jesus

Chapter 5: “Jesus” as a “Person” with Special Features: Cognitive Psychological Applications Toward Explaining Jesus

Chapter 6: Experiencing “Jesus” as Cultivated Social Practice: Behavioral Aspects of the Phenomenon

Chapter 7: Toward Explaining a “Personal Relationship with Jesus”: Isolating and Studying a Phrase

Part III

Chapter 8:<Jesus> as a Sign in Complex Systems

Chapter 9: <J> as Glocal Sign of the People

Chapter 10: <J> Critiqued and Appropriated

Chapter 11: The Hope of Resurrection: Beliefs, Fantasies, Misconceptions, Present-day Science, Speculation, Science Fiction, and Delusion

Chapter 12: Lessons Learned, Including All That Is Not Explained, and Final Remarks

References

About the Author

Reviews

If for an answer we should turn to Jesus, what is the question? How to understand the emotional and spiritual meaning of a ‘personal relationship with Jesus’? In his interesting and well-developed book, Explaining Jesus, Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter addresses this topic, drawing on theology and the humanities as well as on behavioral and natural sciences. For those who understand themselves as standing in an intimate relationship with Jesus, reading this book will be a challenging—but not necessarily negative—exercise in self-understanding. For those who don’t see themselves, or Jesus, in that way, it is worth the effort to read it, to understand fellow humans in ways they might not have thought of before.
— Willem B. Drees, Tilburg University, emeritus

Explaining Jesus is a complex and sophisticated attempt by someone raised evangelical, but now a secular humanist, to explain the phenomenon that people experience: Jesus as a living person. The author’s response is neither reductive nor dismissive, and readers will learn much from following him on his remarkable intellectual journey. This is a book that speaks to Christians and non-Christians alike.
— T.M. Luhrmann, Professor of Anthropology and Psychology, Stanford University, author of When God Talks Back

Explaining Jesus

An Interdisciplinary Exploration of a Phenomenon

Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter

Explaining Jesus

An Interdisciplinary Exploration of a Phenomenon

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