T Books

"Suds In Your Eye" introduces us to the marvelous Mrs. Annie Feely, Miss Agnes Harriet Tinkham, and Mrs. Erna Rasmussen. These are ladies banding together during World War II to lend each other sisterly support and companionship. This is a bygone era where the ladies address each other using their last names and titles. I had to read all six of the "Suds" books to discover each of their first names.
The ladies combined are a piquant amalgam representing "Everywoman." Mrs. Feely is the gutsy and brash leader of the pack (spouting quotes such as, "Not as long as my pooper points down"), Miss Tinkham is the intellectual who lends insight to their exploits while spouting poetic verses and high-brow vocabulary (she is also open-minded and goes to Rosicrucian Society lectures), and the no-nonsense Mrs. Rasmussen nourishes the ranks with her kitchen wizardry and money management skills.
There's something so innocent about these books that keep you cheering on the gals in each predicament they get themselves into and don't we all love a "pull up your bootstraps" and get it done kind of book?"
These books are especially fun for me to read because I live in the San Diego area and recognize the various locations mentioned in the books. The junkyard at Island and 10th Street has been replaced with high-rise condos conveniently located to Petco Baseball Park. Five Points mentioned in the last book, "Let's Go For Broke," is located in Escondido and is a busy intersection (No, I have not located the Mansion as of yet).
Enjoy the books and wonder if there was a "High Hat" beer the gals guzzled.

I would rate this even higher if they allowed it. This first book in the series introduces you to three loveable, beer-drinking ladies. They believe in helping others and good old down home living. Their love of "class" will have you roaring with laughter. And their caring of others will give you warm fuzzies. Be prepared to want to raise a glass or two as well as go off your diet. The food descriptions are wonderful. And what they can do with a nickel will floor you. Truly an uplift to the spirits.

I have had copies of this whole series for 25 years and still read all every year. This trio, through their love of living and laughter, teaches you more about enjoying life than any other book I know. Pure uplift of spirits occurs as they work together and care about those they come into contact with. Down home atmosphere. They don't need expensive "things" to get the most out of life. You too will want to hoist a few by the time you finish. I wish they were my neighbors. Once you start with this book, you will have to read the rest in the series. They know how to squeeze a nickel, give back change and still be generous. AND THE FOOD DESCRIPTIONS!

I first read this book as a teenager 25 years ago. I was enchanted then with the idea that life did not have to revolve around being young. I have only become more enchanted with that idea.

My husband and I read the series of books and fell in love with Mrs. Feeley, Mrs. Rasmussen, and Miss Tinkham. These ladies and their adventures warm your heart and just make you feel good. Nothing very intellectual, but lots of fun.

I am in the process of answering a questionnaire asking, if I could recommend one book to someone to read, what book would it be?

I came on this site to check the spelling of the full name of this book.

I love this book.

A collection of interwoven tales told from the perspective of the different residents of Ferozsha Baag, an apartment building in Bombay. All the stories are good; some are outstanding. In particular, the story of the son who emigrates to Canada to become a writer has a uniquely autobiographical feel to it. =)

I read A Fine Balance about a year ago and loved it. I just finished Swimming Lessons and I'm going out to buy Family Matters right now. He writes so beautifully and descriptively that you feel that you lived alongside the characters in his books.He's my favorite author right now.

"Swimming Lessons", a short story collection, may be Mistry's earliest published work. He of course wrote the awesome "A Fine Balance", a panoramic look at life in India circa 1975. "Lessons" is set in about the same time period and chronicles the life experiences of middle-class Indians from a particular apartment complex. Major characters in one story show up as minor characters in other stories, giving the book a novelistic feel. Emigration, experienced directly by Mistry in his early 20's as he moved to Canada, is a major theme of the book. The story "Squatters", contains a "story inside the story" that affect your thinking about the trials of emigration (as it relates to bodily functions) for a long time. Those who know Mistry will enjoy this look at his early writing. Newcomers to Mistry might enjoy the short story form as an intro before tackling the epic "A Fine Balance."

And I thought that "A Fine Balance" was Rohinton's best! Yet again, I find myself speechless in my admiration for his astute command of language. His precise and inventive prose never quits until he has portrayed an image in sentences. Images that I grew up with myself but never quite would have thought of expressing in the grippingly sensitive way he can.

Swimming Lessons is a collection of such reminiscences from the author's childhood in a Parsi neighborhood in suburban middle-class Bombay. The setting itself may be confined to a particular community, but his compassionate brush carves such a wide sweep of the minutest of human emotions that the sheer force of this book is not in its plot or setting, but in its recognition of the universal bounty of life.

Our quirky residents of 'Firozsha Baag' have every reason to be disconcerted and baffled with their difficult lives. The walls of their building complex are coming apart. Washroom flushes don't work. One family has the refrigerator that's shared by the entire colony, and another has the common telephone. Their lives are marred by simple everyday things, innocent infatuations, unconfessed fantasies, fatal jealousies, neighborhood bullies, petty thefts, memory lapses, shared newspapers, cultural/generational clashes, etc etc.

Yet, beneath this veneer of this seeming hardships glimmers a subtle undercurrent of hope and happiness, of a bond that does not need expressing in the common social forms.

The high praise that Mistry has garnered is not exaggerated. The man has a disarming sense of humor and a lingering sense of what makes literature great. I laughed, I cried, I sat back and pondered. I was especially stirred by the moving story "Of White Hairs and Cricket", and the cover story, which is saved for the last, "Swimming Pools."

Couldn't recommend this brilliant compilation highly enough. It hardly reads like a debut.

Very easy to read in layman's terms. As the mother of a four year old with PDD, I would suggest this book as a great book to start off with if your child was diagnosed with autism or pdd. It touches on a lot of areas ABA, schooling etc. without getting to technical. It also has statements and examples made by adults with autism/pdd which I found very interesting.

Targeting Autism is an excellent book for those new to Autism. Families and teachers should especially appreciate the analysis and overview of the various educational interventions, from one-on-one methods, to group programs used in many preschool and school situations. The book lists many available resources and spotlights inspiring new advances in research creating an overall atmosphere of hope and possibility for the prospects of more universally effective treatments and eventual cure of this devastating developmental disorder.

Since the symptoms and manifestations of Autistic Spectrum Disorders vary in incidence and severity, those who read this book should not be unduly encouraged or discouraged by the often times conflicting reports of success and/or failure of the various treatments and interventions discussed, but rather use the information given to further investigate the possibilities of each treatment or intervention on an individual or case by case basis.

Why it should be so hard to find a book that thoughtfully discusses the myriad of autism treatments, I don't know. As a parent of a child diagnosed last year at age three, I appreciate this book.

Thank you Shirley Cohen for writing it. Thank you Amazon, for making it so easy to find.

I WORK WITH AUTSTIC KIDS SO I READ THIS BOOK TO UPDATE MYSELF.IT WAS GREAT IIT PROVIDE GREAT EXAMPLES FORM OTHER BOOKS. AND IT GAVE EVIDANCE THAT SOME OF THE CURES MIGHT WORK FORM SOME. ALSO IT PROVIDE GOOD INFO ON ASPEGERS YNDROME MOST OF THE BOOKS JUST GIVE IT A PPAARGPAPH.

First off, she defines autism in layman's terms and with first person testimonials.

Secondly, she provides a life cycle view of autism, so that you have SOME idea of what the future might hold for your child.

Third, she describes how families cope with autism, that some become driven, others fall apart, others adopt a "Holland" approach.

Then she discusses treatments, including a solid analysis of educational approaches such as Lovaas (leans positive), mainstreaming, TEACH, DAP, etc... and non-traditional approaches, such as AIT, FC, etc...

And she talks about recovery too, the controversy that very term raises. She closes this chapter with a quote that could have come straight out of my own heart: "A parent asked, What if my child remains autistic? What will we do? The best you can - with your love, your skills, and all the resources you can marshal - to help him achieve as independent and joyful a life as possible for him."

Perhaps I love this book because so much of what she writes does articulate what I have felt as I've gone over the different options for my son's interventions.

But also, her testimonials from a wide range of sources really help to illuminate autism as well.

And finally, her book is very REASONED in tone.

The only thing missing is a chapter that summarizes her thoughts about what she thinks parents should do. I mean really, most parents are reading these books for ADVICE! Even if parents eventually do something else, its always nice to have a plan laid out that you can either agree with or react against and develop your own. You won't find an action plan here, but the information provided should help you in making one of your own.

I have read this book at least five times and will read it again, because it is quite simply the best read on the subject. It is not a verse by verse commentary, but a theological commentary that is reader friendly, but one recognizes the depth of research and understanding of history that Bauckham pours into this book. He has another book called The Climax of Prophecy that carries much of the same subject matter, but this one is an easier read. This book completely changed my thinking on the book of Revelation. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a serious approach to Revelation and not the canned stuff that you get from the Left Behind series. This book will leave you hoping for Bauckham to write a verse by verse commentary on Revelation. Until he does read Craig Koester's book Revelation and The End of All Things along with this book. Bauckham makes sense of the 144,000, the two witnesses, the goal of history and how the book centers around the worship of God and Christ. I recommend this book for everybody from scholar on down.

Bauckham's essay of Revelation is thought provoking and spiritually challenging. His analysis of Revelation through the lens of "apocalyptic genre" gives pause to readers who are of a dispensational bent. He has a strong grasp of the 1st century influences that seemingly competed with Christian piety. To put it plainly, this book puts Revelation in context from beginning to end, while defying the more popular interpretations of today. It is a definite read for the seminary student, scholar, and layman alike.

Bauckham offers the interested reader relentless and inspiring insights into the Theology of this often misunderstood New Testament book. I found I had to put down the highlighter because I was highlighting entire pages. This book is excellent for both the serious student as well as the everyday reader.

Bauckham's work here is a fresh of breath air in the midst of a lot of choking misunderstanding. He reads Revelation appropriately in context while recognizing the highly phenomenal language of apocalyptic literature. One of the monumental strengths of this book is the way that Bauckham seamlessly weaves theology and exegesis. He explains the complexities and intricacies of the book contextually and then develops an extremely clear theology. In addition, Bauckham's treatment of Revelation in relation to the OT is clear and indispensable to really understand this book. He allows the OT scriptures to form the paradigm from which he understands John's language, imagery, even his prophetic role. With imaginative application of a paradigm-shifting book, Bauckham's work must be read and continually referred to in order to understand the richness of such a beautiful, and so often misunderstood book. Bauckham is a scholar of the highest rank, and yet his writing is both engaging and accessible. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to seriously understand Revelation.

This book came as required reading for a class in graduate school and helped reveal the overarching messages in the book of revelation. This book has been one that has perplexed me since I was a young believer. Is this book to be taken literally? Is the book figurative? Is it somewhere in-between? Bauckham falls into a general examination of the book, looking at the genre, the big issues, the themes, and specific issues that scholars debate in all circles. This book is not an exegetical painful process, rather a good look at the big picture of revelation. How should we apply it today? Are we afraid that we will be 'left behind?' Thank goodness Tim Lahaye made a DVD for those people who will be 'left behind.' Anyway, on a more serious note, this book is a great introduction to the book of Revelation and will help almost anyone get around the book without feeling overwhelmed or lost. Highly Recommended - Joseph Dworak

After I mentioned just a little bit about a couple of comments this book made about the third chapter in Genesis, I had three people wanting to borrow it. This is a serious study. I appreciate that much of the commentary relates to a direct literal study of the Hebrew (even though it has poetic interpretations in the same book). Well worth the money.

Ardent feminists will love this book. Moderate ones may think it goes too far in emphasizing the significance of women in the Torah. The commentaries and the literary entries are excellent and the format is easily accessible. I would not recommend reading this commentary alone, without a less egalitarian version at one's side. Comparisons are always valid. I especially like the non-gendered usage, which doesn't hammer the reader over the head but makes its point nicely.

I bought this for my wife, a theology major. She has been very excited about the book, finding it scholarly, well researched and a new approach to the Torah from women's point of view. There are many significant insights to be gained from this work.

Wow! This is such a beautiful commentary on Judaism's holiest text. I love the symphony of voices that flow through this book. Not only are comments meaningful and well written but the general oranization of the book is wonderful. I am man who loves Torah and all of the commentaries that it produces. This volume will sit proudly on my bookself next Rashi, Hirsch, Sforno, Ramban, etc. I am recommending this commentary to every Rabbi I know regardless of affiliation. Even if the price is a stretch for you, buy this book because you won't be sorry.

The Torah: A Women's Commentary is a compilation of the most recent Torah scholarship that also includes a woman's perspective. Introductory essays by Carol Meyers, Judith R. Baskin and Ellen Umansky are outstanding in orienting the reader to the world of Torah history and post biblical analysis. Alterative perspectives enrich this multi-dimential effort. This volume produced by the Women of Reform Judaism makes me proud to be a scholar and a Jew.

It's been a while since I read a book that I loved this much. This book was exquisite. It's a simple story, but that doesn't mean it's boring, not by any means. It's gloriously interesting. Even the littlest words, the tiniest snippets of dialogue, are intriguing. Well, I was intrigued, anyway!

I fell in love with the characters in it right from page one. And that meant I cared what happened to them. The birds, the trees...they all had unique and well-developed characters. (I cannot remember reading a book where I fell in love with the character of a tree before, but it happened here!) And thankfully, there were no 2D characters here, and no cliches. The characters took me on a deeply emotional journey, and I returned changed. Not many books can do that.

Kids will love the exciting, fast-paced story with gorgeous animals in it. Adults will be intrigued by the story as well, but will also be impressed by the psychology of the tale. It's a happy story on the whole, but it's also a story of love and loss, and how what happens in moments of grief or adversity can stay with us for a lifetime.

I would thoroughly recommend this book, not just for kids but also for adults who want to read classic YA fantasy.

I would also suggest that people ignore the laughably inaccurate Editorial Review on this website that is written by Publishers Weekly. Seriously, when I read that review, I was forced to wonder if the reviewer had even read the book, because if they had, they would have understood Anna's resemblance to Mellwyn's daughter. The book could NOT have made the reason for that any clearer!

This is a well-written story of a young girl trying to learn of her roots. At nine years old she knows little about her mother or father. She lives with an old fisherman. The old man has told her he found her in the woods, but warns her to stay away, or the ghouls in the forest will get her.

Young children, especially girls, will enjoy this story.

*warning, major spoilers*

T.A. Barrons writing carves a magical story about Anna, a 9 year old girl who desperately wants to know of her past, though all the fisherman she lives with will tell her is that he found her under the branches of the High Willow, which now seems to call to Anna. He forbids her to ever go into the forest, for fear she will be torn apart by the murderous "tree ghouls" But one day when the fisherman is out at sea, the curiousity gets the best of Anna, and she wanders into the forest, where she finds only magic and beauty. She soon befriends a bear cub, who later turns into a boy who claims to be a "tree spirit".
Anna's new friend takes her to the high willow, but the fisherman finds her and furiously drags her back home, and forbids her to leave the cabin.
Anna one day realizes how very much her fingers look like willow branches, long and thin, and how the high willow calls so longingly to her, and suddenly figures out exactly where her mother is.
But when her tree spirit friend returns to take her back into the woods, in trying to prevent Anna from going the fisherman injures himself badly on an ax, and Anna must choose between the man who fathered her since before she could remember, and her destiny.

With beautiful writing that will weave you tightly through this story of love, magic, and family, T.A. Barron will enrapture you, I couldnt put it down. I highly reccomend this book to everyone, of all ages.

T.A. Barron wrote a wonderful book, Tree Girl that will blow you away. In the book you meet a little girl named Anna. She lives with her grumpy old father Mellwyn in a little one room cottage by the sea and forest. All day long Anna will play with Old Master Burl, the tree in her back yard. Through the friendship she has with Old Master Burl, she became inspired to meet the High Willow in the forest to unlock the secrets of the past.
If you love fantasy this is the book for you. Every minute you read this book you feel like you are with Anna seeing her story with your own eyes. The author's great sense of words bring the characters to life. No one is stuck behind in your head. With the words, T.A, Barron pulls you in the book; you won't want to get away. You can't go to bed without dreams about what will happen next, will the wind show her the way and much more. This is a must read.
After you read this book you will never forget the message in the story. Millions of kids all over the world find out that it is better to be where you belong and not where you feel weird. If you find your place you will be happier than ever!

I loved reading Tree Girl. You feel like you're really there. I have dreams about this book. If I could put up more stars,I would.

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT READ. BRENDA HAMPTON JUST BECAME ONE OF MY FAVORITE FEMALE AUTHORS. LOVED THE CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK. IT IS A VERY RELAXING EASY READ ONCE YOU START YOU WILL NOT WANT TO STOP READING. ENJOYED IT FROM THE FIRST SENTENCE UNTIL THE LAST SENTENCE.

THIS BOOK WAS VERY GOOD IT SHOWS WHAT HAPPENED WHEN TO PEOPLE CHEAT ON EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF WORKING ON THE PROBLEMS.

I had long awaited Brenda's next book and she does not dissappoint with her latest drama, Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right. Once again Brenda spins a tale of infidelity and triumph as she brings you in the lives of a married couple whose marriage is more than in trouble, it's in desperate need of CPR. You have the professional black businesswoman and a STL cop that is a master player. As what is true to life, men have a hard time when the shoe is suddenly on the other foot. The most amazing part is how detailed Brenda is with the male perspective when it comes to cheating. I swear it felt like she was in my head with some of the stunts that Issac pulled. This book is a definite page turner!

Brenda once again you have outdone yourself. I am a true fan! I have read all of her books and I LOVED them all! I just have problem can you write a little faster. I can hardly wait till your next book comes out. I tried to make the book last a little longer but once I pick it up it is hard to put it down. Keep up the great work! As long as you write them I will buy them. :-) Love ya!

Cydney Conley is ready to throw her hands in the air and her husband out on his cheating backside. Their marriage has lost all of its meaning and her husband refuses to be faithful to their once solid relationship. Yes, she has gained some extra weight and sometimes works extra hours, but doesn't that go along with being married? In any event, two can play this game and Cydney is sure that this blow will ultimately make Isaac choose between his loyalty to their marriage or his loyalty to the streets.

Isaac Conley loves the ladies. With his good looks and policeman swagger, the women just cannot resist him. After years of cheating, it almost comes like second nature. He has tried and tried over and over again with Cydney, but her sarcastic remarks, lack of maternal wants and 20-pound weight gain has driven him to the arms and bodies of his ghetto fantasies.

Miguel cannot believe how easy it is for Isaac to be unfaithful to his wife. Every booty that struts by grabs his attention. How could this man have a beautiful wife at home and cheat on her every time he feels a twitch? It is bad enough finding a good woman and dogs like Isaac eventually turn a good woman into an evil, fed-up pit bull. Like the saying goes, though: "Every dog has its day." Maybe with a little help, Miguel can turn the saying into a reality.

Brenda Hampton has done it again. Some say it's easy to keep a series going because you have a "personal" relationship already with your characters. Hampton has put the Jaylin series (Two's Enough, Three's a Crowd) to the side along with the Kiley series (How Can I Be Down?). Now what? You can't get more talented than her.

Reviewed by: LaDonna

The book name is Uncle written by CYNTHIA D. Vampire and itýs written by CYNTHIA D. GRANT. This book is about two girls name Carolyn and her twin sister name Honey. This book is very entrusting itýs going to make you say ýThat I want to read more about this book.ý It is a funny vampire book. And thatýs what I like about this book. In the beginning of the book, there was a quote that grabbed my attention. ýIt was that when Carolyn and Honey bought a lock from the store to lock on their door, because they thought their uncle was a vampire. And the next day they come from school and found out that the lock was gone.ý
The theme of the book was that there uncle wasnýt a vampire he was a Cannibal, And Carolyn learn that If you are In trouble you should tell your parents or somebody older than you about your problem. I totally agree with it, because if you are in trouble you should tell some-one. If you donýt tell anyone then trouble will only get bigger. If you tell your parents or somebody older may-be they could help you. I think it relates to a lot of people life, because they donýt tell other people about there problems. They try to solve there problems by there self.
I would like to recommend this book to people who want to know how to solve there problems. For example in this book Carolyn try to solver her problems by telling her school counselor.

I thought that the book was amazing because you'll be so surprised how the ends.I could never have seen it coming, I really thought it whould end in another way. I think it is a very well written book despite that you don't always know if Carolyn is dreaming, thinking, or if it is the reality....I whould recommend anyone to read it because it isn't like every other book it really surprise you!

It is a very good story that makes the reader go on to see what is going to happen next.

I loved this book very much. I think it teaches a great lesson and will/has encouraged people who go through the same horrors. However - you really didn't understand a lot until the BANG at the end. Then it becomes clear and you relilze what this book is really about. AWSOME BOOK!

I had this book back in 7th grade and I used to read it over and over. It is one of those books that really stick on your mind and tear at you after reading it. I lent it out to friends who passed it around. We made it a thing to sign the book after we read it each time. I had peoples signatures I never even knew. So, now the internets around I figured search for it.So I did. And FINALLY found it here.This book is written beautifully and is wonderfully dark with an underlaying message of hope through even the darkest of times.

After having to climb through so many books looking for the information I required to understand the issues and response to terrorism I came across Understanding Terrorism by Maniscalco & Christen. What a relief to find a comprehensive, cohesive and no nonsense book.

These authors have done a remarkable job with synthesizing complex data and rendering it into a discussional and informational manner easily comprehended by all emergency planners and responders. The constant reinforcement of "system" play and interoperability as well as a function rather than an agency approach lent great assistance to my team being able to immediately apply the knowledge to the crafting of our contingency response templates.

Great job by the composers, fantastic text for you or your organization!

This book is fantastic. It articulates the issues in a discussional format and make sense of the many confusing topics of terrorism planning and response.

I like the fact that the authors have taken the time to include a very robust reference appendix section. It has proven to be unquestionably my go to book on this subject matter.

In addition to the front matter which is invaluable, I now have to only grab one book to reference the myriad of references, case in point is the streamlined access to federal response plan, MSDS sheets, radiological references etc.

If you are an operator, supervisor, manager, planner or instructor this text is for you!

A lot of books on terrorism response have been written by 'experts'; fine folks who understand the theory, but in reality lack the practical experience. This book is NOT one those.

The authors are well organized, show their writing experience, as well as their provider and leadership experience.

The book is a comfortable read, not a scholarly tome that is an alternative to Xanax. Illustrations are good.

If you have a need to plan for medical response to terrorism, this book is an excellent resource to aid in your preparations.

The authors of Understanding Terrorism have done a great job with presenting complex and difficult material in a manner that is easy for all responders to understand.

This book covers all the bases and met all of my expectations. It has become a permanent fixture in my response bag should I need a ready reference. Frankly, this is perhaps the best book on the subject for emergency responders that I have seen to date. A great value for the price!

I was skeptical at first about another book on terrorism. After being disappointed by several other terrorism response books allegedly written for emergency planners and responders, I was very satisfied with Understanding Terrorism and Managing The Consequences.

This book is a breath of fresh air that restores my confidence that responders who have the experience and background of planning for & operating at terrorist events are sharing their expertise & knowledge.

Understanding Terrorism provides you the VITAL information you need to perform your duties as a responder as well as provides security directors & safety managers expanded knowledge on what is expected for their functional areas in times of terrorist events.

The information is provided in a cohesive manner that aids the users with easy comprehension and utility of the material. It also compiles all the needed references under one cover to make your job easier.

The approach the authors have adopted with this book is a big bonus. Frankly I am tired of books that adopt a "shotgun" approach or use theoretical [terminology] to convey the message of safe and effective response strategies; they fail to address the implementation and operational application issues effectively. THAT IS NOT THE CASE WITH UNDERSTANDING TERRORISM. This book helped me each step of the way as well as provides me with the benefit of being a "one book" planning and response reference.

Public or private sector emergency managers, responders or security officials, if you are responsible for the emergency response, Understanding Terrorism is the one book you should own, read and use.

I've been told that Witherington is too challenging by some friends I've shared his work with. This book has been an exception. Witherington is, in my opinion, the finest Biblical scholar and historian we have today. His books are generally written for the aggressive, intellectual, deep diving God seeker. "What have they done with Jesus" opens the window of opportunity to be shared with a larger audience.

Witherington breaks from his socio-rhetorical commentaries and historical narrative style. He cuts back on his typically extensive academic narrative (letting the reader peruse the supporting notes and references for themselves) while boosting the granularity of his critique of modern and historical controversies. "What have they done with Jesus" condenses and reorganizes his more extensive works into a lively, entertaining perspective on hot button topics.

The book flows through the action of:
* Overlooked, and misunderstood female hero's
* Scriptural revelation versus theologically modified characters
* The mother of Jesus and matriarch of the family in scripture, society and time
* The mysterious "disciple whom Jesus loved" revealed
* The late blooming brothers of Jesus
* Paul and his real versus contemporarily imagined challenges in the Jesus movement
* What of the other disciples?
* Those strange Gnostics that have captured the media

A picture is created by this scriptural detective of a far more interesting historical Jesus movement than one might imagine. There are a number of eye openers here to be considered. Witherington masterfully engineers his arguments and leaves popular revisionists no slack.

If you are seeking to understand the Bible story with state of the art translation and understanding, Witherington is your author and this book is a great place to start. Witherington treads on `sacred cows' and `media darlings' with the nuance and fact of `what we can know' from scripture in such a way as to make you deep dive contemporary conceptions. The aggressive God seeker will not be disappointed by this book.

Witherington certainly has a fine writing style that keeps the reader engaged with precise scholarship sprinkled with learned speculation and Columbo like inquiry to discern whether the Christology of Jesus was evolved and embellished by later Christians or was from the beginning by the Inner Circle.

Witherington thus runs through this hypothesis viewing the family and close disciples of Jesus and then the apostles. He concludes from this fine, thorough search: "there is no easy evolutionary spiral from low to high Christology, from early to late Christology, from more Jewish to more Gentile Christology, or from Christology more for Jews to Christology more for Gentiles. Just as the majority of New Testament documents can be traced back to the inner circle of Jesus either directly or indirectly, so also can the high and often divine Christology found in documents for both Jewish and Gentile Christians be traced back to the inner circle of Jesus."

No lost Christianities or streams equal to the inner circle's teachings that were purposely obscured until recent scholars rediscovery and media promotion.

I do take exception with his take of linking Joanna/Junia as an apostle in sense of same usage as Paul's apostleship. Equally informed exegetes see this as not a female, and the term there is not always used as an eyewitness with that authority, but as sent one.

His other suggestion as to the author of Gospel of John being Lazarus, the Beloved Disciple, is a new one to this reviewer. It will have to stand the test of peer exegetical review before it can be accepted.

Fascinating read. Interested readers will also want to read Larry Hurtado's "Lord Jesus Christ:Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Centuries" and Richard Bauckham's "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses."

Common to the Christological revisionists are claims that there are lost or suppressed Christianities, and that there is a radical discontinuity between who Jesus really was and how he was represented by his early - and later - followers. What much of this amounts to is an attempt to rewrite history, to undermine the reliability of the New Testament, and to recreate Jesus in the image of liberal scholarship.

Thus we need once again to determine just who Jesus really was, and what in fact was his message. And the best way to do that, argues New Testament scholar Ben Witherington, it to get back to the inner circle of Jesus. Those who were closest to him or knew him best are our most reliable guides to what he believed and what the early faith was all about. This book provides a close look at this so-called inner circle. It carefully examines those from Jesus' own physical family: Mary, James and Jude; as well as Peter, the Beloved Disciple, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Paul.

Taken together, their testimonies help us understand who Jesus was, and what his core message was. A close examination of these individuals reveals that they all agree to a common understanding of the man and his mission.

Witherington argues that no wide wedge can be driven between these close associates and their take on Jesus, and that of Jesus himself. Consider James, the brother of Jesus, and the first leader of the post-Easter Jesus movement. The contents of the epistle that bears his name are remarkably similar to that of the most basic teachings of Jesus.

For example, one can find over two dozen close similarities between what is found in his epistle and what is recorded in the Sermon on the Mount. This demonstrates, in part, that James is quite familiar with the sayings of Jesus in some form. Says Witheringtom, "the letter of James is deeply indebted to the Jesus tradition".

And the oft-heard contentions that James and Paul are fundamentally at odds, or that Paul has radically reinterpreted Jesus, are far from the truth. There are admittedly differences of emphasis between Paul - the missionary to the Gentiles - and James - who ministered to Jewish believers - but their basic message is the same, centred on a high view of Christ and his saving work.

And Paul's theology flows out of the life and teaching of Jesus. He is no inventor of new theologies, but a faithful witness to the Jesus story. His message is fully in accord with the others of the Jesus circle. Any differences among them, suggests Witherington, are primarily ecclesiological in nature, not Christological.

The inner circle stands in complete continuity with Jesus and his message. And the message they spread was quite congruous. Says Witherington, "the earliest Christian leaders were remarkably similar in their beliefs about the divinity of Jesus, the way of salvation, and basic ethics".

The idea that they, or others, have somehow misrepresented Jesus or departed from his words and teachings is simply without any firm evidence, argues Witherington. Indeed, the idea that there were competing Christianities during the first century is simply incorrect. The kind of Gnostic gospels and alternative Christianities that many modern liberal theologians seek to argue for simply were not in existence during the time of the very early church, but instead begin to appear in the second to the fourth centuries.

"It is pointless to talk about `lost Christianities' if we are talking about the apostolic age," says Witherington, "because there were no forms of Christianity like later Gnosticism already extant in the first century." Indeed, "as far as we know there were no forms of earliest Christianity that did not worship Jesus as crucified and risen Lord".

The earliest leaders of the Jesus movement shared a very high Christology, and a common understanding of the basic Christian message. Indeed, all the New Testament documents "can be traced back directly or indirectly to the inner circle of Jesus," and all 27 New Testament documents present a messianic picture of Jesus.

Asks Witherington, who should we most heavily rely upon: The inner circle of Jesus or later Gnostic writings? The inner circle had "more than enough living contact with the historical Jesus to remember who Jesus was, what his teaching was like, and what claims (implicit or explicit) he made of a messianic nature".

Concludes Witherington, "There is no nonmessianic Jesus to be found at the bottom of the well of history".

It is imperative that the new Christological revisionism is challenged historically and biblically. That Witherington does here to great effect.

Though I wouldn't say this is light reading it is certainly accessible for the lay person; what a worthwhile read it is too. It is written as an uncovering of the evidence.

Ben Witherington goes back to the most reliable sources to discover the "real Jesus". Those sources are the ones written by eye witnesses and are of course the Gospels and letters of the New Testament.

The approach is to look at the those who were involved in Christ's inner circle and to piece together the evidence that is presented. I find the whole quite fascinating. The author's portraits bring the individuals to life in a new way and encourage us to read the Bible ourselves to judge what he says.

There is also useful information on the origin and contents of the Nag Hammadi documents that influenced the Da Vinci Code. The so called Gnostic gospels are put firmly into perspective as they were written hundreds of years after Jesus lifetime.

I heartily recommend this book as an encouragement for those of us who are committed to walking with Christ.

Regardless of where you stand, Ben Witherington III is considered by biblical scholars to be a heavyweight contender. The title to this book sounded interesting to me, so I decided to check it out. In this book Witherington overviews the people in Jesus' live, including the disciples, the women, and Paul. I found the overview refreshing, as most of the information is not new, but it helped remind me of keeping things in historical perspective. Witherington believes that we ought to consider the earliest documents first and foremost while taking the gnostic gospels and later additions with a grain of salt. So many scholars who we see on the Easter television shows don't have that same perspective, and so we end up getting some fascinating theories that just don't have any basis in fact. Yet how many viewers walk away from the DaVinci Code-type information and doubt the historicity of the Christian church? It has to be confusing for the typical lay audience.

I found several things most fascinating. First, I had never heard Lazarus as a possibility for the disciple whom Jesus loved. This theory hit me for a loop. I'm not sure he fully convinced me, but I'm going to have to consider it more than I did before I knew it was even a valid theory. I also had never thought much about Joanna being Junia. That was interesting to me as well. In addition, I appreciate the fact that Witherington changed his mind about phileo/agape Peter/Jesus dialogue in John 21. Sometimes we get so hung up on our beliefs that it's hard to change, so I guess it was refreshing to hear that this scholar was willing to say, "Hey, I changed my mind." May I be as open-minded.

The book is profitable and so I recommend it for those searching for the historical Jesus.