On this Good Friday in 2014 it seems appropriate to consider the impact of Jesus on our history, culture and thought. Thomas Cahill in his continuing series on the Hinges of History takes up the question of Jesus and his impact on Western history and thought in The Desire of the Everlasting Hills, the third book in this projected 6-7 volume series. For Cahill, this series is a means to explore the stories of the “great gift givers who throughout history entrusted to our keeping one or another of the singular treasures that make up the patrimony of the West.”

Cahill examines Jesus through the history and culture of his time and  through the Gospels and letters that were written after Jesus death and shows us through their eyes the man that they knew and followed.

Jesus was born in a time where it was assumed and a given that war brought peace. The history of the Jews up until that time bore that out, with the conquered peoples like the Jews having to pay the price of the conquerors. And yet even among the conquerors there was a deep desire for a peace that that would be sustained and not broken by more war.  As Virgil wrote of his hope in his Fourth Eclogue, ” Now is a child engendered by heaven….who will put an end to our wretched age…the herds will have no fear of lions…the serpent will be no more,” there was a deep and abiding hope “..not for an emperor, not for a Exalted One-but for a Just One” who would heal the brokenness they saw all around them..

Yet, Jesus’ message was simple and as can be seen in the Beatitudes the message was to two audiences: “the powerless that need to be reminded that God loves them and will see to their ultimate triumph and the powerful who need to be goaded by the example of those who have abandoned their comfort for the sake of others.” As Cahill says, Jesus’s Good News or Gospel was to “comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comforted.” And in his death on the cross Jesus gave us that ultimate act of sympathy; a promise that he knows and understands our pain, our sorrow, and with

his death promises “I will suffer with you.”

As always Cahill is informative, engaging and stimulating.  I, as a practicing Christian may have more interest than most in Jesus and his impact on western thought and culture, but I was reminded again at how grounded in the Jewish tradition Christianity is, and as Cahill quotes Rabbi Shaye Cohen who says “…that Christianity too, is (or at least once was) a form of Judaism,” and regained a sense of the gift that tradition is to my own faith journey.

Cahill’s concise and interesting reflections on the various gospel writers and his explication of their messages was extremely helpful in seeing the message of the early church as a whole. Cahill weaves the history art,and poetry of that time period throughout his analysis of the Gospels which provides a fascinating and grounded view of the life of the early Church. This is definitely a feast to be savored and read slowly.

Brenda’s Rating: *****(5 Stars out of 5) 

Recommend this book to: Sharon, Keith and Ken

Book Study Worthy: YES!

Read in ebook format- recommend a color e-reader.