Desire of the Everlasting Hills

Customer Reviews

• An Objective Review

  An excellent read. As objective and well researched as the other books in this series by Cahill. Presented with respect for the subject matter and a pleasent read, never stalling out. Recommended for anyone interested in the history of civilization, regardless of their religious beliefs.

• Incredibly Important to My Own Formation

  Cahill does a great job of opening up our ideas of Jesus and breaking down traditional barriers. The book allows us to think about Jesus in new and exciting ways, including integrating the ideas of the Cosmic Christ into the writing. Cahill provides accurate historical insight into the life and times of Jesus by painting a picture of the harsh realties that would have faced average people in the Roman World. He also encourages the reader to think critically about the message of Jesus and how it relates to improving the lives of others.

• Excellent

  The book I ordered was recieved in excellent condition. I am very happy with my purchase!

• A believer in Jesus but not in all that has been done under his name

  As a Jew, I found Cahill's book enlightening and thoughtful. For me, it re-emphasized how much early Christianity drew from Jewish thought of the time and how Paul, especially, thought in Jewish categories.
  Most reviewers do not seem to have noticed Cahill's clarion call for Jewish-Christian reconciliation, his deeply felt belief that Jews and Christians are brothers, his rejection of and sense of shame over millennia of Christian anti-Semitism, and his quite convincing attempts to locate the source of that anti-Semitism at least partly in the Gospel of John.
  
  I don't have the background to express any especially well-informed views on the New Testament controversies on which Cahill takes a strong stand. It's clear that he is a believer in Jesus's call to social action and in Jesus's rejection of the importance of money and power. Cahill's Jesus is indeed a radical reformer and a champion of the common man and woman.
  
  Cahill accepts and venerates Jesus but hates much of what the organized Church has done in his name.

• Cahill is great history writer, lousy theologian

  Those who read history regularly know there are two types of history writers: those who bring history alive in fresh and exciting ways and those who duly record the facts in a dry and technical manner. Thomas Cahill is definitely an example of the former; his writings resonate with the reader and his books read more like page-turning novels than obscure history lessons. Not surprisingly, these qualities are evident in Desire of the Everlasting Hills, the third installment in his "Hinges of History" series.
  
  As he does throughout his series, Cahill brings to light a historic event that forever altered world history and left a lasting influence on civilization. In this case, Cahill recounts the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and the subsequent impact they had on the rest of the world. He opens with a beautiful introduction, explaining why he chose Jesus as a subject for his series. He writes:
  
  "His name, as everyone knows, was Jesus of Nazareth - or, as the Jews of his own day called him, Yeshua. As everyone knows, he preached a message of mercy, love, and peace and was crucified for his trouble. This unlikely character has long been accounted the central figure of Western civilization. Even now, as we cross to the beginning of the third millennium since his birth, we count our days by his appearance on earth; and, though our supposedly post-Christian society often ignores and even ridicules him, there are no serious suggestions for replacing him as the Icon of the West."
  
  Cahill opens with the best and most fascinating chapter of the book, describing the world Jesus was born into. To do this, Cahill traces the impact the Greeks (through Alexander the Great's conquests) and the Romans had on Palestine and the Jewish culture by giving us a whirlwind tour of ancient history.
  
  Soon after Alexander was assassinated by his men for forsaking his Macedonian and Greek heritage in favor of adopting the customs and traditions of the newly conquered eastern cultures and for his near maniacal ego which led him to fight unnecessary battles leading to high casualties and low morale, his kingdom was divvied among his lesser generals and subordinates. Cahill writes:
  
  "Even if, his sights on bigger game, Alexander immediately forgot the Jews, he did not rule them long. Soon after his untimely death, his son by Roxane was put to the sword, as were Roxane herself, Alexander's half-witted brother, Philip, and at last that skillful survivor, the dowager empress Olympias. No blood relative of Alexander's was left alive. The army, which would have none of them on the throne of Macedon, was taking no chances...The greatest empire the world had ever seen was broken up among conspiring officers of the second rank: Antigonus II, son of Philip's legendary general Antigonus the One-Eyed, mounted the throne to control both Macedon and Greece; Ptolemy took Egypt, and the Ptolemaic line would last there in its glorious capital of Alexandria, the bones of Alexander interred in the great mausoleum beside the library, till the last of the line, Cleopatra, would end her own life with an asp at her breast; Seleucus took up rule at Antioch in Syria and from there the Seleucids ruled the arc of Asia from the Aegean to the Indus. The Levant, which lay between Syria and Egypt, was at first in vassalage to Egypt. But in 200 B.C., the Seleucid monarch Antiochus III won the Levant from the Ptolemies in battle, after which the Seleucids from their capital of Antioch ruled the entire eastern Mediterranean, including the negligible patch called Judah."
  
  The Seleucids quickly began the process of "Hellenizing" their conquests, effectively assimilating these vast ranges of territory and peoples into Greek culture. As Cahill writes, "After all, uniformity of culture and standardization of its procedures made governing so much simpler." This proved to be especially difficult in Judah, where the Jews held fast to their religion and culture, far more than their surrounding neighbors and societies. Things came to a head in 167 B.C. when the Seleucids gave a statue of Zeus "pride of place in the Temple of the living God and defiling both the Temple and the Jewish people with unimaginable sacrilege." This proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back. As Cahill so aptly puts it, "There are humiliations a proud people - even one oppressed for generations - cannot abide."
  
  Led by Judas Maccabeus, the Jewish people revolted against their Gentile rulers and, even though they were outmatched, outnumbered, and out equipped, they defeated the Seleucid soldiers at every turn. Cahill writes, "Judas understood that, even if they are outnumbered, those who fight for a cause can overcome those who, like many of the Greek troops, are mercenaries fighting only for a pay packet or hapless ordinary men drafted against their will." Eventually Maccabeus's men entered Jerusalem triumphantly, rid the Temple of false idols and rededicated the Temple to worshiping the one true God. An eight day celebration of singing psalms and playing music commenced. Cahill states:
  
  "This is the Feast of Hanukkah (or [Re]Dedication), to which the pleasant legend later attached that there was found in the Temple a cruse of oil sufficient for only one night's illumination, but the miraculous oil burned for eight nights, inspiring the Jewish domestic custom of lighting lamps during the eight nights of the commemoration."
  
  In fact, this book probably explains the origins of Hanukkah better than any other source I have ever read, explaining the historical and religious significance this event signifies with Jews today.
  
  After describing the setting of Jesus' birth, Cahill then enters into the meat of the book, devoting several chapters to the different historical perspectives of Jesus and what can be gleaned historically and theologically from each. While still containing historical information, these chapters mainly focus on the teachings of Jesus and their theological significance. Although Cahill certainly possesses a commanding knowledge of the subject material, the book tends to get bogged down in these chapters at times. For those expecting a historical excursion these chapters might come as something of a disappointment.
  
  My biggest problem with these chapters, however, is that those of us with orthodox Christian beliefs will find much to disagree with in Cahill's theological take on a number of issues. For one, he believes that the Christian "body" Paul speaks of in I Corinthians, consists of everybody in the world, not just Christians. He writes:
  
  "In First Corinthians, the earlier of Paul's two surviving letters to the crazy Corinthian church, this passage on what has come to be called the "Mystical Body of Christ" is followed directly by the "Hymn of Love." In other words, those who recognize the Body - and therefore recognize that everyone they meet is part of Christ - are obliged above all else to charity...But everyone, whether he knows it or not, whether she wishes it or not, is "of the Body.""
  
  At other times he questions Biblical inerrancy and authorship. In other passages, where Paul writes about gender complementarianism (e,g. I Timothy, Ephesians, etc.), Cahill insists Paul is not the real author of such teachings and believes the passages were added after his death to impose uniformity on the burgeoning church. These beliefs do not square with centuries of orthodox Christian faith and, yet, Cahill injects them as if they are fact without ever giving opposing viewpoints the time of day. This is fine; after all it is Cahill's book. There is nothing wrong with interjecting opinion in history, but readers need to be able to discern the history apart from Cahill's own estimations.
  
  This is not to say these chapters are not without merit; indeed, Cahill does an admirable job of organizing New Testament teachings and I was still able to learn interesting tidbits of New Testament history. It is obvious that Cahill also has a solid grasp on the New Testament teachings, it was mostly just off-putting how he holds to controversial theological beliefs but teaches them as if they were fact with no legitimate arguments that stated otherwise. While I did not agree with a lot of his theologically-liberal beliefs, they would have been a lot easier to swallow if he had acknowledged they were not in line with orthodox Christian teachings.
  
  Another nice feature of the book is the inclusion of glossy photographs of artistic depictions of Jesus Christ throughout the centuries. This shows the reader how the image of Jesus has changed over the centuries. These photographs included drawings found in ancient catacombs to the Shroud of Turin to more modern paintings by Rembrandt.
  
  In Cahill's final chapter, "Yesterday, Today, and Forever: The World after Jesus" Cahill discusses the impact Jesus has had on the world since his life and death. While I was expecting something along the lines of Rodney Starks' brilliant conclusion to The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, instead, the reader gets something much closer to a muddled, anti-climatic whimper. While Cahill clearly acknowledges the positive impacts Christianity has had on the world, albeit in a muted and subdued fashion, he also subjects his readers to rubbish like this:
  
  "But it is also true that the West could never have realized some of its most cherished values without the process of secularization. The separation of church and state was achieved in the teeth of virulent Christian opposition, as was free speech, universal suffrage, tolerance, and many other values we could not be without. That these values flow from the subterranean river of authentic Christian tradition points up, once more, the paradoxical validity of the distinctions Jesus made between the religious establishment and true religious spirit."
  
  There are only a select few that can breathe life into ancient history as effortlessly as Cahill, who effectively and forcefully writes history for the masses. There are even fewer who can encapsulate a long period of history into a few short pages while still managing to convey all of the important and relevant facts in his easy-to-read breezy writing style. It is readily apparent, however, that Cahill does a much better job of writing history than theology. If he had stuck more to history instead of getting bogged down in liberal theology, Cahill's book would have been a much more welcome addition to my library.