The Human Being: Jesus And The Enigma Of The Son Of The Man [Paperback]

The is one point that wish to state clearly. This series of texts is not about "your father's (or mother's) Jesus!" Wink demonstrates a Jesus that is dealing with issues of power and domination. It seems that little "theological reflection about the nature of the church" is present within the current psychological disposition of the American church. Wink provides a necessary corrective to this religious culture of psycho-babble.

It will be a difficult read. Keep a Bible handy.

This book is an authoritative commentary on the words, "son of man" and "the son of the man" an expression found throughout the Bible and an expression that Jesus used almost exclusively to describe himself. The Hebrew phrase simply means "a human being." For Wink, Jesus came to teach us, to call us, to be truly human. A task that Wink feels we have failed at miserably.

"We are only fragmentarily human, fleetingly human, brokenly human. We see glimpses of our humanness . . but we have not yet arrived at true humanness." He goes on to say, "we are incapable of becoming human by ourselves. We scarcely know what humanness is, but we know well what inhumanity is."

I found the most interesting and engaging chapter 'Feuerbach's Challenge', where Wink agrees with Ludwig Feuerbach, the 19th Century German Philosopher, that God is the merely the projection of human values and human nature. He turns this around to support his thesis that the projection of our best
qualities and powers into Godhead, the emptying of ourselves into
transcendence is what God wants. "We are projections of God, functions of God, and that God is a function, a projection of us. Consequently, our perceptions of God are projections, as Feuerbach thought."

I was disappointed that Wink's focus is on us becoming 'truly human', yet he only gives one and a half pages to discussing the definition of the 'truly human'. Scant space when you consider this is the core of his thesis. Throughout the book he alludes to what being 'truly human' means, but you must collect the fragments and paste together your own understanding. He states, "The new human being has not yet emerged. Evil is as powerful today as it was the day Jesus hung on the cross." Right, Professor, but what does the "new human being" look like, Jesus? And if Jesus, then the human side, right? Carl Jung's concept of 'individuation' is referenced multiple times,
as is Maslow's concept of self actualization. But you come away with nothing definitive.

This book is a demanding academic read that will escape most of the general populace. It is recommended for ministers seeking a commentary on the words "son of man" and various passages throughout the Bible, as well as theologians and students of theology. In 'The Human Being' Walter Wink has given us an exhaustive study on the words "son of man"; going beyond just the
Biblical and expanding the study into the use of the words in Pseudepigrapha, Apocrypha, Gnostic and Jewish mysticism and Apocrypha mystic writings. Recommended

The book is refreshing, moving, clear, intelligible and well organized throughout. Perhaps one of the most important comments that can be made about this text is that it provides the reader with a perspective on Jesus which is not only believable, but meaningful. Without sacrificing the importance of Jesus, Wink presents us with an emerging Christology from below that he grounds in Jesus' own self understanding as gleaned largely through the Gospel accounts of his life, teaching and ministry.

Wink masterfully develops his thought by mining the Hebrew and New Testament scriptures taking as his central theme and starting point the numerous "son of the man/human being" sayings throughout the scriptures. As noted above, he begins with Ezekiel and moves on to Genesis which, as the author notes, was written after Ezekiel. He continues on with Daniel, the Gospels and concludes with pertinent extra biblical texts of the First Century CE. In the end we are left with an image of Jesus as one who fully realized his humanity and thus the goal of life as God intended.

Using a historical critical method and a critique of domination as his critical lens, Wink recovers emphases within the scriptures that have been lost in the Christian tradition due to the traditions tendency to accommodate and interpret the gospels in light of structures of domination. As Wink aptly illustrates, the fundamental thrust of Jesus' teaching and ministry was to confront and condemn all forms of domination. Accordingly, for Wink, the critique of domination provides the essential criterion for determining what was revelatory in Jesus' life and message as this apprears in the "son of the man" sayings.

The fundamental thesis of the book is that by recovering the archetypal meaning of "the son of the man," Jesus, the human being - the son and mediator of the truly Human One, becomes a catalyst for human transformation by teaching us what it means to be more fully human. Through careful and creative exegesis, Wink offers a provocative first century portrait of Jesus that systematically peels away the multiple layers of dogmatic assertions about Jesus and illuminates the earthly, human Jesus who truly was 'one like us.'

This book is a wonderful scholarly addition to the study of Jesus. Likewise, it smoothly integrates theology, philosophy and psychology. Wink is simultaneously provocative, humorous, realistic and humble throughout. He is both a feminist and a liberationist in his critical approach to theology and the scriptures.

I recommend this text to all students of theology and anyone else who is interested in becoming more authentically human in light of their Christian commitment to God, through Jesus - the fully human, human being.