Pagels, who has written many imposing and engrossing books on early Christianity, is back with a kind of culminating work ... [A] reasonable middle ground, one that acknowledges both the constructed nature of the texts and the oddities and frictions that point the way out of pure textuality.
Some of the passages in this illuminating and essential work are tough going ... But it’s worthwhile hanging in: As the chapters unfold, the plot thickens ... I realized that while I knew a great deal more about the origins of Christianity than when I began, the mystery of Jesus himself had deepened. Perhaps that’s how it’s meant to be. But the moral of the story is clear: Christ’s story is an iconic tale of hope emerging from darkness.
Pagels asks different questions about New Testament miracles. She is less interested in whether Jesus performed them than in what accounts for their power. Her larger quest is to understand the enduring appeal of Jesus to so many people ... In some cases, recontextualizing the old stories gives them an unexpected poignancy.
Pagels’s tone is consistently sympathetic, attuned to the pressures and incentives under which the Evangelists were writing, even as she betrays the somewhat superior attitude of the rationalist toward the religious ... Pagels presents decisions concerning the Gospel story and Christian doctrine as contrived, if not conspiratorial. But the depth of spirituality she uncovers is profound, providing for two millenniums of art and poetry. Pagels’s appreciation for these riches, as well as for the irrecoverable gaps in the historical record, keeps Miracles and Wonder from mere iconoclasm, even if its basic perspective finds Christian orthodoxy unsupportable.
There’s a peculiar tension in Pagels’s new book between her introductory approach and her brisk assumption of critical experience ... Provides an engaging introduction to the question of what might have motivated various people to record (or envision) the wondrous details that define the life of Jesus ... She refuses to get bogged down in the intricacies of scholarly debate. Indeed, she sometimes sounds like someone touring a house she doesn’t really want to buy ... Perhaps that sense of urgency is why 'Miracles and Wonder' never develops the narrative grandeur of Jack Miles’s 'Christ' (2001) or the prosecutorial vigor of John Dominic Crossan’s 'The Historical Jesus' ... Still, Pagels offers something else: the opportunity to hurry along with a scholar of tremendous graciousness and think together about some of the most profound and inspiring stories ever told.
Pagels yields perceptive new insights into what draws people to Jesus through her methodology and novel use of the Gnostic Gospels ... Conceiving Jesus in this way, in the poetic dimension, renders him palatable to a modern secularist audience, while leaving a small space for metaphysical ideas in the crevices of materialism.
Much of the material here covers familiar ground that’s been trod by many scholars, including Raymond Brown, John Dominic Crossan, and E. P. Sanders. Pagels revisits it all, pondering the miracle accounts and stories of healing ... Books like Pagels’s go a long way.
For each question posed, Pagels offers explanations, some from traditional sources, others from contemporaries, and later, skeptics who view events more critically. She concludes with a thoughtful examination of why Jesus’ messages, though often contradictory depending on which gospel you’re reading, still resonate. Part history, part mystery, all enlightening.
No matter how familiar readers are with the gospels, the stories Pagels has woven together offer new takes on who Jesus was and what it means to bring facts to faith with clarity and curiosity.
Rigorous ... Less successful are her detours into personal anecdotes...and analyses of Jesus in movies and art. Still, curious believers will find much to chew on.
