Book Nook: Jesusgate

 When we hear "gate" added to something, we tend to think very negatively - Watergate and other scandals. I had a chance to review the book Jesusgate, and I was initially very skeptical about its aim. I was somewhat surprised to read that the author considers himself a Christian, but wants to set the record straight on the historical origins of Christianity.

This was an interesting book to read. Sometimes it seems as if the author wants to make us believe that truths about Jesus have been intentionally withheld - and at points in history, they definitely have been - but I don't always think that's the reason. I think there's also a combination of things that just aren't known in the historical record, or things that people don't think to ask about, not necessarily malicious secrecy.

That being said, there were definitely points in the book I agreed with - and things I already knew - about some of the ways the Christian church has developed over time. Other points I disagreed with, but welcomed reading because it encouraged me to dig deeper into certain issues. Overall, I'm glad I had the chance to read this book!

ERNIE BRINGAS has a Master of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, and was ordained as a minister of the United Methodist Church. He is presently an adjunct faculty member teaching Religious Studies at Glendale Community College in Arizona and, under their auspices, previously taught at Arizona State University. He served the Church for almost 20 years before venturing into academic studies. During the early 1960s, Ernie and his partner Phil Stewart founded a rock group that came to be known as the RIP CHORDS. The group, on Columbia Records, placed five hit singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart from 1962 to 1965.