Crenshaw's Books & Decks

If you have never read Deida, want to read one of his books and are undecided on which one to  choose, this is, to me, your book. Whether you read it or listen to it in Audible format, this is the clearer more practical Deida, still with all the points that make him one of the must-reads in couples relationships.

If you have read other books by Deida, you'll find that many of the things he  says here, no surprise, are a rehearse of what he said in Intimate Communion and It's a guy Thing or Instant Enlightenment :

>  The difference between love, fall in love and sexual polarity; 

> The differences between the ways the masculine and feminine energies manifest and relate.

> The core qualities of the masculine and the feminine. 

> What attracts to the masculine and the feminine.

> The three stages of being of the masculine and feminine and the three stages of relating.

However, he's more to the point and clearer here than in the other books I mention.  Deida also goes into a bit of more depth regarding sexuality and discusses:

> The six levels of sexuality.

> The darkest aspects of the masculine/feminine and sexuality. 

> Monogamy, polygamy and commitment.

This audible version has three sets of guided long exercises to do, one on your own and with your partner. The aim is to create an open circulating connection of the breath, the body, heart, the divine and energy, very Tantric in essence. They help to connect partners in very powerful ways, enhancing orgasm and heart connection. Copulating with the divine is an image that I won't be able to forget.

Two little thingies.:

> The first is that Deida uses the word primitive-civilised in ways that are outdated and not considered appropriate, as they are western-centric; really some primitive cultures are way more evolved than 'civilised' ones, in many things about being civilised aren't that evolved, are an involution.

> As I've commented in other books by Deida, his comments on women abused by domestic violence should be re-written so his message is expressed in a way that doesn't sound like it's the victim's fault. I get that this is not what Deida intends at all, but most women out there might feel uncomfortable, to say the least, at reading/hearing some of the connections about feminine energy and being abused that Deida makes.  

The audible edition of the book has a great sound quality, and it is wonderfully neat and well-structured. The book is narrated by Deida himself. Deida has a great diction and is a natural in the way he narrates the book, without the listener feeling that Deida is reading anything; he also has a wonderful voice, very masculine, velvety, and sensual, which might turn on some of the ladies and get an extra bonus.

The best thing I've read from Deida, still with his usual Tantric, sexy, spiritual, untamed no-BS approach to relating.

Braving the Wilderness is an engaging, passionate, and well structured book that took me by surprise. I didn't know anything about this book or the author when I grabbed this. It was one of those on-the-spur-of-the-moment purchases not to lose my audible credit, chosen basically be cause it was at the top of the non-fiction books rankings.

The expression Braving the Wilderness immediately transported me to the middle of an inhospitable isolated place where we have to learn to survive on our own and surrounded by dangerous beasts. In a way, this is a  metaphor for what braving the wilderness really is, it is just that is not Alaska or the Amazon that we have to face and survive, but our modern day society, and our social and political environment.

The book departs from a quote from Maya Angelou:

"You are only free when you realize you belong no place, you belong every place, no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great."

In Braving the Wilderness, Brown discusses spirituality, loneliness, aloneness, solitude, conflict, true belonging, stereotyping, compassion, connection, fear, hatred, pain, anger, BS, civility, boundaries, the difference between what we are and what we believe, and between fitting and belonging. And the good thing is that she does it with a lot of soul and in a very understandable engaging way.

I enjoyed her comments on stereotyping and BStting, as I have suffered those myself, and on bringing civility back into fashion. However, one of the things that resonated the most with me was the  BRAVING system, or seven rules to trust people, ourselves, and be trusted: 1/ Boundaries; to keep and set strong boundaries and be clear about them, and to respect other people's boundaries. 2/ Reliability; to  do what we say we say are going to do, not to use what I call "constant I'm-going-to" to please your own hear or to create commitments that you cannot comply with. 3/ Accountability; own your mistakes, acknowledge them, take responsibility for them and apologise if necessary. 4/ Vault; be like a vault so that, what it is told to you confidentially does not leave our lips and is not shared with anybody with whom was never meant to be shared. A kinda of my lips are sealed. 5/ Integrity. 6/ Non Judgement. 7/ Generosity;  assume that everybody's words and intentions meant to be good even if they turned out otherwise. 

I also liked her quest to be clear about what she means by what she says. Some of the most important definitions she offers in the book are the following:

>  Spirituality = Recognising and celebrating that we are inextricably connected to each other by a power and a connection to that power and one's another that is grounded on love and compassion.
My shortcut = We are all interconnected (I add, even when you aren't spiritual or religious).

> Wilderness = Belonging fully to ourselves so much so that we are willing to stand alone, and also an untamed unpredictable place of solitude and searching.
My shortcut = Know who you are and dare to own it.  

> Braving = Speaking truth to BS and practising civility; it starts with knowing ourselves and the behaviours and issues that both push us into our own BS or get in the way to be civil.
My shortcut = Have the balls to say what you believe. 

> True Belonging =  The spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world  and find a sacredness in both  being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness.
My shortcut = Let your inner light shine and go out even when when others don't really like it. 

> Civility, as that defined by the Institute for Civility and Government: claiming and caring for one's identity needs and beliefs without degrading some else's in the process.   
My shortcut = Treat others the way you want to be treated even when you strongly disagree with them.

THE DOWNSIDES

1/ Extroversion bias.
The quest to belong is common to all humans, no matter our culture, nationality, ideology and religion, but the way people connect are not the same. Personally, the main downside of the book is that Brown has a strong extroversion bias, and she projects her extroversion as an equivalent of connection. Any introvert reading the book will find that there are too many groups, too many get-together, and some large gatherings that are not ''natural' ways of connecting to us. A concert at a big arena, a football match in a large stadium, sound more like places where one see mobs and conformity trends in action; we can enjoy the show, but not really connect unless you are there with somebody you  have already connected. I also know introverts that love the sound of silence, despise sport, don't usually go to big demonstrations, and yet, they have meaningful connections with other human beings and empathy with humanity in general. Of course, when we attend a wedding or funeral, or march in the streets to express our views on social or political issues we are sharing important things with strangers, we are part of something larger than ourselves, but to introverts that is not real connection. I can simply say that most introverts would not join large gatherings, not even family ones, or would do so against their will and would not consider that enjoyable or a way of connecting. I would like that some writers thought about us, a high number of very functional human beings, who are not extroverts and don't relate to other people as extroverts do. I am not saying that Brown doesn't get that, I am saying that the book doesn't reflect that.

2/ Braving the wilderness is not enough.

Although I basically agree with much of what Brown states, believes in, and speaks about in the book, braving the wilderness is not enough to change the attitudes and social trouble that our modern Western society lives in and is affected by. We can brave the wilderness, but for society to be better, to step up, to change as a whole, more is needed. I don't deny the power of one or a few to transform society, but a large shift is needed to do that, and that involves more that a good heart, belonging to ourselves, or loving our neighbour. The  power of education, social justice, eradication of poverty and equal opportunities are immense to eradicate ignorance, fear, hatred and swallowing the news as they were Bible's material, so people aren't manipulated, and hatred and antagonism don't spread so easily and virulently.

3/ Data per se is not serious research.
I understand that this is a book addressed to the general public, and Brown couldn't mention her research's methodology and findings in detail. However, the book sounded as if she was reducing research to data, which is something simplistic and dangerous. Data alone is easily manipulable and data is not a poll in which x percent of a group says yes, no, or this is what I think about this issue. Brown is an academic and knows that perfectly well. However, at times, it sounded as if the data was just  the result of a poll taken among the people taken part in her research, and that is dangerous. As I did read this book in audible format, there might be some explanations or footnotes in the hard-copy; if that is the case, my apologies in advance. 

4/ It might age soon.
 Although I agree with what she says about the current political environment in the US, I would have rather focused on other examples, which are equally valid, but won't age the book. On the other hand, she is braving the wilderness and speaking her truth, so bravo.

5/ The first chapter.
The start of the book got me worried. It is a sort of memoir in which Brown links her personal experiences to the core of the book, but until that becomes clear, it felt as another self-improvement self-centred guru wanting to talk about her without stop and dropping Oprah's name to major impact.

I usually love children and teenagers' books as they are a way of escapism for me and a light read; besides, I truly enjoy magical and wondrous characters and stories. A priori, this book has it all.

A Dragon's Guide... is the story of a grumpy dragoness and her evolving relationship with Winnie --the grand-niece of her former human pet, the late Fluffy--, how the dragon gets progressively attached to her, and how they both bond when they have to catch some magic nasty creatures that Winnie inadvertently created and released to the real world.

The book has some similarities with Rowling's latest book on magic beasts, with the script of Goosebumps, and with many books of the genre, but it is more clearly addressed to small children. It is not original or especially imaginative, but the characters are lovely and well drawn, and there is an interesting unique reversion of roles, as the magic creature is the one doing the narration and her character the one leading. In addition, the language is quite polished, even formal at times, and will certainly help children to enlarge their vocabulary.

The narration by actress Susan Denaker is superb. She's able to play all the characters with charm and credibility, a task that is far from small or simple as she gives voice and personality to adult and children characters, creatures with different accents (Scottish, French, English, American), and uses her tone and skills as a performer to create a magic world for us. In addition, one has to praise Denaker's impeccable (mostly British) diction and pronunciation, perfect to be listened to by students learning English.

Perhaps the illustrated book has a charm that this audible version has not. However, despite the quality of the narration, I found it difficult to get engaged or excited. I found the book too wordy at times; too slow or perhaps with bad tempo, and not much action or excitement for adults. What I enjoyed the most about this book was not the story, but the narrator's performance. Small children might love the book, so I cannot speak for them. However, I won't be buying the follow-up book/s.

Overall, an OK children's book (if you are an adult), and a great performance.

 Laurie Nadel, a psychoanalyst pioneer in the mind-body relation and intuition, wrote this book in 1990, but it feels as relevant, fresh and serious in year 2017 as it was then. The edition I am reviewing is the re-edition of 2006 in audible format.

Sixth Sense is structured in four parts. The first part tries to define intuition and discusses the difference between intuitive knowing with precedent and without precedent.

The second part offers many examples on how intuition enhances our life, problem solving, health recovery, learning and creativity, and what to do to favour intuition.

The third part discusses how different parts of the brain relate to different parts of our being, and how they manifest in our daily behaviour and thinking and the way that intuition works. There is a strong focus on letting readers recognise how intuition speaks to them, specifically, with many exercises to facility just that.

The fourth part examines the cutting edge of the science of intuition and Consciousness, and discusses at length Remote Viewing, Psychotronics, intuitive consensus, some of the experiments carried out by the Institute of Noetic Sciences among other things.

The epilogue or appendix, added in 2006, updates some of the things said in the first edition. 

The title of the book is somewhat deceptive because its main aim is not just to help us recognise and develop our intuition, but also to integrate all the parts of our brain and facilitate intuition so that logical thinking and intuition get integrated in our daily lives in an organic way.

Core Premises of the Book

We have multiple intelligences as our brain is structured in different sections, all of which contribute to generating knowledge. Our brain is like a triptych: the reptilian brain creates patterns, habits, routines and instinctive behaviour as well as our sense of territory and safety. The limbic system is where all the emotions come from. The neocortex is divided into left and right hemisphere or brains, the right part being devoted to creativity and intuition, and the left to logical and analytical thinking. Intuitive and rational thought are both natural abilities and functions of the brain, they work together (but in different ways) to provide us with different types of knowledge if we let them both speak to us and if we develop both of them. Intuition connects different parts of the brain, it is scientifically measurable, it is custom-made (i.e. each person experiences intuition in different ways), and is part of us, even if we don't believe it exists or is helpful or produces knowledge. Some people are naturally more intuitive than others, but we can all develop our intuition. We should strive to use all capabilities of the brain instead of doing what has happened until now in our culture, i.e. that one part is good and the other is useless or nonsensical. 

Yummy Nuggets

> Our brain is like a computer screen with four open windows and software devoted to different tasks depending on what we need to do. We switch from window to window depending on what we are working on. What separates a normal person from a genius is the ability to move across all the windows/parts of the screen/brain with easiness, not our IQ.
> First impressions are gut feelings too.
> People with similar professions tend to have similar brain profiles.
> It is important to let a child know that being intuitive or intuition are all right, that they aren't weirdos just because they are specially intuitive. Intuition, after all, is another life skill. 
> The main element to favour our intuitive process when we are stuck is basically physical and/or and relaxation activities.
> The main characteristics or qualities that an intuitive person has vary from person to person. To develop your intuition we need to become aware of which elements are specific to us, in which forms and parts of the body or the mind our intuition shows up. Some of the qualities associated with intuitive people are curiosity, being open to new experiences, willing to experiment new things, being adventurous and decisive, acting on what we know without knowing, but there are many others. Nadel provides us with a long list of qualities, a data-bank, from us to go through and choose from, because some qualities will resonate more than others with us, and they are the way we experience intuition individually.

> Our world is heavily sided on the use and development of left brain, when it should be balanced in the use of both parts of the neocortex.
> There is a direct correlation between the change in the functioning of the nostrils and the changes in the functioning of the brain,  between the side on which we sleep and changes in the activity of our brain. That is scientifically proven. It blew me away!
> There are ways for us to recognise which parts of our behaviour and daily life show different parts of our brain at work: the reptilian brain, the limbic system and the neocortex. Discovering my reptilian me gave me great pleasure!
>  Learning can be favoured and increased by the use of both logic and intuition.
> The scientific study of Consciousness is directly related to that of intuition, as intuition is part of consciousness.
> The mind is not limited to the four dimensions of space-time, that's why the mind is capable of knowing things that the brain's sensory system does not pick up. Spice and time are bounded by our ability to conceptualise them but, as the right neocortex does not measure space and time, it isn't impossible that our brain's intuitive abilities can function outside the space-time continuum that only our left neocortex perceives. That would explain, for example, premonitory dreams or premonitions in general. Uber-cool.

The Exercises

There is a good number of exercises in this book, but chapter 13 (17 in the audible format) is totally devoted to exercises and journaling. I found the exercises very good, easy to do on our own, and many of them new to me. Many of the exercises try to get you to connect different parts of the brain to intuition, therefore, they are not "divinatory" in nature. Herewith a list of some of the exercises provided in the book: ➞ Inner resource exercise. ➞ Visualise yourself in the future exercise. ➞ Take a picture of your imagination exercise. ➞ The room of your mind exercise. ➞ The switch exercise. ➞  Find your reptilian energy exercise. ➞ Your sanctuary exercise. ➞ Love yourself exercise. ➞ The voice of reason exercise. ➞ The voice of intuition exercise. ➞ Intuition store exercise.  ➞ "What I am" exercise. ➞ "I trust myself because..." exercise. ➞ "Love your reptilian self and have a reptilian day" exercise. ➞ Locating a lost object using your reptilian intelligence exercise. ➞ Your limbic-emotional brain exercise. ➞ Make your limbic music library exercise. ➞ I 'want' exercise. ➞ Associational  word exercise , ➞ Decision making exercise. ➞ Visualise intuition exercise. ➞ Intuition hall of fame exercise, ➞ Mind-mapping. ➞ Make your treasure map aka vision board.

So-so

Something I didn't like in the book was the number of examples given, especially in the first and second part. Too many for my taste and not always needed. I would have rather devoted that space to exercises or to discuss some other things at length. 

Research on the brain and Consciousness has developed greatly since the book was first written. Even the addenda in the 2006 edition falls short. Nowadays, scientists seem not to be so focused on the differences between right-left brain, and some people even call it a myth. See this article, for example. 

The Audible Version

I read this book in audible version because it is not available in Kindle format. I try to avoid academic and scientific books on Audible in general, and especially if they aren't narrated by professors or teachers, who have a clear understanding of how their energy, enthusiasm and voice inflections help to convey a given message, not matter how complex it is. I have mixed feelings about the narrator David Stifel, an actor by trade. On one hand he has a very clear diction, performing abilities, so he can switch voices and play different people. He is also very good at reading in a way that sounds as if he was the author, and as if he was speaking not reading a book. That is great. I also like the tone of his voice, which is very soothing. I found him especially good when reading the footnotes, that is a lot of talent you need so make something as boring sound interesting and clear, if you want to take some notes. Perhaps the pace and energy weren't there for me, and the inflections of the voice not well marked, so I felt sleepy quite often despite the book being quite interesting.  I think the narrator would be great for fiction, for academic or scientific reading he is just all right.

In Short

This is a very good helpful book to understand intuition. One of the best I have read. The book will please those people, like me, who want to approach intuition with an open mind but without having to swallow tons of New Age religious spiritual mumbo-jumbo to explain something that is really natural and devoid of whohas. I would recommend getting the hard copy, to benefit from the figures, consult the notes, and bookmark the exercises; although you can bookmark the text in Audible,  their bookmarking system is not as good as one might wish. The book is certainly not up to date with the latest research on brain and consciousness. This is year 2017, the book was written at the beginning of the 1990s, and science and research haven evolved and improved, and the study of the brain has given us amazing surprises. Yet, if your interest is intuition, the book is still very good. If your interest is the functioning of the brain in general, perhaps not as much.   

This is a 12-hour or so audio course by Professor Bart D. Ehrman, a Princeton PhD recipient, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and renowned scholar on Early Modern Christianity and on the figure of Jesus. We are offered a very good historical overview of the first three centuries of Christianity from its humble inception as a low-class Jewish sect to become an anti-Jewish religion and the official religion of the Roman Empire. 

 This 24-lesson course (30 minutes or so each) that analyses how and why early Christianity was born, expanded, grew, suffered, was persecuted and ended being the official religion of the Roman Empire. The lectures are:

1-  The Birth of Christianity. 2-The Religious World of Early Christianity. 3- The Historical Jesus. 4- Oral and Written Traditions about Jesus. 5- The Apostle Paul. 6-The Beginning of Jewish-Christian Relations. 7- The Anti-Jewish Use of the Old Testament. 8-The Rise of Christian Anti-Judaism. 9-The Early Christian Mission. 10-The Christianization of the Roman Empire. 11-The Early Persecutions of the State. 12-The Causes of Christian Persecution. 13-Christian Reactions to Persecution. 14-The Early Christian Apologists. 15-The Diversity of Early. Christian Communities. 16-Christianities of the Second Century. 17-The Role of Pseudo-epigrapha. 18-The Victory of the Proto-Orthodox. 19-The New Testament Canon. 20-The Development of Church Offices. 21-The Rise of Christian Liturgy. 22-The Beginnings of Normative Theology. 23-The Doctrine of the Trinity. 24-Christianity and the Conquest of Empire. The book also includes a handy timeline, a glossary, and a commented bibliography.

You can download the 143+-page book on PDF from your library (in your member area), potion the cursor on the PDF link and let clink and select save link as, and it will download. Ehrman's books are not as student-friendly as others from other professors as there are not tables, figures, photos or anything graphic in them.

The Recording

Answered Questions 

Ѫ Who was the main 'designer' of early Christianity?
Ѫ Which sources are important to the study of Early Christianity?
Ѫ Who were these Christians? Why did Christianity expand so rapidly throughout the Roman Empire? At which rhythm? How did it win converts throughout the Roman Empire?
Ѫ  How did Pagans and Jews see Christians?
Ѫ  How did the creeds, the canon of the New Testament, and the church hierarchy all develop out of its earlier diversity?  Why despite the  many books written in the names of the apostles, only 27 were considered Sacred Scripture and include in the New Testament? Which criteria were used to do so? Who decided on the books to include and what motivated their decisions? 
Ѫ Why did early Christians develop an ecclesiastical hierarchy and clergy? Who were these people? Why liturgy was created and what was their initial meaning? Were the clergy and the liturgy questionable and questioned? 
Ѫ  How and why would Christianity end becoming the Roman Empire official religion?

I Missed Some Answers

Ж I would have liked to know in which areas, if any, Jesus differed from other apocalyptic prophets of the 1st Century and if his discourse had anything new to it or not.
Ж  I would have loved some reflection on the fact that, there were many apocalyptic prophets in the 1st Century, and many of them were dispose of, Jesus' message ended being the only one perpetuated. Why did that happen? Just on the grounds of his resurrection? Why would Jesus' followers spread the message of their teachers and the disciples of other prophetic teachers did not?
Ж  One of the episodes in the New Testament is the one that mentions St Thomas after the resurrection, in which Thomas thought what he was seeing was ghost, but Jesus made him touch his wounds to prove him he was well alive. So I wonder, where there is any historical possibility of he surviving crucifixion. In other words, I would have loved Ehrman  discussing the Swoon Hypothesis and the historicity of the Life of Saint Issa.
Ж Valentinianism is barely mentioned in this course, probably included among the Gnostics, but this was one of the major Christian heterodox movements until the 4th century, so I thought a bit of more space and time should have devoted to them.
Ж When discussing the birth of Christian liturgy, Ehrman discusses Baptism and Eucharist, but nothing is mentioned about Marriage and Burial ceremonies among Christians. Didn't they exist? When they did develop?
Ж Although Ehrman mentions some women in the course, he does not say a word about the role of women in early Christianity. Something I found utterly surprising, giving the fact that St Paul wasn't a lover of women, to put it boldly.  
Ж Among the reasons why Christianity spread so quickly in the Roman Empire and throughout the world, nothing is said about the way Christianity appropriated Pagan festivities and celebrities, and precise dates and deities,  and gave them a Christian meaning. Did that happen after Constantine? Because that did happen. Just look at the Christmas Tree. I would have loved hearing something about that, to add to the reasons of the spread of Christianity, but nothing is said. Perhaps is a myth? Did happened after Constantine?
Ж  Re the Trinity, I thought that there is, in a way, an approach to Trinity that somewhat resonates with some of the Gnostic myths of creation, so I would have loved him digging a bit on that. 
Ж Finally, Ehrman presents the information as a bold statements that seem to indicate that there is not much doubt among historians about some of the things he says. I would have loved seeing him discussing this points of view and saying so and then presenting the listener with those of his nemesis. I think he does so just once and not in I stand for this but Mary and Peter don't. That would have given balance to his discourse.

This course is very not really controversial. Ehrman is a historian and needs to contextualise the figure of Jesus and early Christianity. So he needs to speak as much of Jesus and Christians as of Jews, Judaism, Pagans and Paganism. Christians did not live on a planet of their own, but were citizens of the Roman Empire. This course is really easy to digest by Christians of all creeds, especially if you are open-minded and liberal. However, fundamental Christians or any Christian unwilling to face historical facts might not be happy to hear some of the things Ehrman has to say. In other words, if you are easily offended, don't listen to the course!

In Short

This a great course to  get a historical overview of the three first centuries of Christianity. As the period covered in the course is quite large, understandably, some things are treated superficially. I would recommend listening Ehrman's course on the historical Jesus, and to Prof. Brakke's course on the Gnostics. Yet, if you only hear to this course, you will get good value for money, and food for thought and for the soul.

This is a 12-hour or so audio course by Professor Bart D. Ehrman,a Princeton Ph.D. recipient, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and renowned scholar on Early Modern Christianity and on the figure of Jesus.

 This 24-lesson course (30 minutes or so each) is well structured and paced. Due to the nature of the material analysied, Ehrman devotes a good deal of time to explain how historians analyse their sources, a process that is valid for any source on any period, not specifically on Jesus, but especially relevant for the study of the historical Jesus.  Once the methodology and criteria used to study the sources are explained, Erhman separates reality from myth, possible from highly improbable, what we know for from what we don't regarding Jesus's infancy, years of ministry, preaching, deeds, death and resurrection.

The lectures are:

1- The Many Faces of Jesus. 2-One Remarkable Life. 3- Scholars Look at the Gospels. 4- Fact and Fiction in the Gospels. 5- The Birth of the Gospels. 6- Some of the Other Gospels [Gnostic Gospels of Thomas and St Peter's Gospel]. 7- The Coptic Gospel of Thomas. 8- Other Sources [Pagan sources, Jewish sources, and Canonical sources outside the Gospels]. 9- Historical Criteria. Getting Back to Jesus [Criterion of independent attestation]. 10- More Historical Criteria [criterion of dissimilarity and criterion of contextual credibility]. 11- The Early Life of Jesus. 12-Jesus in His Context [Jew religious movements in the 1st century]. 13- Jesus and Roman Rule [Apocalyptic prophets sharing points in the period]. 14- Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet [elements that show Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet]. 15- The Apocalyptic Teachings of Jesus. 16- Other Teachings of Jesus in their Apocalyptic Context. 17- The Deeds of Jesus in their Apocalyptic Context [Arguments of historians who don't think Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet and Ehrman's reply to them]. 18-  Still Other Words and Deeds of Jesus [Jesus' miracles]. 19- The Controversies of Jesus. 20- The Last Days of Jesus. 21- The Last Hours of Jesus. 22- The Death and Resurrection of Jesus. 23- The Afterlife of Jesus. 24- The Prophet of the New Millennium.

You can download the 185-page book on PDF from your library (in your member area), potion the cursor on the PDF link and let clink and select save link as, and it will download. Ehrman's books are not as student-friendly as others from other professors as there are not tables, figures, photos or anything graphic in them.  The book includes a very useful Timeline, a glossary, and a commented bibliography. However, the bibliography is quite old as the initial course was prepared and recorded in year 2000. So why not updating the PDF book with more modern recommended readings and further info about the latest developments? That would be extremely easy to do as the course was released for Audible in 2013 and it is a long period with lots of new developments and bibliography produced. So, in a way, some of the things said in the book might be a bit outdated.

This is an excellent audio recording, great neat sound, well-structured and narrated, with musical clues that indicate the end of a chapter, and headings by a radio-voice presenter at the beginning of each chapter. Unlike other courses in the series, this one has a boxed applause at the beginning of each lecture, not sure if  real applause or added for effect.

Ehrman has a great knowledge and a clear way of structuring and exposing his points verbally, the reading is well paced and full of energy, and the recording is very enjoyable to listen to, never boring. However, there are a few odd things that don't make the narration flow as well as other lecturers courses: The fluctuation of the voice is a bit brusque at times, with high energy ending in a too-long silence, and Ehrman stumbles upon his own words quite often, as if he was self-conscious and a bit nervous when recording. Of course, this is just my impression.  

~~ The method on which Ehrman analysis the sources on Jesus is actually the sort of analysis that serious historians apply to the sources they use for their research, no matter the subject of interest. Historical research, especially biblical research, without the exegesis of the sources is not serious History.
~~  It shows how History-making is not just babble, or putting together facts in a linear sequence. History-making has a method and methodology, a set of rules that are serious, and that are extremely important to support and give credibility to any historical research. This is especially relevant when speaking of the figure of Jesus.
~~ The Gospels offer not only different information about Jesus but things that are totally contradictory so it is difficult to decide which thing is correct and which thing is not correct.

~~ One might guess that Jesus being such an important man and figure, there would be tons of historical reliable references about his life, teachings, deeds in Jew, Pagan and Christian sources, but the contrary is true. We know very little about the historical Jesus, and much of what we believe true through the New Testament is not true or not historically reliable.
~~ Jesus was a Jew who believed and supported the Law of Moses. Most of his disagreements with other Jew factions was based not on the questioning of the validity of that Law, but on how to deal with confusing or vague passages in the Old Testament.
~~ Jesus was one of the many Apocalyptic prophets in 1st-century Judea. 

~~ Christianity didn't begin with Jesus' life or death, but began with the belief of Jesus' resurrection, which affected the way those believers understood who he was and what he taught.

Historical Reliable Information about Jesus from the Course

~~ INFANCY:
Jesus was born and raised as a Jew in Nazareth, his parents being Mary and Joseph, the later a manual worker. His mother had other children, and wasn't a virgin, she didn't know about her son being the chosen one or special. Jesus has brothers and sisters, James being one of them. Jesus spoke Aramaic and had a normal education and upbringing; he wasn't specially precocious or was invested of special qualities, but he learned Hebrew and Greek and could read the Scriptures. 
~~ ADULT LIFE:
> We don't know what happened between his infancy and until he was baptised, but we know that he began his public ministry by associating and being baptised by John the Baptist, an apocalyptic prophet of the time, for which we can assume that Jesus also was an apocalyptic prophets of the 1st Century Palestine. The first Christian communities in the Mediterranean that spread after he died believed that the end of the world was coming and therefore were also apocalyptic Christian communities. Most importantly, his teachings, sayings and actions had all the elements of the apocalypticism of the time: 1/ cosmic dualism; 2/ pessimism; 3/ God was going to intervene in history, create a kingdom on earth, final judgement would take place; 4/the kingdom of god was almost here, to happen in a generation.
> His ethical teachings were not presented as universal truths, but valid for the historical context in which they were uttered; his teachings were not a contradiction but a reaffirmation of the need to follow Moses' law but differed from the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes: In all these disagreements, the issue was never over whether God’s law, as found in the Hebrew Bible, should be kept. The question was how it should be kept and what it meant to keep it. (p. 101) He also spread a message of love that was strongly new, love your neighbour and God above all.  But Jesus didn't see himself as creating a new system of ethics and saw love to survive the coming destruction of the world.
> Jesus carried his ministry largely in rural areas, despite Nazareth being very close to two big urban centres.
> Jesus' period of public ministry is uncertain but it goes from several months to about two years and a half maximum as per the Gospels' own information.
> Jesus was rejected or at odds with his own family, with the people of his home town of Nazareth, and not very popular with the towns and villages of Galilee he visited as an itinerant preacher. Jesus was also rejected by the religious leaders of the Jews in Palestine for the interpretation of the law not about the law itself when Moses' Law was incomplete or ambiguous.
~~ DEATH:
> In the last week of his life, Jesus decided to bring his apocalyptic message to the heart of the Kingdom, Jerusalem, during the Passover feast. He entered the city with other pilgrims, without being especially noticed. Once in Jerusalem he acted out the coming destruction of the world by creating a disturbance in the temple. This attracted the attention of the temple authorities, who decided he needed to be removed from the public eye.
>  Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, who told to the authorities some of the secret teachings Jesus had given to his inner circle of 12 disciples, in which Jesus had a leader role in the coming Kingdom of God, which placed him in a sort of political king and crease a political riot. This grounds were the basis of his arrest. Jesus was arrested by the Jew authorities and brought him to an informal interrogation and then handed over the Roman authorities for trial.
> Jesus died on the cross considered as a seditious Jew who could generate social upheaval or at least some riots. Historically speaking, we cannot state or deny his resurrection, just that his followers would end believing so. 

~~ I would have liked to know in which areas, if any, Jesus differed from other apocalyptic prophets of the 1st Century.
~~ I would have loved some reflection on the fact that there being many apocalyptic prophets in the 1st Century, Jesus' message ended being the only one perpetuated. Why that did happen? There was something about his personality? His message? The circumstances in which he died?
~~ Why would Jesus' followers spread the message and create Christian communities and not the followers of other apocalyptic prophets of the time?
~~ Is there any truth about the so-called Unknown Years of Jesus, the theory that states that Jesus didn't raise from the dead but survived crucifixion and went on preaching to India? I would have loved a bit of attention to this topic, to its refutation or not, and on which grounds. I am sure that Ehrman has plenty to say about this subject. 

Good value for money even if you pay it in full, and a bargain if you have a membership with Audible. 

Ehrman clearly states at the beginning of the course and during the same that you can examine the figure as Jesus from a historical point of view or a theological point of view, and that he is doing the first, without trying to support or deny anything about Jesus. Serious Historians do what Ehrman does with his sources, so we cannot pretend that he forgets what is not comfortable for us to hear. This being the case, conservative and fundamental Christians, who have an agenda in having the Gospels to be God's Word and follow it to the letter, will find the course confronting and difficult to deal with at all levels. You've been warned.

In short

The whole series of lectures is mind blowing. Except for the last lecture, which I considered a bit digressive and off topic re Jesus, I think the course is stupendous. Even if you are a faithful Christian, it can help you to understand who Jesus really was and give an extra layer to your set of beliefs. Of course, if you believe the writings of the Gospels to be God's word, and Jesus to be God, this is not a book for you!

I found the course especially good as a way to demonstrate how serious historians work and how they use their sources. This is especially important if you are going to start studying History at University and intend to devote yourself to historical research on controversial subjects, no matter your period of study.  

This is 12-hour University Course on Gnosticism prepared and narrated by one of the scholars who knows most about Early Christianity and Gnosticism, David Brakke, a Yale PhD recipient and professor of the State of Ohio University. He has the  virtue of knowing what teaching is. It is not that he has plenty of knowledge, is that he is able to convey the  knowledge he has in ways that are understandable, engaging and entertaining without being informal or too formal.

The Recording

This is an excellent audio recording, great sound, well-structured and narrated, with musical clues that indicate the end of a chapter, and headings by a radio-voice presenter at the beginning of each chapter.

Brakke's narration is excellent. The modulation and inflection of his voice and tone are easy to follow without getting bored or sleepy, even when Brakke gives details about the myths of the different Gnostics. He is able to be rigorous about what he says but also flexible, not dogmatic, he doesn't present his opinion as Universal if it is not, he is humble but assertive. He does what true scholars do, they know a lot but know what they don't know so they don't fake what they don't or add on anything. Brakke's knowledge on the subject is exhaustive.

 The course is made of 24 lessons, each of about 30 minutes and we are taken through the main schools of Gnosticism, the main sources and philosophers, giving a detailed account of each document discusses or branch of Early Christianity examined in the course. Brakke also shows the points that those branches and texts share and those on which they differ, and digs into what the life was for Christians in the three first centuries of the Christian Era. Brakke also gives some sketched information about related beliefs that span through the Middle Ages and to this very day.

The list of lessons  is as follows:

1- Rediscovering Gnosis. 2- Who where the Gnostics? 3- God in Gnostic Myth. 4- Gnosticism on Creation, Sin and Salvation. 5- Judas as Gnostic Tragic Hero. 6- Gnostic Bible Stories. 7- Gnosticism Ritual Pathway to God. 8-  The Feminine in Gnostic Myth.9- The Gospel of Thomas’s Cryptic Sayings. 10- The Gospel of Thomas on Reunifying the Self.11- Valentinus, Great Preacher of Gnosis. 12- God and Creation in Valentinian Myth.13- “Becoming Male” through Valentinian Ritual. 14- Valentinian Views on Christian Theology. 15- Mary Magdalene as an Apostle of Gnosis. 16- Competing Revelations from Christ.17- The Invention of Heresy. 18- Making Gnosis Orthodox. 19- Gnosticism and Judaism. 20-  Gnosis without Christ.
21- The Mythology of Manichaeism. 22- Augustine on Manichaeism and Original Sin.23- Gnostic Traces in Western Religions. 24- “Gnosticism” in the Modern Imagination.

You can download the book on PDF from your library (in your member area), potion the cursor on the PDF link and let clink and select save link as, and it will

The audio-book comes with a companion book, of about 185 pages. The text is mostly what Brakke narrates, but not strictly so, no to the letter, as he adds things that aren't in the book. The book contains very helpful illustrations and figures, a list of recommended reads at the end of each chapter and some questions to ponder on it on your own. The book also includes a very up to date bibliography, and each chapter offers a list of suggested readings and makes some questions for the readier/student to ponder on.

 

Pricing

The CD is about 70+ bucks, but if you get the audible version you will paying half that price. However, if you are an Audible subscriber you will get it with one credit, and if you join just to try it. You can do, as I have done just to get this course, join Audible and have month-free trial and get two book or courses for free. Yet, even if I had paid a full price for this course, I would be happy! 

 

Warning

Brakke is very balanced on his discourse, so I think nobody will get offended by anything he says. However,I you take the Bible and the New Testament to the letter, if you are conservative or very conservative Christian, this is not a book for you. This is a historical course, by a professional scholar who has no interest on doing anything that is not teaching a subject on which he is an expert. If you decide to go on and get offended, you are the only one to blame.

A Wish

I would love Brakke to offer another course on any of the subjects he is expert on! He is just a fantastic teacher and perfect for this sort of recording.