Aichele (retired, religion and philosophy, Adrian College, Michigan) explores the messages of the four Gospels, the reality they are conveying--that is, at a middle level between the actual words of the text and the social and political meaning of the Bible as a whole. Among his topics are virtuality and the Bible, Matthew's Gospel according to Pasolini, the two fathers of Luke's Jesus, Minority Report and the synoptic Gospels, and the virtual gospel and the canonical control of meaning. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Can the different pictures of Jesus in the New Testament be reconciled? Or are they simply simulations, the products of a virtual Gospel? 'Simulating Jesus' argues that the gospels do not represent four versions of one Jesus story but rather four distinct narrative simulacra, each of which is named "Jesus". The book explores the theory and evidence justifying this claim and discusses its practical and theological consequences. The simulations of Jesus in each of the gospels are analysed and placed alongside Jesus simulacra elsewhere in the Bible and contemporary popular culture. 'Simulating Jesus' offers a radical understanding of Scripture that will be of interest to students and scholars of biblical studies.
