In Honest To Jesus Robert W. Funk, a biblical scholar and founder of the Jesus Seminar, discovers and uncovers "a secular sage who has more relevance to the spiritual dimension of society at large than to institutionalized religion." This Jesus, according to Funk, is the iconoclast instead of the icon. He is the social deviant, the boundary breaker, the charismatic teacher, and the troublemaker who criticizes the temple cult and subverts purity codes. Examining the rhetorical tactics of Jesus in the parables, Funk finds a heightened sensitivity to God's domain — the inbreaking of meaning in everyday life. In the stories of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, we catch a glimpse of the kingdom as a frontier, a lure that steals our hearts away.
Funk laments what he calls "the domestication of the Jesus tradition and the marketing of the Messiah" by the early church. He notes that the New Testament conceals the real Jesus as frequently as it reveals him. The author closes the book with his 21 theses about the sage from Galilee, the New Age, and Christian faith and practice. Funk is nothing if not provocative!