On Being a Christian

Rating:
Summary: Thorough, Comprehensive, Relevant, Excellent!
Review: Hans Kung writes as one thoroughly committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, unlike some Christian writers, Kung writes with an intellectual depth and honesty that is refreshing. Kung does not shy away from bringing the Christian message into a living dialogue with modern scholarship, the other world religions, and the real challenges facing the human race today. I take issue with his sometimes-unconditional acceptance of higher Biblical criticism. However, as a Christian, I contend that Kung provides a true, relevant, and comprehensive analysis of the Christian faith for our time. A must-read for any serious theologian!

Rating:
Summary: Forceful statement of the essentials of Christian faith
Review: I started reading _On Being a Christian_ immediately after finishing Kung's _Does God Exist?_ There is a logical connection between the two. Kung takes the reader with him drawing on his extensive knowledge and insight into what makes this Jesus unique. He strips away the trappings of two centuries to show in simple clarity what are the essentials of being a Christian. Some of his statements cut away childish conceptions that may have never been cast aside; a great deal of demythologizing goes on constituting a pruning not a deathblow. I read with a sense of gratitude to the work of a theologian. I had been looking for a fresh viewpoint, an updating, a rational but faith-filled reexamination of belief. Although over 20 years have gone by since publication, this is fresh and satisfying and not the overly ponderous fare perhaps expected from a theologian.

Rating:
Summary: Küng gives the Christian faith some modern zeal
Review: Küng is an amazing author and his perspective is quite envigorating. I came across this book during a time in my life when I was about to give up my Christian faith. It brought me into a fresh, living perspective and out of narrow fundamentalism once and for all. Though in his examination of Jesus' time, he tends to be too stereotypical in typecasting groups in the Jesus' time, it is an amazing paradigm to view Jesus from. I would criticize the overly eschatalogical vision he has of Jesus that he seems to get from Schweitzer. Lastly, his understanding of being a Christian as being radically human is beautiful and moving.

Rating:
Summary: Christianity on the trial by a Christian
Review: Kung defends the principles of Christianity throughly and eloquently.Always mindful of the need for comrades in a defence of faith, he presents the last 100 pages of this book as endnotes from noted theologians from Lewis to Luther. Though a catholic, Kung presents a defense that will challenge believers of all denominations. A note of caution, this is not representive of the more approachable writings of CS Lewis, it is a difficult read and often Kung's greatest insights come in the midst of pages of hard and impersonal theology.

Rating:
Summary: A challenging book for an atheist such as myself
Review: Kung writes very well and made me think a great deal. He opened my mind to seeing christianity in ways I hadn't thought of before. I liked this book a great deal-the author comes across as a deeply caring man of great humanity. While I am still an atheist, this book made me stop and think very respectfully about what was written. Convincing? Not quite. Moving? Yes.

Rating:
Summary: Thorough, Comprehensive, Relevant, Excellent!
Review: Küng is an amazing author and his perspective is quite envigorating. I came across this book during a time in my life when I was about to give up my Christian faith. It brought me into a fresh, living perspective and out of narrow fundamentalism once and for all. Though in his examination of Jesus' time, he tends to be too stereotypical in typecasting groups in the Jesus' time, it is an amazing paradigm to view Jesus from. I would criticize the overly eschatalogical vision he has of Jesus that he seems to get from Schweitzer. Lastly, his understanding of being a Christian as being radically human is beautiful and moving.

Rating:
Summary: Küng gives the Christian faith some modern zeal
Review: Küng is an amazing author and his perspective is quite envigorating. I came across this book during a time in my life when I was about to give up my Christian faith. It brought me into a fresh, living perspective and out of narrow fundamentalism once and for all. Though in his examination of Jesus' time, he tends to be too stereotypical in typecasting groups in the Jesus' time, it is an amazing paradigm to view Jesus from. I would criticize the overly eschatalogical vision he has of Jesus that he seems to get from Schweitzer. Lastly, his understanding of being a Christian as being radically human is beautiful and moving.

Rating:
Summary: A mainstay in any library
Review: This is an excellent book. I first read it 10 or more years ago. My copy is now marked over, underlined, written in and I keep returning to it like an old friend. It is next to my bed and next to my bible, my favorite book. He is an outstanding writer. The book is for believers and nonbelievers. His section on the cross of Christ is one that inspires me each time I read it "The cross of Christ....becomes an appeal to renounce a life steeped in selfishness....It means a brave life, undertaken by innumberable people, without fear even in the face of fatal risks, through struggle, suffering, death, in firm trust and hope in the goal of true freedom, love, humanity, eternal life. The offense, the sheer scandal, was turned into an amazing experience of salvation, the way of the cross into a possible way of life"
Read it. You will enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: Kung above, beyond, and further than Lewis
Review: Where Lewis is obviously easier to read, Kung is obviously better informed, more aware, in closer contact with the world religions, ideaologies, and faiths of the planet. Where Lewis is simple and clear, Kung is complex and multiform like the two thousand year old topic he dissects and explores is. Where Lewis is thoroughly right in his little picture of god and jesus and the church, Kung is deeply commited to dialogue, to learning, to challenging and confronting the orthodox and all the so called "pious" theologians and apologetes who are always so "right".