Rosenberg explains the lives and educational backgrounds of Moses and Jesus as they are presented in the Bible not as mere myth, but as historical facts presented in a mythic manner. He compares this to the way in which the lives of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington are often presented in American biography—not justas historical figures, but as symbols of our cultural values.  While acknowledging the historic-critical method and tradition of scholarship on the Bible, he insists upon reading the narrative on its own terms as it was meant to be read.

All of this said, there are times when one might wish for Rosenberg to address issues that seem, even to one who simply takes the narrative on its own terms, to be glaringly obvious. For example, though it is the most controversial aspect of Jesus’ life, Rosenberg only once mentions resurrection—and then only in the context of the Pharisees and their eschatology. Nonetheless, such issues seem to be beside Rosenberg’s point in writing—his main goal is to encourage readers to engage the Bible in a way that lets them enter into its paradigm rather than looking for “relevance” as the first priority. The “cosmic theatre”, Rosenberg argues, is a lost concept that modern and postmodern readers have lost.

 Whether one is Christian, Jewish, or something else entirely, there is much to be gained from this approach. Here at the Center for Renaissance and Reformation,we advocate just such an approach to texts, taking them on their own terms and then letting them speak to our world today. Only when we engage in such an approach to the Bible (and by extension, other ancient texts) can we be said to be truly educated.