The Historical Christ: A Cognitive Psychologist's Perspective - Hardcover

by Bruce W. Behrman (Author)

This book uses the recent findings of cognitive and clinical psychology to draw a picture of the historical Jesus. The author uses recent research on conversational memory and clinical psychology in order to shine a light on the way Jesus was. This book argues that Jesus suffered from manic-depressive illness. He identified with God. He suffered from extreme mood changes and felt great compassion towards people. All of these are mental states which may be triggered by manic depression. Manic depression is not a dementing illness. This author is not saying that Jesus suffered from a backward type of psychosis. But manic depression, when manifested in talented persons, acts as a catalyst to trigger artistic creativity. Many great artists and poets have suffered from manic depression: Byron, Schumann, Tennyson, van Gogh, Fitzgerald, and Lowell, to name a few. It is among great poets and artists such as these that the author place the historical Jesus. This book therefore argues that the writers of the Gospels, when they record Jesus as asserting his divinity, were conveying an accurate picture of him. His assertions of divinity were not fabrications of the early church.

Author Biography

Bruce W. Behrman is a professor emeritus at California State University, Sacramento, where he taught psychology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He taught a variety of courses, including courses in cognitive and abnormal psychology. He has presented numerous papers on eyewitness memory at both state and national meetings. His work has been published in major journals. He has testified in over fifty cases in the Superior Court of California as an expert in eyewitness memory.