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The Man Nobody Knows | 
 enlarge | Author: Bruce Barton
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $4.25
You Save: $10.70 (72%)
New (28) Used (25) from $4.25
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 296823
Media: Paperback
Pages: 128
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 1566632943
Dewey Decimal Number: 232.903
EAN: 9781566632942
ASIN: 1566632943
Publication Date: April 25, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Pages are clean (few or no markings). Corners are slightly worn. Has a USED sticker on cover. Delivery confirmation standard. (SKU #37843-200)
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Product Description
Bruce Barton's 1925 effort to reconfigure Jesus for the Roaring Twenties turned into one of the great best-sellers of the century.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Astonishing this chestnut is still around April 10, 2005
Mick McAllister
34 out of 49 found this review helpful
The notion that Jesus' values were those of corporate America and his "charisma" of the sort that makes insurance salemen is so laughably a fantasy that I hope the other reviews are meant as jokes. Portraying Jesus as a "booster," a kind of successful Willy Loman, is about as ludicrous as picturing Mother Teresa as a fashion model and Gandhi as a comic book superhero. The Jesus of the New Testament would have observed the conspicuous consumption of corporate America, the cultural gluttony of the Western World, with sadness and disgust.
Jesus may be the ultimate Rorschach. We look at him: Nazis see a blue-eyed Aryan beset by Jews and look for somebody to beat up; gays see their lifestyle affirmed in the friendhip with John; chickenhawk warriors somehow see endorsement of the hateful causes they want others to die for; the tenderhearted and compassionate see him surrounded by happy children; feminists see the women by his side; lying hypocrites see... God knows what.
The hardest thing for humans to do is to comprehend that their heroes are not just big versions of themselves. A hero should be something to push against, not a self-endorsement. Jesus told the rich to give away their money. He told his followers not to gather up treasures in the world. He said wealth is a burden that will keep the rich out of Heaven. He scourged the moneylenders. He was a freeloader. He is bad for business.
Today, as the most affluent country on the planet, we hear the Christian message as unhappily as the young wealthy Hebrew who asked Jesus what he must do to be saved. His answer was NOT "get an MBA." But instead of walking away, we invent new myths of a Jesus more suitable, one able to see past his silly prejudice against money grubbers, to see that it is possible to be rich and really nice.
Barton's book is a bizarre anachronism; a last survivor of the Babbitt years of pious Philistinism and Pharisaic self-approval just before the Depression turned our complacent cultural narcissism upside down. How sad, that it's coming back into fashion. Read Jim Wallis' *God's Politics* for a theology less absorbed with self-justification.
 The Man Nobody Knows December 20, 2001
Seth Zajac (Provo, Utah United States)
20 out of 25 found this review helpful
In his second major work, The Man Nobody Knows, author Bruce Barton portrays Jesus Christ as a salesman--not an ordinary salesman, but the world's greatest salesman--and exhorts
readers to profit by his example. Additionally, the story of the carpenter from Nazareth, Barton argues, is "the story of the founder of modern business (12).
Throughout the book, Barton paints Christ in a positive color. He disavows the "wicked falsehood that [Christ] never laughed" (23), from inference of the New Testament--the men who
became his disciples never would have been attracted to a man who demonstrated Miltonian characteristics. Further, Barton comments on Christ's leadership, as "only strong magnetic men
inspire great enthusiasm and build strong orginizations. Yet Jesus built the greatest orginization of all...He picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an orginization that conquered the world" (35-36). This act could have only been done by a supreme business executive, a man who knew how to persuade others, and was so passionate in his
rhetoric that men would be willing to give their lives for his cause. Hence, Christ was the greatest salesman of all.
Finally, through the use of scripture, Barton demonstrates Christ's ultimate leadership qualities during Christ's cruxifiction. As Christ was hanging on the cross, one of the thieves painfully asked that Christ remember him when Jesus returns to his kingdom. Barton believes this was Christ's greatest act of leadership, as "there have been leaders who could call forth enthusiasm when their fortunes ran high. But [Christ], when his enemies had done their worst, so bore himself that a crucifed felon looked into his dying eyes and saluted him as king" (220).
Written in 1925, The Man Nobody Knows was an immesensely popular book. With the post-World war I production levels becoming so high that consumers were unable to buy all the
products that industry produced, new markets had to be created. It was out of this climate that the advertising industry came of age. Barton, chairman of the board of the New York advertising
agency Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne, saw Christ as the ultimate master of salesmanship. He hoped that his readers, in an age of wealth and extravagence, would reflect back upon Jesus, not as weak man, but a man of such strong physical and emotional characteristics that readers would "exclaim [Jesus] is a man nobody knows" (vii).
Bruce Barton's The Man Nobody Knows, is written in beautiful, sincere prose. Throughout the novel, Barton maintains a high quality of reverence for Christ, and his teachings.
Although Barton's primary audience are salesmen and businessmen, the book appeals to any reader, religious or atheist, businessman or farmer.
The Man Nobody Knows is a wonderful tool for examining Christ's life as a smiling, divine businessman. As the wheel of big business turns and men spend their lives striving to
make millions of dollars, Barton reminds us of one businessman who gave his life in comforting millions of souls.
 Finally, The Truth About Jesus's Idea Of Wealth Is Revealed January 23, 2006
John W. Schlatter (USA)
7 out of 14 found this review helpful
One of the greatest falsehoods about the message of Jesus has been exposed..He was not against wealth, he was against the worship of wealth...Certainly Joesph of Aramthenia (please forgive the spelling) and Nicodemus were men of great wealth and were loved and accepted by Jesus.
When he told the rich young man to sell all that he had and said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven he was talking about possessions of ego and self importance..
Look at those who God chose to carry his message..Abraham, David, Soloman, Jacob, etc..none of them would have qualified for the food stamp program.
Finally, revealing the 'Jesus Business Plan', Barton points out that to be successful in business, love, and life..One must be a SERVANT..Ford 'served' us with transportation, Edison with light, Bell with communication, Disney with fantasy..Choose what you want to 'recieve' and then GIVE IT AWAY..A lesson for the ages.
Consider reading the pre-Y2K version August 15, 2007
PLC (Houston TX USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I've read my very old copy of this book so many times that I decided to order a new copy. But looking at the reviews on this site, I was really puzzled and disappointed by the reviews comparing Jesus to a businessman and insurance salesman, and so much emphasis on business. I had never gotten that message from the text.
Then I saw the subtitle on the year 2000 printing of the book -"The Classic Account of Jesus as Business Entrepreneur." Huh? The original book doesn't have a subtitle. Even the chapter headings have been changed: Retitled from "The Leader" to "The Executive"; from "His Work and Words" to "His Advertisements"; from "His Way in Our World" to "The Founder of Modern Business." From the exerpt on the website, it looks like the text is the same, but the context has been changed. The publishers have reframed it. sad to say.
The original book describes the Jesus of the Bible as a man. An extraordinary man. A man people would follow. A man people would die for. And Barton's book tells us why.
Barton's book will enrich your life -- maybe even change it. And if you're a worshipper, your prayers and songs will take on new meaning.
I give the 5-star rating to Barton's original book, and a 1 to whoever decided to reframe it for the watercooler.
Excellent book August 26, 1998
4 out of 14 found this review helpful
This book gives a rare look at Jesus from the perspective of his humanity...it attempts to paint a picture of Jesus in the role of his favorite title for himself: "Son of Man"...
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