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Jesus of Nazareth

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Jesus of Nazareth

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Description

Now in Paperback, with a new Index!
In this bold, momentous work, Joseph Ratzinger--in his first book written since he became Pope--seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent "popular" depictions and to restore Jesus' true identity as discovered in the Gospels. Through his brilliance as a theologian and his personal conviction as a believer, the Pope shares a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of Jesus and invites us to encounter, face-to-face, the central figure of the Christian faith.
From Jesus of Nazareth: "the great question that will be with us throughout this entire book: What did Jesus actually bring, if not world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought?
The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God! He has brought the God who formerly unveiled his countenance gradually first to Abraham, then to Moses and the Prophets, and then in the Wisdom Literature--the God who revealed his face only in Israel, even though he was also honored among the pagans in various shadowy guises. It is this God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the true God, whom he has brought to the peoples of the earth.
He has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about where we are going and where we come from: faith, hope, and love."

Product Details

Author:	Pope Benedict XVI
Paperback:	415 pages
Publisher:	Ignatius Press
Publication Date:	September 30, 2008
ISBN:	1586171984
Package Length:	8.1 inches
Package Width:	5.2 inches
Package Height:	1.1 inches
Package Weight:	0.95 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 182 reviews

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 4.5

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a surprising book Jul 23, 2010
Before starting the review, I think the reader is entitled to know my theological position.
I was raised a Catholic. I have always held to the inerrancy and absolute authority of the Bible, and, the more I studied It, the more I came to believe that many teachings of the Catholic Church are in direct contrast with biblical truth. For this is reason I converted to protestantism.
Therefore, as you can imagine, I was very skeptical about this book.
However, I was soon proved wrong; from the first few pages, two things really surprised me:
1)the book contains very little Catholic theology, which can be, depending on the point of view, a strength or a weakness
2)it does not rely on higher criticism, which today seems to be so sadly popular.
Pope Benedict XVI attempts to present the historical person of Jesus relying entirely on the Gospels (which is, I believe, the only sensible and correct way to go).
I think the final result is outstanding. Some chapters, especially the beautiful exposition of the parable of the prodigal son, left in me a permanent influence in the way I understand the word of God.
I warmly recommend this book to every Christian, whether Catholic or Protestant (even though I am conscious that many Protestants will disagree with me).
The only thing that I would criticize is the language used.
While Ratzinger's style is very pleasant to read, I had the impression that it is purposedly too academic.
Jesus' words are so simple yet powerful that unlearned fishermen of the first century could understand Him; why explain something that is clear with complicated words?

Jesus as told by the current Pope Jul 13, 2010
As far as I can tell, this is the best book on Jesus outside of the Bible itself. I actually give the first 2/3 of the book five stars, but only three for the material on the book of John, which is radically different from the books of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The Pope does his best to explain the book of John, perhaps even enthusiastically so, but in my opinion that's a venture into religion not suitable for the non-Christian, for many reasons. One is the general tone of the first three gospels, where Jesus asks of his followers "Who do you think I am?" In the book of John he just tells them outright, which is puzzling given the difference from the other gospels.

But there are other problems with John. Taking the four gospels from the beginning of each book up to but not including the arrest, trial and crucifixion, the term Jew (as a whole word or substring) is found in the first three gospels only one time each. In John it occurs 48 times. This is due to John using the term interchangeably with Pharisees or other officials. And since everyone in the story up to that point is Jewish anyway, it's not merely a redundancy, it puts Jews in a negative light as accusers of Jesus, when in fact those accusations would occur in any ethnic context.

So despite the above, I recommend this book, or at least the first 2/3 of it, as the most inspirational text I've read outside of the Bible. The Pope points out that the reason Moses was so important in delivering the Law to his people was not because Moses was a great leader or led his people out of Egypt, but because Moses spoke to God directly and received the Law personally in that encounter. And one of the reasons Jesus is so important, once you cut through all of the dogma and ceremony, is because he knows God directly. The Pope goes on to show that the process by which Jesus experienced the world's sin began with his baptism, not merely at the time of his execution. Jesus' long and arduous process of dealing with temptation is our example of life, where we have to deal with it from the time we're aware of it until we die.

There are many unique lessons here - too many to describe, but one of the most important is the human struggle to be "good", or produce a good society that reflects the values that Jesus taught. The Pope makes it clear that when this process excludes God, it is doomed to fail.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

A long and insightful sermon May 11, 2010
I was given this book as a gift. I could hardly put it down and finished it in just a few days, it was that good. It is more approachable and readable than other books by Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.

The book covers the life of Jesus between his baptism and the transfiguration. Note that the most celebrated events, his birth, death, and resurrection, are not the focus of this book. And yet, Pope Benedict manages to weave together a very interesting narrative and analysis of who Jesus is, and why he stands out from his time in history until now.

Before anyone reads this book, they should have first read the whole Bible. There are plenty of references to the New Testament, Isaiah, Psalms, and the Torah (books of Moses). Most references are self contained, including quotes from the Revised Standard Version Bible. Sometimes the references include only partial or no quotes. In either case, it helps to be able to put things in context in your head, so it helps to be familiar with the text of the Bible before hand.

Pope Benedict is a first rate theological scholar. By the way, there is practically nothing Catholic-specific in this book - everything applies to all Christians. The point of view is conservative, decidedly not liberal. You will no doubt see positive reviews by Protestants and Mormons of this book. Sometimes the tone is a bit scholarly, discussing the work of other theologians. All in all, probably not a good book for someone who is unfamiliar with the Bible.

I cannot recommend it highly enough. This is one of most inspired and intelligently written books I own. In the preface, Pope Benedict promises to write a sequel about the rest of Jesus' life, and I look forward to that next book.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Jesus himself Apr 04, 2010
This is a book i had seen dozens of times before buying it. Whenever at a bookstore I would always see Benedict XVI's section and very happily pass on over them, expecting them to be extremely dry.

However one day i was hopping around amazon and found this book's paged and was shocked...4.5 stars?!?! Surely this was the result of a wave of catholics loving their pope without reservation. After all, wasn't this the guy Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that scary conservative.

I read some reviews and realized that maybe this book, and the man himself, were more than I had originally assumed. My next trip to borders I went directly to Benedict, picked up Jesus of Nazareth, and bought it.

The opening chapter/preface enthralled me. Yes, it is extremely dry and I am sure unbearably boring to many people. However I am one of those strange people attracted to scholarship with all its weird terms...so I loved it. If you pick it up and are turned off by the opening section, do NOT stop reading the book. It is a needed chapter in order to inform the reader of Benedict's foundation for what he is to explore in the rest of the book.

From then on every chapter stunned me. Lots of underlining. Lots. I believe what made this book truly great was Benedict's ability to expose all the connections, all the threads that illuminate passages to bring their full meaning to life. Though there are many examples I shall list only one. Prior to this book I had always viewed the Sermon on the Mount/Plain to be a simple teaching on law and ethics, much like the rabbinical judaism that was forming in Jesus' day. However Benedict brought to light the christological nature of the sermon and COMPLETELY changed its meaning to both what happened 2000 years ago, and how i realte to it. It is not a teaching of law; it is a teaching of Jesus himself.

And this is thus what is at the very center of this book: Jesus himself. As is stated on the back cover, this book is simply a search for the face of the Lord. It begins with a passage, explains how everything relates to it, and then returns to the heart of it all, Jesus.

Simply a wonderful book. It may seem dry sometimes, but bear through! You will be thankful in the end, for the work is truly a wonderful well for both knowledge and faith. This book is pure and simply Jesus himself. It is not how his teachings or necessarily actions effect us today; it is how Jesus' very existence and being completely change everything. Everything indeed.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Excellent book on faith Mar 15, 2010
This book was deep and inspiring. It offers many different viewpoints that help you think about Christ's teachings - like how do they compare with things in the Old Testament or in light of Jewish Tradition, which was very enlightening. It challenged me to think more about what being a disciple of Christ really means. It has inspired me to deepen my relationship with Christ and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to deepen their faith.