CLM 502 The Jesus I Never Knew - Philip Yancey (Book Review)

Wed, 8 Oct 1997

Clergy/Leaders' Mail-list No. 502 I recently finished reading the book, 'The Jesus I Never Knew' by Philip Yancey. I was really challenged by most of what Yancey had to say. I realised that like the Jews of Jesus' day, I too have a slightly different expectation of Messiah and his mission. I want to commend this book to you and hope you will take the time to read it. It will help you to see both Christ and his Kingdom in a Biblical light. The following is a review of the book I found on the Internet by LaVonne Neff. ========================== Hard Questions and New Insights Philip Yancey is known for writing books that ask Why? Why do we endure pain, illness, accidents, death? Why are our hopes continually raised, only to be blasted? "If only," he writes, "I could hear the voice from the whirlwind and, like Job, hold a conversation with God himself!" In The Jesus I Never Knew, Yancey comes close. God has spoken to us, Yancey reminds readers, in Jesus-God's Word to humankind. But who is Jesus? The reassuring Mister Rogers figure we may remember from Sunday school? The bearded radical popular in the sixties? A bigger-than-life magician who knows a lot more about heaven than about earth? In writing this book Yancey set himself a goal: to imagine himself a journalist early in the first century, and to follow Jesus through the Gospel stories as if at the edge of the crowd. Theological abstraction is not Yancey's aim; he intentionally avoids the christological disputes of the early church as well as those of our day. Rather, he takes us with him as he goes into Jesus' first-century world, where the determined but vastly outnumbered Jewish community is hoping for a conquering hero-a Messiah-to deliver them from the Stalin-like tactics of a hostile empire. We see a young man of uncertain lineage arrive with a band of unspectacular followers from the wrong part of the country. We hear him speak and see him heal, and eventually we watch as he is publicly humiliated and executed. Yancey's re-creation of the Gospel story alone is worth the price of the book, but throughout its pages he also weaves in keen observations on a multitude of topics: how God relates to human suffering, why Jesus left the church to be his body, why God seems to prefer the poor, why we need to reflect on Jesus' death, to name a few. A man of broad knowledge and wide reading, Yancey introduces us to ideas about Jesus from writers such as Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Augustine and Luther, Barth and Kierkegaard, Chesterton and Lewis. With searing honesty he admits his own tendency to doubt, his impatience, his need to answer affirmatively the question a traveling companion put to him: "Philip, do you ever just let God love you?" Much of the power in this book, in fact, comes from Yancey's ongoing personal interaction with the Jesus he is discovering. Yancey concludes his search with a series of impressions worth repeating. He found Jesus to be: a sinless friend of sinners, the God-Man, a portrait of God the wounded healer, and the lover. Thus 'The Jesus I Never Knew' will appeal to people of differing experiences. For those who have never examined their childhood faith, Yancey describes a Jesus for adults-a passionate, controversial, sometimes jarring rabbi who invites his followers to suffer and die. For those who are troubled with doubts, Yancey grapples with the hard questions and offers new perspectives and insights, without ever straying from the biblical record. To those who are firmly rooted and grounded in the faith, he gives an opportunity to reflect on the person and ministry of their Lord. And to all readers, he offers a stimulating journey that culminates in revitalized faith and hope. (LaVonne Neff is a writer and editor based near Chicago.) Troy Waller PO Box 1091 Box Hill 3128 Australia +61-3-9898-5672 jl_picard@eartling.net http://zed.access.net.au/~urban/freaks.htm I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything that can approach the gospel. -Napoleon ____________________________ Clergy/Leaders' Mailing List (Moderated) This mailing list is open to all Christians via Internet e-mail and most fax destinations. Submissions welcome: clergy@pastornet.net.au To unsubscribe, e-mail to: clergy-request@pastornet.net.au with SUBJECT reading UNSUBSCRIBE Copyright: Postings may be re-sent ONLY with all copyright notifications intact. A PastorNET ministry: manager@pastornet.net.au

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