Jesus: A Biography from a Believer.

by Paul Johnson

Overview

The definitive life of Jesus from the bestselling author of A History of Christianity.

Few figures have had such an influence on the world as Jesus of Nazareth. Paul Johnson's brilliant and powerful reading of Jesus' life at once captures his transfiguring message and his historical complexity. With a superb historian's command of his subject, a masterly writer's love of language, and a believer's passion, Johnson presents a lucid and deeply moving biography of a man whose life changed the course of history. Jesus offers readers a succinct yet lively account of the man who inspired one of the world's great religions and whose lessons still guide us today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143118770
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/22/2011
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Paul Johnson’s many books, including A History of Christianity, A History of the Jews, Modern Times, Churchill, and Napoleon: A Penguin Life, have been hailed as masterpieces of historical analysis. He is a regular columnist for Forbes and The Spectator, and his work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many others publications. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Man and God 1

I Birth, Childhood, Youth 9

II Baptism, Temptation, and the Apostles 35

III The Danger of the Miracles 57

IV What Jesus Taught and Why 79

V Poetry and Parables, Questions and Silence 97

VI Encounters: Men, Women, Children, the Aged 125

VII Jesus's New Ten Commandments 155

VIII Jesus's Trial and Crucifixion 177

IX The Resurrection and the Birth of Christianity 209

Further Reading 229

Index 231

Editorial Reviews

When one sets out to explicate the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, arguably the most important figure in human history, it is inevitable that the study will be affected by one's own beliefs and biases. Johnson, celebrated author and columnist for Forbes and the American Spectator, makes no excuse for his own Catholic faith foundations. In this eminently readable study of Jesus' life and teachings, Johnson delivers a cogent, conservative view of scripture and the character of the Christian faith. At times, Johnson's political views show through; his comments on the poor, and Jesus' compassion toward them, reflect his basic distrust of institutional and even personal charity, deeming it "quite ineffective and hopeless." But there is a compassion toward all people that echoes throughout this work. He concludes that this world, filled with evil, needs a return to the teachings of Jesus in order to right itself. Some will disagree. But none will be surprised at Johnson's fluid writing and fundamentally conservative views of religion and, indeed, the world at large.
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