About this title: 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.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: IGNATIUS PR
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781586171988ISBN:1586171984
Description: New. 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 brillian... read more
"This is one of the "must be read books" not only for Christians but also for those seekers of truth who wish to know Jesús not as the Christ but as Jesús of Nazaret. Although Cardinal Ratzinger, (the Pope, Benedict XVI) insists that, in order to understand the life of Jesus, one must understand his intimate communion with God, the Father, there are much histrorical elements that the Pope tackles which somehow could help the reader to understand the "flesh-and-blood" historical Jesús."
I like what you've got to say. I like the structure of your book - roughly chronological to the events of the adult Jesus' life. I like that you talked about connections both to Pre-Christian earth religions and Judaism in ways I hadn't thought of, and about how cool it is that Jesus transcends earthly political and social power, so important! You give a lot of surprising shout-outs to non-Catholic philosophical and religious stuff (Marx comes to mind)...and an apocryphal Gospel! And also good stuff about why Jesus is both intellectually defensible and more powerful and complicated than that. And how the Apostles came from different political parties!
I patted myself on the back a little bit for hearing you give a more reasonable, scholarly argument for things G.K. Chesterton said sort of a while ago. It is like I've learned something!
My favorite part probably was the Sermon on the Mount, where the Beatitudes were explained one by one. He also mentioned a book by a rabbi that explored why Jesus couldn't be accepted completely into the spirit of Judaism. I'm going to read it and hope it gives me some insight into the connections and differences between the religions.
My major problem with the book was probably not helped by the fact that i listened to it on tape - there was a lot of "and so it follows..." going on that, enough so that I either tuned it out or was like "oh yeah how do you figure" because I wasn't listening enough and couldn't go back in the text to connect it. As in all theology/philosophy etc., there was plenty of unsubstantiated supposition, but lots of it was interesting. Eventually I tuned it out, alas. enough that i listened to the last two discs out of order. Oops!
I thought it might have been better as less than a whole giant book, but it did prove to me that when they say this Pope is a smart dude, they aren't lying. That dude is academic as heck. Internal citations like crazy."
"I gleaned many good insights from this book, even though I am Protestant. Benedict has a good exegetical methodology, drawing chiefly upon canonical critcism through the eyes of faith (defending the unified integrity of the canon) and only drawing upon historical criticism where it does not do violence to that canon.
He cites the limits of historical criticism, saying that the historical method forces us to keep the Biblical word in the past.
Benedict has done some excellent exegetical work, particularly on Jesus' temptations in the wilderness and on the Sermon on the Mount."
"I really enjoyed this book, but I love biblical comentary. Pope Benedict draws in scolarship, saints and experience to make up his portrait of Jesus' public life. It really gave me a lot to meditate about. Not a quick read, though. It took me 9 months."
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