Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel

Johnson (The Real Jesus), the Jesus Seminar's thorn in the flesh, presents the rich spirituality of the Gospels. Johnson argues that, according to his reading of the Gospels, Jesus is not a dead, historical figure but a living character in believers' lives. He asserts that the true purpose of the New Testament is to show Christians how to model their lives on Jesus' life. Johnson's book is divided into two complementary parts. In part one, Johnson contends that to be a Christian means to claim that Jesus is life-giving Spirit, to live according to Jesus' words and works and to bear witness, as Jesus did, to the reality of God. Part two engages in a close reading of the Gospels, noting that each Gospel's specific way of shaping its community's memories of Jesus is affected by the author's perceptions of his readers' situation. Although each Gospel provides a different perspective on Jesus, Johnson says, the same living figure is recognizable in the varied portraits. Refusing to be taken in by what he perceives as the deadening effects of the historical criticism of the Gospels, Johnson offers a spiritual reading that, in his mind, gives the only true access to the Jesus of authentic Christian faith. (Jan.)