Just Give Me Jesus

Lotz, Billy Graham's daughter and a noted author and preacher, has written a primer about Jesus. Why, she asks in the introduction, ""do we need one more book about Jesus?"" Because, Lotz says, most of the available volumes tell readers what the author thinks about Jesus but ignore what Jesus said about himself. Lotz's message is simple: overworked, stressed-out, underloved folks don't need a vacation, a miracle or a massage--they just need Jesus. She takes the Gospel of John as her template, structuring each chapter around a passage from that most poetic and most inscrutable of the Gospels. The fifth chapter of Lotz's book, for example, draws on John 4:1-42 and explains that Jesus offers happiness even to outcasts. Chapter nine (drawing on John 9) teaches that Jesus allows even the most comfortable onlooker to understand suffering. And chapter thirteen (based on John 19 and 20) tells readers that through Jesus, sinners can get to Heaven. Lotz's message is not as distinctive as her introduction would have readers believe--there is little in this book that readers can't already find several times over on the religion shelves at their local bookstore. Yet Lotz's book is a clear winner because her folksy, anecdotal writing is endearing, and her love for Jesus radiates off the page. (Apr.)