While in some sense every Christian book about Jesus, a number of new books put Christ front and center, examining his humanity, his suffering, his Jewishness, and his poetry. Any one is a candidate for reading and reflection during the Passion Week that precedes Easter, Christianity’s holiest day, occurring on April 8 this year.
The Poems of Jesus Christ by Willis Barnstone (Norton, Apr. 2) is a unique effort by translator, scholar, and poet Barnstone to understand Jesus as a poet. “Jesus Christ is the greatest invisible poet of the world,” argues the author. Barnstone lineates and uses meter in rendering the Gospel words of Jesus.
Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life by Lois Tverberg (Zondervan, Mar.) looks at Jesus in the context of 1st--century Israel. To his earliest Jewish followers, Jesus was a rabbi, acting within the shared tradition and culture of ancient Judaism. Tverberg argues that knowing more about that context enriches Christian understanding.
Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth by Bart D. Ehrman (HarperOne, Mar.) takes aim at the argument maintained by radical skeptics that Jesus is a myth and did not exist. The author and biblical scholar refutes what he calls a surprisingly influential, albeit mistaken, view by surveying available evidence. HarperOne has big plans for the popular author’s newest, with an announced first printing of 100,000.
The Jesus We Missed: The Surprising Truth about the Humanity of Christ by Patrick Henry Reardon (Thomas Nelson, Feb.) underscores the humanity of Jesus, and focuses in part on Christ’s formative years, the time before he began his public ministry. The author pastors an Orthodox church and is an editor of the Christian magazine Touchstone.
Why Jesus Died: A Meditation on Isaiah 53 by R.T. Kendall (Monarch, dist. by Kregel, Feb.) uses a messianic passage from the biblical Book of Isaiah to reflect on the death of Jesus and what it means. Kendall, formerly minister at Westminster Chapel, London, is the author of more than 50 books.
