Jesus of Nazareth
Authors:
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
Pope Benedict, XVI
Share your thoughts:
0

|

0

(02/06/2010)
Orthodoxy: Completely orthodox.
Reading Level: Intermediate

By Jillian Singer (OH) -
See all my reviews
Synopsis
Discovering the person of Jesus Christ in the Gospels
Evaluator Comments
Pope Benedict XVI writes a personal reflection on the life of Christ in Jesus of Nazareth, not a dogmatic treatise. That said there is nothing in Jesus of Nazareth that goes against his Catholic faith; instead, Pope Benedict XVI rescues Jesus from current (and sometimes popular) trends to view Jesus outside of His depiction in the Gospels. This book is a return to the Gospels to rediscover (and recover) the true identity of Jesus. It reads more like a meditation than a textbook.
Unlike some of the Holy Father’s other works which, though very good, are very rough reading for theological beginners, Jesus of Nazareth is accessible to the average reader. There are a few places where one with a more robust theological background could get more out of the reading (and there is a least one study guide to aide curious readers), but overall I think that the average person could read Jesus of Nazareth and gain something from it.
Jesus of Nazareth could be said to be Pope Benedict XVI's personal response to the question "who is Jesus?". In the forward, he makes it clear that he is writing from his own personal perspective (which is also why the book was published under Joseph Ratzinger and not merely Pope Benedict XVI).