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Not the Sunday school JesusPhilip Yancey, a US journalist and the author of numerous books on suffering, prayer and the experience of God, wrote this book as a way of taking a fresh look at Jesus. He says, “The Jesus I got to know in writing this book is very different from the Jesus I learned about in Sunday school. In some ways he is more comforting; in some ways more terrifying.”
The Jesus I Never Knew uncovers someone who is brilliant, creative, challenging, fearless, compassionate and unpredictable. Yancey’s honesty helps readers discover a different Jesus from the flannelgraph Sunday school figure, the sweetly smiling Victorian Saviour, and all the cultural clichés that have tamed Jesus and kept him in comfortable religious boxes.
Philip Yancey’s book works as a thorough introduction to Jesus and his world, covering the whole story from the manger in Bethlehem through to the empty tomb in Jerusalem. On the way, it looks at Jesus’ teaching and miracles, his character and compassion, and the significance of his life and death. Yancey also relates the events in the life of Jesus to the world of today.
“No one who meets Jesus ever stays the same,” says Philip Yancey. “In the end, I found the process of writing this book to be a great act of faith-strengthening. Jesus has rocked my own preconceptions and has made me ask hard questions about why those of us who bear his name don’t do a better job of following him.”
What readers have said about the book…
“If you think of Jesus as being a gentle, rather harmless character with long flowing blonde locks who was a really good bloke but nothing more – this book will make you think again!” – A Reader, Amazon
“Philip Yancey takes your childhood preconceptions of a perpetually calm, rarely smiling, stained glass window Christ (who always seems to look remarkably like Robert Powell!) and replaces them with a vivid and deeply real person…” – C Chambers, Amazon
Philip Yancey talks about his book
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Jesus has probably inspired more books and biographies than anyone else in human history. But which of them are worth reading if you’re exploring the life of Jesus for the first time – or even for the second or third times?
Written by Simon Jenkins
Categories: Story, Biographical, Reviews,
Introduction
Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
Jesus by Marcus Borg
The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren
The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Simply Christian by Tom Wright
Tokens of Trust by Rowan Williams
The Orthodox Way by Kallistos Ware
The Bible from Scratch by Simon Jenkins
The Shack by William Paul Young
The Last Temptation by Nikos Kazantzakis
The Shadow of the Galilean by Gerd Theissen
Conversations with Jesus of Nazareth by Simon Parke
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip PullmanRejesus is looking for new content contributors: artists, writers, thinkers, coders, film makers, creatives. If you have a great proposal get in contact.
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