The Jesus I Never Knew

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from this book (which now that I think of it is particularly appropriate, Jesus), so naturally it surprised me, but I was surprised again that it impressed me too. Evangelical dude Yancey, you are an imagination blowout! An emotionless cosmic God, becoming human through the Jesus Experiment? A showdown in the desert, Messiah and devil growling each other out? Jesus as either/or? Either God or madman, blessed surcease or demented malevolence? Saviour or monster? This book made me feel good about Christianity, and there wasn't much that could do that at this point in my life.

I began this, wondering what more could be said about Jesus? Werent we all familiar with every incident in the Bible?
It's an absolutely BRILLIANT read !
Yancey raises all kinds of questions: beginning with the Sunday school portrayal of him - a "sweet Victorian nanny" urging children to be nice. "But how?" he asks, "would telling people to be nice to one another get a man crucified?" How come sinners so liked to be around him- yet today often feel unwelcome in a church?
Yancey considers events in Jesus' life: the Temptation: "In the dark about the Incarnation, Satan did not know for certain whether Jesus was an ordinary man or a theophany or perhaps an angel with limited powers like himself"...he views their encounter as "single combat show more warriors" who "treat each other with a kind of wary respect,, like two boxers circling one another in the ring.". The Beatitudes (how can the poor be "blessed"? and the sheeer impossibility of the exhortation to "be perfect" (arent we doomed to fail?)
The miracles: Why did Jesus at Cana rebuke his mother "my time has not yet come" but then decide to turn water to wine anyway? Yancey imagines him deciding that his time HAD come- the start of his ministry, the celebrity as news of his powers got out..."A clock would start ticking that would not stop until Calvary".
And Death, Resurrection, Ascencion ("Why? Would it not have been better...if Jesus had stayed on earth?"

I think the overwhelming message that came through was FREEDOM ; God wanting us to willingly follow Him. "Consistently Jesus refused to use coercive power. He knowingly let one of his disciples betray him and then surrendered himself without protest to his captors."
Yancey ponders God's kingdom: it "has no geographical borders...it lives and grows on the inside of human beings. Those of us who follow Jesus thus possess a kind of dual citizenship...an external kingdom of family, cities and nationhood, while at the same time belonging to the kingdom of God."

This is just a brilliant book, and I'm going to re-read it immediately and take notes. (and I dont normally do that!) HIGHLY recommended. show less

"Den Jesus jag aldrig känt" målar en Jesus som är utmanande, orädd, oförutsägbar och ytterst övertygande. Boken kommer att hjälpa oss att upptäcka en annan person än den flanellograf-Jesus vi mötte i söndagsskolan, den vackert blåögde västerlänning som förmedlats av konst och film eller klichébilderna av "revolutionären" och "vishetsläraren" som gjort honom till en tam variant av något han inte är.

Yancey is one of my favorite theological writers, and is both an accomplished writer and a man who holds views that coincide with my own faith. This book is about Jesus, with the intent of re-examining His life and work through fresh eyes, as contemporaries may have seen Him, and attempting to shed the many layers of religious tradition and worship and that have accumulated around His name over the centuries. Not that Yancey is disregarding Jesus' divine nature or the importance of traditions that have been established in the church; rather, Yancey's goal is to see more authentically. Sometimes it is all too easy to accept what human history has gathered and handed down to us, including accepted cultural mores and prejudices, instead of show more the truth that God gave us. Yancey's claim at the beginning of the book is that he will examine the gospels with a journalist's eye, trying to release preconceived notions and experience Jesus in a new way, hopefully a truer way.

What he learned falls under several broad themes of the book. One, that we have softened Jesus over time, that He was full of grace but also drew clear lines of the way to live that were even more exacting than the original law. Two, that Jesus' controversy of being divine was explosive in His time, while now, it tends to be the reverse - we are all so used to seeing him as the Son of God that it is hard to remember his man nature, which was an equally necessary part of the formula to save us. Three, that many of the issues most addressed by Jesus are underplayed in our society, while we focus on our own problems that are more superficial and that Jesus rarely addressed. We tend to ignore those sins that we all struggle against, like divorce, sexual impurity, lies and dishonesty, and emphasize our own social agendas.

While I enjoy Yancey's writing style, and agreed with his major points, this book was not as gripping as the two others that I have read by him. Perhaps none of his other books can compare to What's So Amazing About Grace, which I absolutely love. I consider this book an interesting read, and useful to further exploration and understanding of Jesus and faith, but not an essential. It didn't convict me, or reveal to me truths about the Bible that were startling and new, or make me feel that it was maturing my faith. A good read, and I am trying to read more and more about my beliefs and the Bible as I think it is important to spend part of my love of reading in service to my God, but there are other religious books out there that have more impact. show less

I thought this was a very intelligent, perceptive account of the life of Jesus.

Since childhood - in the West anyway - we've all got used to the story of Jesus, and so to see the Virgin Birth, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and all of the other aspects of Jesus' life in their historical, political and social context is fascinating.

Phillip Yancey is an incredible writer and, as he states himself, his background is not theology but journalism. This means he approaches subjects from a very analytical perspective, and is often brave enough to say that at certain times in Jesus’ life, he wouldn’t quite know how to act as a bystander.

This is definitely a highly recommended book, and not just for Christians, but for anybody who wants to show more understand more about the life of Jesus. show less

This book is excellent because it accurately describes how Jesus spoke, acted and treated others, providing an example that people can follow. It also appropriately challenges many depictions and beliefs about Jesus that aren't biblical and aren't true, even while those beliefs are treated as undisputed fact by many American churchgoers today.

Yancey, who wrote this book as a journalist and not as a Bible scholar, is not afraid to express his doubts. He writes about a Jesus who is never boring or predictable. I liked the way he approached the question of who Jesus was. His low-key rational appeal is probably more effective to someone new on their spiritual journey than a more "preachy" style. This is not to say that this is a lukewarm portrayal of Jesus. By the end of a book, the reader has a clear idea of Yancey's deep faith in a loving God.