Studies in the Records of the life of Jesus

Studies in The Records of the Life of Jesus represents for Sharman the culmination of a lifetime of studying, comparing, teaching, and questioning the gospels - not only the synoptics, but also the book of John. Without doubt, these questions were carefully honed by Sharman himself through decades of personal and group study, in extensive seminars which he held yearly around the globe, but primarily in Camp Minnesing, Algonquin Park.

Unlike his other studies, there is more direct comparison of the gospel accounts; and to adequately answer these questions one may have to have come to some sort of conclusion about how the synoptics are interrelated. While the questions do not force any single theory, they do add emphasis to the idea that show more we do not have three independent synoptic witnesses to Jesus' story and teaching.

Of special interest for students is the work Sharman did here on the Book of John; probably he realized he did not have enough material on that gospel for a separate volume, as he had planned at the outset. We also see here Earl Wilmott's essay on the Processes of Group Thinking, which leaders and people attending groups for the study of these questions will find helpful.

Sharman wrote, "Because one has throughout life frequently heard, and often independently read, the sayings of Jesus, generally under conditions making slight demand for close attention, and even less call for serious consideration, the teaching has become a body of words that have lost the power to arrest and command the activity of the mind and the response of spirit." By working through the searching questions of this book, Sharman requires us to look at Jesus' sayings anew. There is nothing else like this book anywhere; your expectations will be shattered. show less