Jesus Christs

A funny and thought-provoking look at the many faces of Jesus Christ. A collection of short-short stories (with a few longer stories mixed in) with something to offend (or amuse) everyone. From the frontplate in my edition "As Jesus was walking down the road, he met an old man. 'I have come to die for your sins.' 'Then what am I to die for?' the old man asked. Jesus produced a pad and pencil. 'If you will give me your name and address, an answer will be sent to you.'"

I first read this book back in 1969 and still have my original copy. Prompted by Langguth's recent death, I re-read to see if I liked it as much as my memory told me I did at the time. It poses an interesting foil to Reza Aslan's Zealot. I still enjoyed the humor juxtaposed with deep philosophy and unanswerable questions. Some of the scenarios, informed by the 1960s, don't fulfill as much as they once did, but overall the book holds together quite well. In some ways, it's unfortunate that Aslan ignored this work of fiction--Langguth often informs us more about the imagined character of Jesus (a character which resonates with me) than does Aslan.