The Good Man Jesus And The Scoundrel Christ
Apr 2, 2010 Religion and Ethics
Apparently there’s been a lot of controversy over this book, so despite not generally reviewing fiction I decided to give it a look. I really don’t see where the controversy and outrage came from, unless it was just mindless raging at the title.
Instead of a plot description or celebrity endorsements, the back of the dust jacket simply states “this is a story.” That is exactly what this is – an imaginative and surprisingly sympathetic retelling of the story of Jesus.
The characters in the Bible are pretty two-dimensional. This is understandable, considering that most of it is taken from old oral traditions and tribal lore. This retelling, on the other hand, focusses on the human aspects of the well-known tale. There are plenty of nods to the skeptics when it comes to the various miracles, but it’s far from smug – the ending is heart-wrending and personally I found that a human, imperfect Jesus was far easier to sympathise with than a mythical deity (this probably goes for most readers, apart from those with serious megalomania). It’s not long, or demanding, but it’s worth picking up for a quiet afternoon of peaceful reading.
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