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| Jesus of Nazareth | 
 enlarge | Author: Pope Benedict Xvi
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $7.74
You Save: $17.21 (69%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (153 reviews)
Sales Rank: 2683
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0385523416
Dewey Decimal Number: 232.901
EAN: 9780385523417
ASIN: 0385523416
Publication Date: May 15, 2007
Release Date: May 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Most important book on Jesus June 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Holy Father wrote a wonderful book on Jesus.
It is not propaganda.
It is a message of hope.
Now people can understand the teachings of Jesus as a simple and loving human being with divine inspiration.
I am Catholic but I never believed everything my Padre told me. In the book of the Holy Father, the teachings of our Lord are simple but full of hope for people of all faiths.
Content/Subject Quality: Excellent book on the true message of Jesus.
Product quality: Excellent quality. Very distinguished.
Appearance: Excellent. Nicely printed.
Delivery service: Excellent. No delay.Good service from amazon.
Rating: 5 stars and plus.
 Great Book, Bad Audio June 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I love B16's no nonsence teaching. I read the book and loved it so I bought the audio CD to listen in the car. What a mistake. I love the way the Holy Father brings so much of scripture into his work but here's the problem; when I read I can focus on his beautiful insights and know they are scriptural because of the citings.I can go back later for an in depth study. In the audio, I almost loose the focus of his teaching/ meditation because he uses so much scripture and the narrator reads every one as it is printed in the book. For me it makes the the listioning almost unbearable. I bought the recording to meditate on the message of Jesus and Salvation and I can't. Pope John Paul II's Crossing the Threshold of Hope is the same way. So again, this is a great book but an unfortunate audio production.
One of the greatest books on Jesus ever written . An absolute masterpiece by a great theologian. June 21, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
First, I am not a Catholic, but a Protestant. Second, I have read a vast array of Jesus books, over the last three years, by countless, great, respected: scholars, theologians, commentators, pastors, bishops, etc. I am doing research for a project, and therefore I have read quite a broad spectrum of material about Christ.
"Jesus of Nazareth", by Pope Benedict XVI, is the greatest book on Christ that I have ever read, or at least have yet read. The depth and spiritual insight in this book is hard to describe except to say, it's incredible what you can get from just reading one page. The impressive spread of Ratzinger's knowledge of the scriptures, literature, the writings of the Church fathers, sermons, academic works, etc, will blow you away. It's staggering how much knowledge this man has, and how well and artfully he wields it. He draws beautiful and insightful connections between the scriptures and many outside sources.
The most impressive thing in the book is just how deeply spiritual it is, and how much spiritual insight one obtains from reading it. Benedict reveals the intricate spiritual truths that connect major events in Jesus' life, as described in the gospels. The chapters on Jesus Baptism, the Tempations, etc, are packed so tight that it will take you hours to read just a chapter and reflect on it.
Keep in mind, this book is not written in lofty, theological language. It is written for a layperson to read, quite easily - it is only the concepts and the spiritual truths, connections, and revelations that Benedict makes that force one to read slowly, to absorb and contemplate what Benedict is writing.
I highly recommend this book to all Christians, non-Catholic, Catholic and everyone in between. This book is full of beauty and truth and you will truly feel close to Jesus, as if you are reading a book written about him by one of his close, personal friends who truly knows him.
Awesome Book by Holy Father June 18, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Pope Benedict XI's book gives a spiritual lift.
Especially, the chapter on the Lord's Prayer gives a totally new perspective and meaning of Jesus' teaching and guidance for us about how we can get close to him.
Every Catholic should read this book.
Pope Benedict XVI Confronts Historical-Critical Scholars June 17, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This +374-page book merits reading whether one agrees or disagrees with Pope Benedict's Weltanschauung or Christusbild. Jesus of Nazareth is the first book written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in his role as Pope Benedict XVI. His endeavor in this work is "to restore" the "true identity" of the Jesus that one putatively can discover in the four NT Gospels. Pope Benedict does not approach the Gospels from a scientific, historical or critical perspective. Moreover, it is clear that his theology drives much of his quest for the "true identity" of Jesus. The book is what one would expect from the soi-disant "Vicar of Christ." Pope Benedict portrays Jesus as God in the flesh and suggests that Christ made statements to that effect. He discusses the baptism of Jesus, the temptation of Jesus, his message concerning the Gospel and Kingdom of God, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, the Disciples of Jesus, the Lord's parables, the primary images of John's Gospel, Two Milestones of Jesus' Way and Jesus' own sayings regarding his identity.
To Pope Benedict's credit, he does not seem to make a hard and fast distinction between the Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ of Faith. While NT scholars like to categorize the "Son of Man" sayings found in the Gospels into three distinct categories (sayings concerning the coming Son of Man, sayings regarding the earthly work of the Son of Man, and the suffering and resurrected Son of Man), Benedict prefers to view the Son of Man sayings from a synthetic or holistic perspective. Taking exception with the common historical-critical tack, Benedict contends: "No, the greatness, the dramatic newness [of Jesus], comes directly from Jesus; within the faith and life of the community it is further developed, but not created" (page 324). And, on this point, Pope Benedict and I concur. It is madness to construct a conceptual dichotomy between Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ of faith. The hypotheses set forth by NT scholars, who argue for a Jesus/Christ dichotomy, are less than convincing and highly speculative. Benedict is spot on in his analysis of this aspect of NT studies.
But there are many places where I take exception to the book Jesus of Nazareth. I fault the methodology of the work for not being rigorous enough. Furthermore, I utterly disagree with what the Pope says about the "I am" sayings of Jesus (John 8:58). For example, Exodus 3:14 supposedly lends support to the Pope's interpretation of John 8:58. Yet, how does he handle this verse in his book? The answer is that he treats this passage in an extremely laconic way. The Pope writes: "The manifold interpretations of this statement ['I am who I am' in Exodus 3:14] need not occupy us here" (page 347). Well, these diverse interpretations should occupy the writer since he draws such sweeping conclusions from the Johannine text and "I Am" passages found in the so-called Deutero-Isaiah.
I am not picking on how the Pope just handles one verse: this kind of approach to Scripture appears throughout the entire book. To be fair, I know that books usually have certain foci and intended audiences. Nonetheless, when broad and sweeping universal claims are made, these claims merit careful attention to detail and strong evidence. But despite my criticisms of his work, I still found Jesus of Nazareth quite accessible and somewhat enjoyable. It is a recommended read, as far as I am concerned.
Edgar Foster
Author of Angelomorphic Christology and the Exegesis of Psalm 8:5 in Tertullian's Adversus Praxean: An Examination of Tertullian's Reluctance to Attribute Angelic Properties to the Son of God
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