Impressed by the book, 'Jesus of Nazareth'

SEPTEMBER 14, 2007

My dear friends,

Anyone thirsty for deep insights into Scripture should purchase Pope Benedict XVI’s phenomenal new book, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

The book is impressive, in part because it is so thoroughly researched. Its bibliography is so extensive that I cannot imagine how the Holy Father managed to write it while being pope.

Yet it seems he intends to write two more. This book represents the second part of the trilogy, focusing on Jesus’ public life. In the others, I presume, the pope will delve into the infancy narratives as well as the passion and death of the Lord.

“Jesus of Nazareth” is actually meant to be an apologia — a defense and argumentation in favor of the faith, of what we believe as Catholics about Jesus. As such, it is in keeping with the tradition of many of the early fathers of the church.

The first part of the book is a bit theological and heavy. But after that, it turns into a series of meditations on various aspects of Scripture: some parables of Jesus; the sermon on the mount; John’s Gospel and the terms that he uses, such as light, darkness and life; and the terms used by the evangelists to describe Jesus, such as Son of God, Son of Man, the Holy One, the Messiah.

The pope’s meditations in this section are so insightful. As often as I’ve preached on some of those passages during my 46 years as a priest, after reading the book I felt as if I had never read them before, as if I have been preaching pablum to kids rather than plumbing the depths of their meaning.

Interestingly, throughout the book the pope quotes the work of a Jewish author I happen to know very well. Rabbi Jacob Neusner, author of “A Rabbi Speaks with Jesus,” held the chair of religion at the University of South Florida while I was bishop of St. Petersburg. We met while sharing the podium at a commemoration of the Shoah (Holocaust) and became fast friends. He now teaches at Bard College in New York.

In his book, the rabbi challenges Jesus, telling him that he is taking to himself prerogatives that only God has, that he is putting himself above the Torah. Pope Benedict argues that the rabbi is correct. That is precisely what Jesus did. And he did it because of who he was.

So with the help of the rabbi, the pope refutes the distinction made by some people today that the historical Jesus was different from the Jesus of faith; that the Jesus of faith is the result of stories created by his disciples after his death. In fact, the pope argues, Jesus himself pronounced his divinity. It did not have to be made up by his followers afterwards.

“Jesus of Nazareth” is the type of book that cannot be read just once, because it is so packed with erudite information that helps the reader see far beyond the surface of the Scriptures.

I recommend this book to everyone, especially priests. It is the kind of book that I plan to keep handy for whenever one of the Sunday readings coincides with the pope’s meditations. I suggest you do so as well.

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