Anyone who attempts to biography Jesus is bound to fail. An author is bound to project herself or himself onto the narrative. That’s why all theology eventually turns into autobiography. In Parini’s work, clearly, both the object (Jesus of Nazareth) and the subject (Parini the author) are worth learning from, and the reader can find much to aspire to.
Much of late twentieth and early twenty-first century studies on the Jesus of history devolve into “demythologizing” Jesus. As such, they tend to make Jesus into one of us – merely a human who was mistakenly imputed divine characteristics. Unfortunately, the only Jesus we can ever know were by people who claimed some sort of divine touch. Even the earliest accounts were filtered through years of oral tradition.
As a skilled and experienced biographer who is not a professional theologian, Parini does not take this route. Instead, he attempts to “re-mythologize” Jesus by focusing on the main narratives we have about his life (including the Gospel of Thomas). He treats the texts with a great deal of respect and decency – meaning that he approaches them with a reasonable amount of human trust instead of unending skepticism. He is not a literalist or a fundamentalist, however, who focuses only upon the simple meaning of the text (as with the historical-grammatical hermeneutic). He is willing to dwell deeply upon any allusion or remembrance that the texts offer.
What results is a beautiful portrayal of the Jesus who has influenced Western civilization through the centuries. Where critical thought is called for, critical thought is given. Where skepticism arises, it is given. Where trust and faith are called for, they, too, are not withheld. Honesty, authenticity, and an I-and-Thou belief tell us about Jesus and about Parini. This book is a worthy pursuit for intellectuals like myself who like to study faith. Though respectful, it is an academic work and not a devotional. Nonetheless, it attempts to explain why this one person has echoed and continues to echo through the centuries of human history.
Jesus: The Human Face of God
by Jay Parini
Copyright (c) 2013
ISBN13: 9780544025899
Page Count: 170
Genre: Biography, Religion, Christianity
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