“There is no writer in the evangelical world that I admire and appreciate more.”
Billy Graham
Philip Yancey helps reveal what two thousand years of history covered up
What happens when a respected Christian journalist decides to put his preconceptions aside and take a long look at the Jesus described in the Gospels? How does the Jesus of the New Testament compare to the “new, rediscovered” … rediscovered” Jesus—or even the Jesus we think we know so well?
Philip Yancey offers a new and different perspective on the life of Christ and his work—his teachings, his miracles, his death and resurrection—and ultimately, who he was and why he came. From the manger in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem, Yancey presents a complex character who generates questions as well as answers; a disturbing and exhilarating Jesus who wants to radically transform your life and stretch your faith.
The Jesus I Never Knew uncovers a Jesus who is brilliant, creative, challenging, fearless, compassionate, unpredictable, and ultimately satisfying. “No one who meets Jesus ever stays the same,” says Yancey. “Jesus has rocked my own preconceptions and has made me ask hard questions about why those of us who bear his name don’t do a better job of following him.”
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I appreciate this author for his honesty. For those of us who grew up in church certain assumptions were prevalent in our informal spiritual education. Finally someone has the courage to admit ” I don’t have it all together, even tho I’m supposed to….” and builds on that premise. The answers are there it’s a matter of seeing things from a heavenly perspective.
Phillip Yancey is a respected journalist and author. He looks at Jesus in a different way than we usually see Jesus portrayed. It will give you a lot of food for thought and you will want to read the book again because there is so much to get from it.
just an excellent read!
Mr. Yancey has written a great look at Jesus as a real person set in the culture of his day. One of the most thought provoking books on the life of Jesus I have ever read. Set aside personal bias and foregone conclusions and immerse yourself in the narrative.
The author is a wordsmith who paint an amazing portrait of Jesus.
Thank you Philip Yancey
Wonderful book.
Everything Philip Yancey writes is worth reading.
Yancy is one of the best for interesting, readable apologetic, undergirded by intellectual diligence and grounded in common sense as well.
If you are ready for your understanding of Jesus to be changed forever, dive into this book. Yancey reveals the human, historical, and Godly truth of Jesus, in quite compelling stories.
One of my favorites. I found myself digging to recognize some words. Unusual!
This book brought Jesus alive. I have shared it with other long time believers and newbies alike. Presents Him true to His story!
Thought provoking.
Evevn skeptics must re cognise the author’s objectivity and conviction
It is a fresh and thoughtful look at Jesus.
Fascinating. A view from a different angle.
Thought provoking reflections about Jesus.
Did provide me with new information about the Jewish community during Jesus’s day. New ideas to consider.
Memorable, very real, practical Christian living
I usually enjoy this author, but this book was just so-so for me. Most of the content I enjoyed was in the first half of the book and centered around the Sermon on the Mount. In this book, it seemed to me the author had an axe to grind with his upbringing in a fundamentalist (evangelical?) Christian church. From the things he mentioned being taught in this church (most of which were incorrect), the atmosphere sounds as if it tended toward that of a cult. In the other books I’ve read by this author, I never noticed before that he has a fascination with the writings of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. From the title, I would assume the book would chronicle the life of Jesus, and then how the author came to know Jesus better—perhaps. I guess that’s what he did, sort of. He did go through the major events outlined in the gospel narratives. The focus seemed more on telling about the Jesus he’d learned about in this cult-like church he was reared in, or the Jesus he saw portrayed in a variety of movies, or how Tolstoy and other authors wrote about Jesus. In several passages, the author’s political bias crept through. That’s fine, just not what I was expecting. I don’t mind reading books that don’t agree with me. That’s how I learn. I’m just wondering how much the average person—whether they attend a church of any variety or not—would take away from this book that would actually be about JESUS. My take away from this book is that the author just had a really messed up church experience in his childhood and is still trying to process that into his adulthood. As the Greeks asked Philip in Jerusalem after the Triumphal Entry, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” (John 12:21)
He has dug deeply into the history and assembled it very well. It is a very realistic narrative of how it was. I am around pg 400 and it still is full of information.
I appreciate Philip Yancey’s journalistic style of writing, how he asks so many of the questions that I’ve asked and pulls in historical and extra-biblical sources to add to the biblical narrative. It makes the book less of a Bible study, per se, and more of an exploration, a look at the big picture, which, again for me, adds to the whole picture.