The
back cover of the book states that "Biographies of Jesus generally have
been written by those trying to investigate the historical Jesus, with
little attention given to the grand narrative of Scripture. On the flip
side, those interested in tracing the theology of Scripture are
typically disinterested in historical Jesus studies. These two
approaches have yet to converge. . . until now."
Sweet and
Viola weave the narrative of Jesus from Creation to The Return of The
King. It made me pick up my Bible and compare notes as I read along
(having a Bible and a notebook to jot things down in while
reading is highly recommend--simply highlighting
text isn't enough!).
I
can't begin to imagine the amount of work that went into creating this
book. The end-notes are extensive; there are over 80 in the introduction
alone. I greatly appreciated that the authors did this; it shows they
are willing to let anyone see what they used and where their ideas
originated.
I
am enrolled in a Masters level biblical training school and while I
still feel I don't have the knowledge of great biblical scholars, I
found this to be a worthwhile read that sparked my curiosity and kicked
my
questioning and wondering brain into gear. Rather than just telling
someone about the Bible, reading this book encourages one to go to the
Bible itself to explore the claims. In this, Sweet and Viola place the
focus on Jesus, as it should be. This book isn't too deep for the
average reader to grasp, but it's filled with deep insights and will
challenge all levels of understanding.
I wish to thank Book Sneeze's blogger review program for the complimentary copy of this book for review.
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