Title – The Jesus We Missed: The Surprising Truth about
the Humanity of Christ
Author – Patrick Henry Reardon
Publisher – Thomas Nelson
Date of publication – February, 2012
Number of pages – 229
**Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 **
About the book:
While taking special care not to
minimize the Godhood of Christ, Patrick Henry Reardon helps readers come to
grips with his real flesh-and-blood humanity—the confession of the Christian
church for 2,000 years. If we are to
grow in our understanding of Christ, growing in appreciation of His humanity is
key.
About the author:
Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor of All
Saints' Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and a senior editor of Touchstone magazine.
Father Patrick
was educated at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), St.
Anselm's College (Rome), The Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome), and St.
Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary (South Canaan, PA).
He has
authored many books including Christ in the Psalms, Christ in His Saints, The
Trial of Job: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Job, Chronicles of
History and Worship: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Books of Chronicles,
and Creation and the Patriarchal Histories: Orthodox Reflections on the Book of
Genesis.
As a Christian, I was
very interested in reading "The Jesus We Missed" because of the topic. We, as Christians often see or perceive the Deity
in one way and that is as a supernatural being.
We see Jesus as the risen Savior, crucified, dead, and buried and risen again for our sake. Even when we read that
Jesus became flesh, He became man, birthed of a woman, He became like us, we still do not grasp the magnitude of that transition. We do not understand that he really became like us! We overlook or discount His humanity.
It was good to see a
book that tackled the issue of Jesus, the person. However, I believe that the title of the book is a
little misleading. There was no real
surprising truths about Christ’s humanity.
The humanity of Jesus is a fact, and people choose to embrace it or
ignore it.
Some
religious people have frowned upon seeing the Savior as a person because they
think it tarnishes the image of His Godliness.
On the contrary, knowing that Jesus grew up in the flesh, knowing that
he may have had many of the same feelings that we have experienced should
inspire us. Jesus ran and tripped like
us, he got bloody noses, and scraped his knee like us, he woke up with morning
breathe like us, He went to the bathroom like us, HE BECAME ONE OF US!
Much like us Jesus had to come to a place
where He realized exactly what his purpose was, a realization that He was
destined for much, much more than he was.
This book is good a
source for those seeking to see Jesus on a more personal level. This book is also good for those who want
another depth of studying into the Savior’s life. Layman, theologians, clergy, and scholars alike can learn from and
enjoy this book. "The Jesus We Missed" is a good
look at Jesus who was fully God and fully man.
I hope that you pick up this book and decide for yourself.
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Blessings,
Regina
Please visit my other spots:
http://reginathinks.wordpress.com/
http://reginasoldschoolfridayspot.blogspot.com/
1 People Saying Something!:
I have learned over the past few years that our system of belief in Christ and God is definitely very different than other Christian based cultures.
I appreciate the points that you raise about Jesus from the book. I am glad that you put emphasis on the fact that you can either accept or reject the idea of embrace Christ in your life.
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