Learn more about Jesus with this reader-friendly reference! Writing in a casual journalistic style, Miller details the life of Christ, including his revolutionary teachings and the faith he introduced to the world. You'll visit the Roman world and gain fresh insights from archaeology and ancient history. Features color illustrations, intriguing sidebars, and a topical index. 400 pages, softcover from Barbour.
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 stars(5 out of 5 stars)
5 of 5 Reviews Showing:
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Foyster Miller (Mentor Ohio), September 01, 2009
It tells the things Jesus did while here on
earth in easy reading form. The pictures and maps makes it easy to follow his life story.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Mary (Urbana, IL), March 31, 2009
This book is extremely creative in how the vast range of information is laid out for the reader. I felt I was able to follow the text very easily and was able to retain the information very well due to the creative writing and great use of many awesome pictures, illustrations, and maps. You will not get bored reading this book! It feels similar to reading your favorite National Geographic type magazine.
I am a young campus minister and have highly recommended "The Jesus of the Bible" and also "The Complete Guide to the Bible" to our students, fellow colleagues, friends, and family. This book is for the young and the old, the non-believer and believer. To parents out there, I highly recommend you check this book out for both you and your teenagers to read. I guarantee it will hold everyone's interest and attention and spark new conversations that start with, "I didn't know that..." or "Did you know that...!?"
This book is a must read for those wanting background history, information and opinions from yesterday and today's scholar's, and an in-depth/easy to follow journey through the life of Christ.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Bill Calvin (Bloomingdale, IL), March 29, 2009
A beautifully written and illustrated book for beginners but I have been reading the Bible for fifty years and love it! Charts of facts that the reader wants to know such as what was going on in the world during certain Biblical events. Juicy tidbits such as: Antiochus IV boiled seven Jewish brothers and the fact that Herod the Greats’ Temple area was as large as 27 football fields including the end zones. Best of all, Stephen Miller writes with humor and keeps the reader engaged throughout heady discussions that are made simple without being simplistic.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Steve Grisetti (Milwaukee, Wisc.), March 26, 2009
Stephen Miller’s “Jesus of the Bible” is, like his “Who’s Who and Where’s Where in the Bible”, a meticulously researched and deeply detailed study of a fascinating subject. Stephen doesn’t just tell the story of Jesus chronologically. He paints a picture of Jesus’ life in amazing detail – not simply telling the chronological story, but offering the geographical, cultural, historical and theological context for each and every event.
Jesus’ first miracle, at the wedding feast at Cana, for instance, includes not just a recounting of the event but a description of first century Jewish wedding traditions and the marriage contract, a discussion of the cultural importance of wine at a reception, an illustration of how wine was made at the time and a discussion of the significance of the miracle itself – as well as speculation as to why Jesus would begin his ministry with such a frivolous task.
Stephen doesn’t just tell us what each gospel says, but why each gospel says what it says and why it says it so uniquely. We also learn of possible astrological explanations for the Star of Bethlehem and what the places, the land and the people were like at the time. (I was surprised to learn that the little town of Bethlehem had a population, at the time of Jesus’ birth, of only about 150 people – and that Herod’s massacre of the children under the age of two likely resulted in the deaths of only a dozen babies.) We even get, in chilling detail, a medical description of how death occurs by crucifixion. It’s a unique way to look at stories we’ve heard many times before, stories which have rarely been presented in such detail or told with such an eye toward their historical and cultural context.
The story of Jesus’ life is about real people in a real place and time, and Stephen’s fascinating book makes this story all the more real.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Bible student (KS), March 09, 2009
Miller’s Jesus of the Bible brings Jesus to life in a way I’ve not seen done in any other book. The easy-reading words flow like the crisp reporting of a news journalist, which is what Miller used to be.
The photos, paintings, and National Geographic-style of illustrated maps are not only gorgeous, they’re informative. They helped me get a feel for the lay of the land in Jesus’ time. One of my favorite images is the map of Baby Jesus’ journey to Egypt, “Escape to Egypt,” page 74. The map is a 3D NASA photo tilted to show the full route, with the actual terrain—complete with pyramids inserted where they belong.
Miller has samples of several two-page sections from the book at his website: StephenMillerBooks.com.
There are lots of books about Jesus, most in scholarly tech talk or flowery preacher fluff. But I haven’t come across any book about Jesus that is this easy to read, carefully researched, beautifully illustrated, and actually funny at times. There’s a dry sense of humor at work in this book. The short article about medical treatment in Jesus’ day is a hoot. For a human bite or a snake bite, “apply ear wax,” page 151. Water in the ear? “If right ear, tilt waterlogged ear onto right shoulder and hop around on left foot. If left ear, do the opposite.” It was in a medical circus like this that Jesus actually healed people. No wonder the sick came in droves.
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