The Jesus I never knew

This book blew me away!

I wasn't intending to read Philip Yancey. I saw his books in various places, but never had a lot of interest. But- within the span of a couple weeks, I'm sure at least 3 people recommended his books to me, either in general or specific books for things going on in my life. So I decided to read something from him, and this book seemed like a good place to start.

I believe Yancey's background is in journalism, and that's the kind of approach he takes to the gospels, the story of Jesus' life on earth. Basically, he puts himself in the shoes of someone in first century Judea, trying to figure out who this guy is- the teacher doing crazy things and saying even crazier things. He talked about the two thousand years of church history filtering the way we see and think of Jesus, as traditions and Sunday school lessons portrayed him in certain ways.

I really appreciated Yancey's fresh insight into gospel stories familiar to me. The way he phrased his thoughts, and especially questions he asked, made Jesus come alive even more to me. The main thing I got from this book was that Jesus can be known personally but never defined fully.

I'm so glad I gave this book a try, and I can't wait to read more from Philip Yancey!