Reading Jesus : a writer's encounter with the Gospels

by Mary Gordon. Gordon, O. Henry Award winner and best-selling author of novels (e.g., Pearl) and memoirs (e.g., Circling My Mother), has taken on what she deems an impossible project-finding the "real" Jesus as a character of the Gospels read as narratives. Gordon, a skilled writer and thinker, wants to add her voice to the many already spoken, in a tone that neither shouts nor threatens. She is not interested in converting anyone with this book. Gordon, dually influenced by her relationship with Catholicism and the feminist movement, writes well, with passion and candor, exploring those Gospel stories that are part of the fabric of many religious people's psyches. She finds fault with those who read, rewrite, and retell the Gospel words to suit their own agendas. Gordon is a believing skeptic writing of her journey-not a Jefferson trying to clean up the Gospels but a writer mining the rich depths of these sacred texts. Verdict Valuable to the thoughtful scholarly reader, Christian and non-Christian. --Library Journal. (Check Catalog)