Jesus of Nazareth - Part Two

Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week was written by Pope Benedict XVI and was published by Doubleday in 2011. It was not one of the books assigned for the ILM program but was something I read during the summer of 2011. Once again I really enjoyed this book because I closely identified with the Pope's portrait and understanding of Jesus. As I mentioned in the book report on part one this book is also easy to read and easy to understand. I would recommend this book because within it we encounter the decisive sayings and events of Jesus' life. In this book, Pope Benedict XVI "hopes that his insight into the figure of our Lord can be helpful to all readers who seek to encounter Jesus and to believe in him".

The jacket says, "What happened in the final week of Jesus of Nazareth's earthly life? In Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week - From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, Pope Benedict takes up that and other crucial questions. How did the man whom many hailed as the Messiah come to be rejected by the leaders of his own people? Was he a political revolutionary? Who was responsible for his death, the Romans or the Jewish authorities, or both? How did Jesus view his suffering and death? How should we? Did he establish a Church to carry on his work? What did he teach about the End of the World? And most importantly, did Jesus really rise from the dead?

This is a book for Christians - Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, as well as other believers and non believers. Benedict brings to his study the vast learning of a brilliant scholar, the passionate searching of a great mind, and the deep compassion of a pastor's heart. In the end, he dares readers to grapple with the meaning of Jesus' life, teaching, death, and resurrection."

Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th bishop of Rome, is the spiritual leader of over a billion Catholics. He is a highly regarded theologian and the author of dozens of best-selling spiritual and theological books, including Introduction to Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth: Part One, Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and Signs of the Times, The Spirit of the Liturgy, and Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures.