UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN

P.O BOX 175, PORT OF SPAIN

Book Report and Review

An Assignment
Presented in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Course
RELB210: Jesus in His time and Ours

INSTRUCTOR: Mr. Andy Manzano

By

Sharayah John

December 7, 2018

Approval ……….……………..
 Philip Yancey, in the book The Jesus I never knew, writes about a puzzling question to

both believers and non-believers; Who is Jesus? Motivated by the impact of Jesus in his life, the

author seeks to reexamine and challenge the traditional views held by most Christians about who

Jesus is. Yancey compares his view of the Jesus that was presented to Him as a young boy and

his view of Jesus from a more informed perspective. The book is divided into three parts: Who

Jesus was, why Jesus came, and what Jesus left behind.

In the first section; who Jesus was, Yancey begins by presenting the significance of Jesus

in today’s world. He shares the preconceived notions of Jesus he had developed as a young boy,

throughout college, and then after the rise of the theologies and how this had led him to

reconsider his perception of Jesus. He does this by chronologically reviewing Jesus starting with

his birth followed by his background and then the temptations which he faced. He then concludes

this section with his personal observations of Jesus.

What was of particular interest throughout this section was Yancey’s emphasis on the

humanity of Jesus. The third chapter was the most impressionable on my perception of Jesus.

He focuses on the Jewish culture and the geographical feature of Israel as it relates to Jesus’

upbringing as there is a great tendency to neglect these aspects of Jesus’ life. For instance, the

influence of the Galilean manner of speech could’ve caused the Jewish people to think that Jesus

had a speech impediment. Also, Yancey’s use of both the Gospel’s and various movies to come

to a conclusion about Jesus has also brought Jesus’ persona to life for me.

The second part of the book dealt with why Jesus came. Yancey critically analyses the

Sermon on the mount, Christ’s mission of grace, the miracles performed by Christ, His death,

and resurrection. In Chapter 6 and 7, the author tries to make sense of the sermon on the mount

and unravels the meaning behind the beatitudes and the remainder of the message. His
explanation reveals the heart and purpose of Jesus’ ministry and expresses the grace Jesus

imparted.

I particularly liked Yancy’s examples of Tolstoy’s drive and Dostoyevsky to demonstrate

God’s ideal and God’s grace. These examples caused the reader to critically examine Jesus. As

the author puts it, the Sermon “tell[s] us what God is like” (p. 143). The author also caused me

to challenge my philosophy of showing other compassion in the face off opposition when he

contrasts the biases of the first century with Jesus’ neglect of them in order to express

compassion. Yancy’s explanation of Jesus’ miracles death and resurrection provides fresh

insight into the purpose of Jesus’ mission here on earth.

The last section dealt with what Jesus’ left. In an interesting take, Yancy points out that

Jesus ran the risk of being forgotten with his ascension to heaven however, it was imperative that

He went back to heaven. He also makes talks about the supreme qualities of the kingdom and

the church’s confusion of it with the earthly kingdom. Yancy touches on the difference Jesus

makes and presents his final take on who God is to him and what he thinks humanity should be

like. He directs the reader’s attention to the hope that we as humanity should have in the cross as

we look forward to the second advent.

This book, The Jesus I never knew, was a great eye opener and looked to correct the

various misconceptions of Jesus that many Christians may have due to the media and other

influencing factors. I thoroughly enjoyed the book; however, the author seems to paint a picture

of an all loving, caring, non-judgmental figure which is not entirely the case. Yancy seems to

focus solely on the human facet of Jesus and forgets to show the other dimension of Jesus, His

Divinity. In my opinion, in order to paint the most objective picture of Jesus or give the best
understanding of Jesus, as is humanely possible, both the Divinity and Humanity of Jesus needs

to be examined.