The Book: The Jesus We Missed
, Father Patrick ReardonSummary: A loving treatise on the way we should understand Jesus' humanity as presented in the four Gospels.
Recommended By: This review on the Gospel Coalition blog.
My Thoughts: Although at times I felt Reardon was descending into mere speculation-- offering lovely explanations for various actions of Jesus that may or may not have any actual basis in reality-- for the most part, I dearly loved reading this. Reardon's love for Christ shines through the pages, his translations of the original texts and his historical understanding both of the Gospels themselves, and the church history and tradition that built on them, were invaluable and insightful, and I came away from reading feeling my own love for my Saviour expanded and my desire to learn more about him deepened.
I especially loved the beginning chapters on Jesus' pre-ministry life. Since New Year's I've been memorizing Matthew, and am just now starting on the Sermon on the Mount, so for the last month, I've been saturated daily in those four simple chapters on Jesus' birth, flight to Egypt, baptism, and temptation in the wilderness. The richness of historical detail and insights from Reardon helped me feel even more intimate and helped by these four chapters.
I highly recommend this book to anybody who would like to better understand Jesus in his historical humanity, and I will definitely be seeking out Reardon's other works.
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