The Other Jesus took me two years to research and write, and required me to brush up on my Greek and Hebrew in order to re-write and translate some of the ancient texts. I hope the book might be used by scholars, students of religion, as well as the general reader interested in an overview of the hundreds of images and ideas that existed about Jesus through the first 500 years of the common era.
Here's the back cover copy for the book.
We're familiar with the Jesus portrayed in the New Testament, but many people are surprised to learn that a wealth of stories and traditions about Jesus have always existed alongside the Biblical sources. Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism--among other religions--have created their own tales about Jesus, sometimes out of necessary self-preservation and reaction to claims of the church, but more often through thoughtful and artistic adaptation. The Other Jesus explores these varied traditions and offers a fresh exploration of Jesus--new perspectives that challenge long-accepted beliefs about his place in history and his impact on other religions.
Anyway . . . I hope that this book can contribute to conversations between faiths (and scholars), but also offer a fresh and refreshing look at the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of stories about Jesus and the many ways that people, from the first century forward, saw Jesus and regarded his influence--both in the church and from outside the Christian faith.
As the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote:
"Christ plays in ten thousand places."
The book is available now for pre-order through Rowman & Littlefield, but once released in September will be in bookstores and online. I enjoyed researching and writing this book very much. It was truly a labor of love. And I'm grateful to my new friends at Rowman & Littlefield for believing that I was the guy to deliver this one.
~Todd Outcalt
No comments:
Post a Comment