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Reading Jesus: A Writer's Encounter with the Gospels Audiobook
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(3.14) - 105 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In the introduction to this remarkable book, Mary Gordon is riding in a taxi as the driver listens to a religious broadcast, and she reflects that, though a lifelong Christian, she is at odds with many others who identify themselves as Christians. In an effort to understand whether or not she had "invented a Jesus to fulfill my own wishes," she determined to read the Gospels as literature and to study Jesus as a character. What results is a vibrantly fresh and personal journey through the Gospels, as Gordon plumbs the mysteries surrounding one of history's most central figures.
In this impassioned and eye-opening book, Gordon takes us through all the fundamental stories—the Prodigal Son, the Temptation in the Desert, the parable of Lazarus, the Agony in the Garden—pondering the intense strangeness of a deity in human form, the unresolved more ambiguities, the problem posed to her as an enlightened reader by the miracle of the Resurrection. What she rediscovers—and reinterprets with her signature candor, intelligence, and straightforwardness—is a rich store of overlapping, sometimes conflicting teachings that feel both familiar and tantalizingly elusive. It is this unsolvable conundrum that rests at the heart of Reading Jesus.
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"I happened to read this on Easter weekend and it was like resurrection. I didn't agree with a lot of her interpretations, but still - it was the right book at the right moment for me."
— Martha (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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A fresh and humane take on the Gospels. Gordon's approach is aware of, but not burdened by, doctrine.
— Mark Jarman, award-winning author of Epistles -
“Gordon tackles the power and puzzle of the Christian gospels with measure and imagination, providing welcome relief for those left cold by scholarly or fundamentalist parsing…Her savoring of particular lines is poetic and amplifies the beauty and sometimes ambiguous challenge of the language, stories, and injunctions of the gospels.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“A fresh and humane take on the Gospels. Gordon’s approach is aware of, but not burdened by, doctrine. Her many insightful questions give expression to thoughts which have, for many readers and for many years, been waiting to be asked aloud.”
— Mark Jarman, author of Epistles
Reading Jesus Listener Reviews
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" A great book, Mary Gordon has read the Gospels closely and wrestled with the words and stories. I wanted her to write about every word of the four Gospels. "
— Nick, 7/7/2012 -
" Interesting take on how the writing in the Gospels works to tell a story. I'm not sure it works, to be honest, but it's a different way of looking at those four books of the Bible. "
— Lora, 5/1/2012 -
" I technically didn't finish this book since I had 50 pages left when I had to return it to the library, but this isn't a book to read quickly. Gordon's poetic prose introduces new thoughts and insights, and is meant to be digested bit by bit, slowly, to appreciate and integrate all the new flavors. "
— HaQuyen, 4/7/2012 -
" This book of responses to the words of Jesus in the 4 gospels is succinct, creative, stimulating, and like all of Mary Gordon writings, excellent reading. "
— Leonard, 7/11/2011 -
" Uneven but worthwhile. "
— Schmerica, 8/31/2010 -
" I gave this book 5 stars simply because it's my picture on the cover no need to read it to just enjoy the cover. "
— Jonathan, 8/28/2010 -
" Beautifully simple and honest. "
— Andrew, 8/27/2010 -
" This book of responses to the words of Jesus in the 4 gospels is succinct, creative, stimulating, and like all of Mary Gordon writings, excellent reading. "
— Leonard, 1/26/2010 -
" A great book, Mary Gordon has read the Gospels closely and wrestled with the words and stories. I wanted her to write about every word of the four Gospels. "
— Nick, 1/20/2010
About Mary Gordon
Mary Gordon is the author of several novels, multiple memoirs, a short-story collection, and Reading Jesus, a work of nonfiction. She has received many honors, among them a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an O. Henry Award, an Academy Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Story Prize. The State Writer of New York, she teaches at Barnard College and lives in New York City.
About Renée Raudman
Renée Raudman is an actor and Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator. She has performed on film, television, radio, and on stage and can also be heard in several video games and hundreds of television and radio voice-overs.