The author gives another view of the Christian religion different from that of the historians. He views Jesus Christ as a living person within his church contrary to the perspective that he was a normal human being that was crucified and died some centuries ago. His book gives a clear picture of the New Testament and the gospel in a modern worldview.
About the author
Luke Timothy Johnson was born in the year 1973, he is a at the professor at Candler school of theology and also works as a senior lecture at Emory University. His disciplines are based on the new testament and Christian origin and study of law and christianity. He has taken part in several lectures on religion in several universities across the world. Luke Timothy is known for his critical view of the Jesus gospel, during his lectures he openly supports the ordination of women into priesthood and religious leadership positions and supports same sex marriages as opposed to the teachings of the bible.
Johnston obtained his education in public and parochial school during his early age He has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy acquired at the Notre Dame Seminary, which was acquired in the year 1966. In 1970 h obtained a masters division in Theology at Saint Meinrad School of Theology. He furthered his education in religion by obtaining masters in religious studies from the University of Indiana and later a PhD in the New Testament from the University of Yale.
Luke Timothy is a member of several professional associations and ha published several editions o religion. Examples are The creed: What Christians believe and why it matters, The first and second letters to timothy: A new translation with introduction and commentary, The Real Jesus: The misguided quest for the historical Jesus and the truth of the traditional Gospels. (Johnson. L.T 56) He has also written several editorials and contributed to the writing of the commonwealth and Christian century publications. Before he became a biblical scholar he was a priest and a Benedictine He is married to Joy Randazo and has seven children.
Book summary
The main theme in this book is to open the readers spectrum on Christianity as a current powerful religion and not only as a historic religion that should be embraced and practiced as a current religion that is still living. Luke Johnson brings into the Christian religion a more professional look at things and events, he categorically examines the conditions that led to certain occurrences in a more realistic manner than in an euphoria approach. His literally work gives one a clear and more reasonable understanding to the new testament and the gospel of Christ. This is illustrated in the tile of the book “Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel”
The author brings out the criticism to the way Christianity was practiced for instance he questions the stand on ordination of women into priesthood and high positions in the church. In addition he advocates for same sex marriages, this is because of his view that christainity should be practiced as a modern religion and acknowledge Jesus as living. He has so far received a lot of criticism on his writing by traditional priests and religious leaders who rather hide the truth from the congregation that is most likely to create controversies among the Christ flock. According to the author he plainly writes that Jesus seized to exist after his death at the cross thus historians would treat Jesus as “simply a figure of the past whose existence ceased with his human death… What can be known about him must be learned in the same way we learn about any other figure of the past, which is to study what he said and did until his death.” In his book. On the other hand Christians view him as a resurrected and a leader of the current church in his omni present status. They believe that Jesus has always been among them.
The writer makes use of the community and creed to learn about Jesus and the gospel. He also embraces other disciplines of social science and other religions such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism to come up with a comprehensive analysis of the truth about Christ and Christianity. He goes further to use ghis marriage as a clear and simple example to the current Christian way of living. (Johnson.L.T 35)
Book evaluation
The author objective has clearly been brought up in this book. He has the goal of changing the traditional mindset of most Christ followers and servants to that of a current and realistic standing. This is shown by the manner in which he attacks the shortcomings in the New Testament. For instance he goes at an extent of discussing John, Mark, Luke and Mathew who are the cornerstones of the gospel of Christ to bring the reader to a closer understanding of the setting at that time in contrast to the current world or time. For instance he illustrated how Jesus is portrayed as a prophet in the book of Luke and Acts, and as God by John.
Aware that he is most likely to face controversies over his writing the writer manages to use the correct tone in analyzing the New Testament. His work has received quite a substantial amount of criticism from religious outfits and organizations regarding him as a traitor of the gospel of Christ. On the contrary several scholars and religions leaders have alternatively gave credit to his research as it has been able to open the views of Christians on their religion and why things ended up the way they are.
Luke Johnson leaves the reader to make their own decision in regard to the Christian religion. His work can be categorized as Christology in question. He gives answers to mysteries concerning the exultance of Jesus the Holy Spirit and has control over the church but does not give strict direction to what should be followed or adhered to He however describes those individuals who seek faith on a historical point of view as unfortunate because they do not understand the realism in a present view related to their religion. Thus that blindly follow thee teachings of a doctrine they fully do not comprehend. Any reader that has gone through this book will find clear answers to the truth about the gospel and practice Christianity in truth and understanding way. (Johnson.L.T 134)
Work Cited
Johnson, Luke. Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel Harper One, 2000.