The book The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey discusses the personal attitude and relations of the author with God and his understanding of God. The book consists of three parts and fourteen chapters. The author tries to persuade readers that religion and God should be a part of our life and everyone should have a possibility to decide the role and importance of God in his own life. Yancey says that from early years he was deprived of a chance to understand God and learn about religion. Yancey dedicates his writing to everyone interested in religion and theology, personal reflections on God, and unique perception of religion. The author stands against the modern education system and poor religious education at schools and at colleges.
In the first part of the book, Yancey states that if we limit our presentation of biblical content to the purely human and natural scene, we cannot deal with God as anything more than an idea or interest of mankind. There are many scholars who insist that neither in general historical study, nor in the history of ideas, can we do more than deal with what men have thought about God, or what they have done to establish relations with the God whom they make the object of their faith and thought and cult practice. In this view, God is an idea. Men may think that he is real, and the historian, therefore, may say that men think so, but he is simply describing the attitude of men; he is not asserting or denying the existence or action of God. In this part, Yancey proposes a unique interpretation of God and his vision of the divine nature of God-human relations.
The second part, “Why he Came” discusses the importance of Jesus Christ in religion and his role in our life. Yancey states that to recognize the human factor means to recognize that all aspects of human life have their place in the biblical picture of life. When we write about the biblical message and try to grasp and state its guiding ideas, we may slip into an intellectualism that loses the richness of human life and the Christian experience. Biblical theology is not concerned simply with the mind. It sees a man in his need and failure, his repentance and faith, his worship and fellowship, his work, and his kinship both with nature and with God’s life and purpose. The Bible is concerned with the whole man in his total need, and with the full answer to that need in the gospel of God. One type of leader could capture the attention and imagination, strike home to the will, and win converts for Christ. He was the preacher, the evangelist. Another could more effectively and patiently answer questions, interpret Scripture, explain the teachings of Jesus, and make clear the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He was the teacher, the pastor, the Christian friend who could aid the slow maturing of faith and character. Yet this distinction can be greatly overdone, and it sometimes is pushed beyond reason. No preacher could win converts with a bare list of assertions about God’s plan and his action in Christ. He had to give examples and details. In other words, he had to teach as he preached.
The third part of the book, “What he Left Behind” discusses the impact of Jesus Christ and his teaching on the everyday life of citizens. Yancey underlines that the preacher of any message that roots in history must inform and win the mind as well as stir the imagination; he must continually teach. So every New Testament preacher was inevitably a teacher. Because this hope had so little prospect of fulfillment by any human means, multitudes looked to God to intervene in some remarkable way. They pictured their hope in vivid language. They developed an “eschatology,” a message about the end of the world and the final realization of God’s purpose. Some of their writings were apocalyptic, depicting the coming triumph as near at hand, soon to be miraculously wrought by the sudden, dramatic intervention of God. The atmosphere of first-century Judaism contained much of this vivid expectation. Jesus had shared his basic spiritual conviction that God’s decisive action was at hand, and had even declared that the kingdom or rule of God was beginning.
The author met his objections and clearly expresses his understanding of God and religion. Yancey is an American Christian author awarded by the Gold Medallion Christian Book. He is well-known for such books as Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (2006), Finding God in Unexpected Places: (2008), Rumors of Another World (2003). The author proposes an objective and well-thought analysis of Jesus’ role in our lives and the support he provides us. The subject of the book is vital because many people are deprived of a chance to read and learn about Jesus Christ and his mission. The subject is too broad for one book, but Yancey skillfully selects the most important aspects and issues for analysis and interpretation. The author does not announce his bias and limitations, thus it would spoil the impression of the book. In the introduction, the purpose of the study is clearly defined and explained to a reader interested in this book. Yancey underlines that if the historicity of Jesus fades away, the whole content of the gospel vanishes with it. In this gospel, God is the one God, the Lord of history, who acts in history and through his chosen agents. Jesus is his central and unique agent, whose historical career is the instrument of achieving the eternal purposes of God. The historicity of Jesus is therefore essential to the truth of the entire gospel message. The narrative is logical and concise, so it is easy to read and understand the book. There are no missing points.
The research is reliable but it is influenced by the personal vision and reflections of the author. It is wrong to say that this book cannot be trusted: it is a personal opinion of the author and his life experience, so readers can agree or disagree with his position and interpretation of Jesus Christ. There are no notes or commentaries in the book. The author persuades readers that preaching is never for information only. It does not speak in neutral tones. The sources used in the book are cited at the end of it, so they do not spoil reading and understanding of the text. This story comes to each hearer, as it already has come to the preacher, with a demand for decision and commitment. It aims to show man’s need and reach his will. It seeks not to satisfy mental curiosity, or even to answer speculative problems, but to solve an urgent life situation. The language is clear and concise, but it can be difficult for an unprepared reader to understand all theological terms and events mentioned in the book. The book aims to defend a position and persuades the community in a crucial role of religion in our life. Understanding religion leads to a call to repentance. But this is only part of the call. The call is to faith. The hearers must receive this message, acknowledge that it is true, see that it applies to them and brings them under God’s judgment, acknowledge their need, put their faith in Christ as sent of God for their salvation, and enter into a life of faith, worship, and obedience
The book will be interesting to everyone who what to change his life and acquire new knowledge, understand the meaning of life and our existence. Church by remaining the good news of the risen Christ. This divine redemptive action has been necessary because the sin of man puts him in a desperate situation. The Resurrection was the climax of the apostolic preaching, and when the center is moved to other events in order to provide a more easily acceptable message or more common ground of faith, the Christian faith, and message cannot but begin to disintegrate. It can only be what it has always been from the first day of the Apostolic
References
Yancey, Ph. The Jesus I Never Knew. Thomas Nelson; 1st edition, 1995, 290 pp.