The New York Times article “Has Fiction Lost Its Faith?” reminded me of a class I took in college called “Image of Jesus in Literature and Nonfiction.” The only book I remember reading for it is Paradise Lost, and at the time it was an extremely painful experience.
Since then, I have read Nikos Kazantzakis’s The Last Temptation of Christ, an extraordinary spiritual novel that caused controversy by portraying Jesus as fully human. In it, Jesus the carpenter builds crosses for the Romans to use in crucifixions. The point is that the human Jesus must atone for his sins by being crucified himself.
In De Profundis, written from prison, Oscar Wilde breaks down and finds Christ. He argues that to grasp their true meaning and resonance, the Gospels should be read in the original Greek, and only at special times.
J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey is one of my favorites because its image of Christ is so surprising and unexpected.
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is depressing and inspiring at the same time. The spirituality in this classic cuts deep.
Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited shows how Catholicism shapes a wealthy, dysfunctional English family, bringing guilt and damage as well as redemption.
See on AudioBooks (3 free books), Audible/Amazon, or BN.com.
José Saramago’s The Gospel According to Jesus Christ brings Christ down to earth and is a tour de force. Unlike Kazantzakis’s novel, though, it doesn’t contain an ounce of spirituality. I’m surprised by its excellent reviews, because I found it a trudge to get through.
I also didn’t find Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan credible. Much of its research on the politics and culture of Jesus’s time was fascinating, but I didn’t buy the author’s assumptions, declarations, or analysis.
Here are a few more of the best works of Jesus fiction and literature.
Jesus, the Son of Man by Kahlil Gibran is a beautiful, inspiring book that sees Jesus through the eyes of those who knew him: “Syrians, Romans, Jews, Greeks, and Persians; priests, courtesans, publicans, and poets.” Told by both enemies and believers, it is a fictional portrait of Jesus that isn’t weighed down by dogma. It is a piece of Jesus literature that has stood the test of time.
King Jesus by Robert Graves portrays Jesus not as the Son of God but as a mortal man. Graves weaves Greek, Egyptian, and other ancient myths into this thought-provoking retelling of the Gospels. Even without divine origins, his Jesus can still perform miracles. As a classical scholar, Graves brings real authenticity to this worthy entry in Jesus fiction.
Quarantine by Jim Crace was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1997. Crace’s novel focuses on Jesus’s 40 days in the wilderness and fills in the details of his temptation and his path to enlightenment.
We’re interested in the image of Jesus in literature and nonfiction, and we’ll keep finding and posting worthy books in this genre.See Image of Jesus in Literature and Nonfiction on Audiobooks, Amazon/Audible, and Bookstores who are not Amazon.
You might also enjoy Leonardo and the Last Supper by Ross King Review.
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