Jesus - Hardcover

Walter Wangerin Jr. is widely recognized as one of the most gifted writers writing today on the issues of faith and spirituality. Starting with the renowned Book of the Dun Cow, Wangerin's writing career has encompassed most every genre: fiction, essay, short story, children's story, meditation, and biblical exposition. His writing voice is immediately recognizable, and his fans number in the millions. The author of over forty books, Wangerin has won the National Book Award, New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year Award, and several Gold Medallions, including best-fiction awards for both The Book of God and Paul: A Novel. He lives in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he is Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University. SPANISH BIO: Walter Wangerin Jr. es reconocido como uno del mejor escritor sobre las aplicaciones la fe y la espiritualidad. Su libros incluyen The Book of God [El libro de Dios], Reliving the Pasion [Recuerdo de la Pasion], Peter's First Easter [El Primer Domigo de Resureccionde Pedro], Mourning into Dancing [Como Cambiar el Lamento en Baile], The Manger is Empty [El Pesebre Vacio] y Little Lamb, Who Made Thee? [ Quien te hizo, Corderito?]. Wangerin vive en Valparaiso, Indiana, ocupa la catedra Jochum en la Universidad de Valparaiso, donde es escritor residente.

Falling solidly within the genre of Wangerin's previous novels, this book often feels more like a Eugene Peterson–style paraphrase of the New Testament than an actual work of fiction. While Wangerin invents dialogue, events and characters that go beyond the biblical text, these inventions do little more than provide context for his retelling of the bulk of the four Gospel accounts. As always, Wangerin writes beautiful, descriptive prose, evoking the sights, sounds, smells, sensibilities and politics of the world in which Jesus lived. He nicely develops the character of Jesus' mother, but most of the other characters—including Jesus himself—are not adequately fleshed out, as Wangerin tends to use physical descriptions and one or two trademark mannerisms in lieu of full characterization. Judas Iscariot is tall, thin, young and manic; Simon Peter is burly and gregarious; and Mary Magdalene is a strong but tiny wisp of a woman whom everyone refers to as a child. Wangerin innovates a bit by alternating between third- and first-person narration, sharing Jesus' mother's perspective in the third person and the gospel writer John's in the first. Readers looking for a well-written novel that rarely veers from an entirely orthodox depiction of Jesus will appreciate this effort. (Nov.)
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