Gerry O'Collins 50th book, many of which are on the subject of Jesus and especially his ressurection, this accessible work is obviously the fruit of a lifetime of scholarship and teaching, and also of committed Christian Service (Gerry O'Collins is a Jesuit priest).

The book is very readable, but if you use the relatively modest number of referneces you will find that he has engaged profitably with a vast amount of scholarship, including some of the most recent works on Jesus by luminary scholars such as J D G Dunn, N T Wright, R. Bauckham & J Meier. Anybody using this book can be sure that its 'easy reading' style is underpinned by serious scholarship.

My only slight reservations are twofold. Firstly it seems occasionaly to be unsure as to whether it is an academic or a devotional work. Perhaps one should not draw too hard a distinction between the two, but methodologically they are somewhat different.

Secondly I don't entirely agree with his treatment of the end of Mark - while the women being 'in fear and trembling' is an apropriate reaction to revelation, them running away in fear and disobeying the order given is not. A greater use of the narrative approach to the text here and elsewhere may have enriched the book further.

Nevertheless I can recommend this book to all who would like to read a very personal yet scholarly portrait of Jesus by one who has been very deeply involved with Jesus, both as a scholar and as a Christian. ( )

A personal portrayal of the one who launched the path followed by billions over the course of two millennia, this book is a biography of Jesus that also contains reflections on theology, discipleship and prayer.
Much of what one sees or reads about Jesus is deliberately sensationalist or evasive. Producers and writers raise issues of merely historical interest, highlight trivial matters, or allege that "cover-ups" have hidden the "real truth" for many centuries. They will do anything but face the challenge in the ultimate religious drama created by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.' Gerald O'Collins SJ