We thought this book, although published last fall, would be appropriate reading during the season of Lent. Dominican Father Wilfrid J. Harrington, a professor of Scripture at the Dominican House of Studies in Dublin, is a highly regarded scholar who has written on the subject for many decades. The book’s title brings to mind a masterful illustrated work from the mid-80s entitled He Was One of Us, featuring the paintings of Dutch artist Rien Poortvliet.
Harrington’s book, by contrast, is a straightforward, clear and concise exposition and reflection on the human Jesus and is divided into five short chapters: his life (prophet, teacher, healer, etc.); his concerns (for women, children, sinners, etc.); his traits (faith, love, prayerfulness compassion, etc.); people’s reactions to him and his ministry (fear, anger, etc.); and meeting his ultimate fate (theology of the Cross, etc.) “The mystery of Jesus,” as the author notes in the introduction, “is that in him, God communicates himself in a full and unrestricted manner.”
In a review of the book (Jan. 3, 2011), New Testament scholar Daniel Harrington commends the author’s newest book, a capstone to a body of work that “makes available to God’s people the best in contemporary biblical scholarship and so [is] helping our Catholic Church become more explicitly and profoundly biblical.”
Purchase Jesus Our Brother: The Humanity of the Lord
This article appears in March 28 2011.
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