Customer Reviews

Jesus in Love

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Written by lesbian Christian minister Kittredge Cherry, Jesus in Love is a novel that explores a controversial premise - what if Jesus Christ, the legendary Prince of Peace, had been a queer man? How would have felt, how would he have coped with identifying his real self as both male and female, how would he have connected with his beloved disciple John, Mary Magdalene, and the multi-gendered Holy Spirit? Narrated from Christ's first person perspective, Jesus in Love is not intended to disrespect religious or spiritual beliefs, or advance political agendas, but rather to explore humanity. In the introduction, Cherry states "People ask why I wrote Jesus in Love. The reason is that I love Jesus and writing about him healed me... I wrote about a sexual Jesus because human beings are sexual, and he is bisexual-transgender because I did not want to limit Christ's sexuality to a single approach. Christ seemed to reveal this aspect of his all-encompassing self to me, not as historical fact, but as a spiritual truth." A sensitive and thoughtful perspective; Jesus in Love is emphatically not a fornication-laden or guilty pleasure novel, but rather a spiritual one that dares to deal with sexual aspects, and embodies the essence of peace, tolerance, and compassion that are all ideals cherished in the name of the Prince of Peace.

Did you ever wonder what it might be like to be the Messiah? This book will give you an idea: it's a narration of the events described in the gospels, but from Jesus's standpoint. It's not so much a historical novel as a spiritual one. The author makes clear that she's not necessarily trying for a historically accurate picture of first century Palestine. Rather, the Jesus here is the Jesus constructed by 21st century Christianity.

Even as a non-believer, I found the book fascinating. It presents a fresh and often surprising picture of Jesus, and realistic (if fictional) portraits of some of his followers. I suspect that a Christian believer would find it a powerfully moving experience. Even though there are gay characters, those seeking scandal will be disappointed. This is "Jesus in Love" (with the world), not "Jesus in Lust".

The style is lucid and highly readable: even though the book's length (more than 300 pages) was at first daunting, the book almost reads itself. It stops about halfway through Jesus's ministry; I look forward to the second volume.

As a gay man I appreciate calling this a book about a gay Jesus, but this book is really about accepting the fact that Jesus was not only divine, but also fully human. What if he fell in love the way we do, only he was fully aware of the responsibility and gift of loving? This book paints a Jesus who is not only divine, but also learning and growing in both his awareness of his divinity and his humanity. How refreshing! How beautiful! A divine Jesus who is also fully human! That's what makes this book revolutionary. Cherry has written about an accessible Jesus who loves us on so many dimensions and who is open to his own sexuality, though struggling with how to express that sexuality in the context of his divinity.

Buy this book for a view of what Jesus might be like if we accepted not only his divinity, but also his humanity. Although we think of Jesus as the Son of God, he is more often named Son of Man in the Bible. I can't wait for the sequel, "Jesus in Love on the Cross." Hope it's finished soon!

Regardless of your statuses of sexuality and faith, "Jesus in Love" is a beautiful story. Cherry paints a loving, affectionate, ever-concerned, and all accepting Jesus, and biblical tales come alive with the addition of emotional love to the deity's perspective. I'd like to think that Jesus the man was as Cherry describes, as it allows the man to mesh with a more universal religious standard--peace and love. The text is great for personal spiritual growth, but you can also read it to simply appreciate a man in love.

This is an absolutely marvelous book. This is actually about the fourth copy I've purchased, but the first I obtained from Amazon. The reason I ordered it again is that I had given away all my previously purchased copies. Although I like to support my local bookseller when possible, I realized that if I was going to continue to share it at this rate, I needed to go a more economical route.

Cherry and I won the same contest, so I wanted to check out her book, but being as I am really not very religious, any version of Jesus in Nazareth doesn't hold much interest for me. That being said, I read this book somewhere around the time I read Anne Rice's version of the same biblical history; Christ: Out of Egypt - and I would say the stories are quite comparable. I hope the author of Jesus in Love accepts this as the high compliment it is intended to be.

I did not find anything about the book to be particularly offensive whatsoever.

This is a beautiful book. I've yet to buy the sequel, but I will one day. It came into my life at a time that it was much needed. It would be nearly a year before I could face my own sexuality, and I continue to return to this as a sort of "pick me up" when it gets to be too much to handle. I like how the author portrayed him; he honestly didn't care what anyone thought of him and his sexuality. He accepted it freely, and that's what I've been trying to do. What I'm still trying to do. I can accept and love everyone, but I seem to have trouble with accepting myself... he had little problem with this concept, and it was easily portrayed.

The only bit of advice I do have to any prospective buyers, is to be certain you're ready to explain why you have this book if you cannot hide it from anyone. I didn't care, as I believe Yeshua was/is of the queer persuasion to begin with... but your family most likely will not see it that way.

Very few books are "life-changers" for me. This is one. Jesus In Love transported me so believably into the mind of Christ, He became even more alive than ever. Far from being blasphemous, it seemed holy (that is "set apart," and "whole"). It's a riveting tale, one of those reads that makes real time disappear from consciousness [a rare thing for me, a former "time-governed" broadcaster]. For us progressive Christians--faithful folks committed to a divine Jesus but not to the fundamentalist, unloving, closed-minded followers He has attracted...those who forget the importance of "separation of church and hate"--this is a must-read novel. Thank you, Kittredge Cherry!