This illustrated edition of the bold, momentous book written by Pope Benedict XVI is beautifully adorned with reproductions of classic works by a veritable pantheon of classic painters—from Tiepolo to Chagall. Begun before his election to the papacy, the book contains masterfully cogent and accessible essays on the life of Jesus, including his baptism, his temptation in the desert, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord’s Prayer, the disciples, the parables, the principal images of John’s Gospel, Peter’s confession and Jesus’s Transfiguration, and Jesus’s two self-descriptions, "Son of Man" and "Son." Pope Benedict XVI responds to the revisionist historical literature that makes Jesus a man of his time and place, and he discusses recent archaeological, historical, anthropological, and sociological research. As sensitive as it is erudite and brilliant, this edition is lavishly illustrated with handsome reproductions of classical depictions of Jesus by a roster of eminent artists, including Caravaggio, Tintoretto, Veronese, Bellini, Kandinsky, Gauguin, Matisse, and many others.
A former publishing executive, John F. Thornton is a literary agent and co-editor of Tongues of Angels, Tongues of Men: A Book of Sermons. He lives in New York City. Susan B. Varenne holds an M.A. from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. She is a New York City teacher and a freelance writer specializing in religion.
