The Logia of Yeshua: The Sayings of Jesus [Hardcover]

Guy Davenport (Editor), Benjamin Urruitia (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996

"Freshens familiar New Testament injunctions, encouraging us to think anew about their meanings". Washington Post

Jesus was a street preacher who taught by way of sayings, or logia, using irony and paradox. His succinct and powerful words resound in this fine new translation drawn from Greek texts, including the Gospels.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Davenport and Urrutia have approached the sayings of Jesus--the logia of Yeshua--with the eyes and ears of poets and linguists who seek to encounter the itinerant street preacher and poet who lies behind the mythic figure of "the Christ." They read his sayings as pithy, ironic, often shocking; they seek to present them without softening their harshness or smoothing their sharp edges. This is not a scholarly or academic work, though there are notes for readers who wish to pursue sources. It is more nearly akin to a volume of poetry reconstructed from fragments, and readers should expect to encounter the translators as collaborators of the poet--as in a reading of Sappho or (as Davenport notes) Heraclitus. They are sensitive collaborators, and the encounter will prove revealing, especially for readers who believe they know Yeshua well. Steve Schroeder

Product Details

• Hardcover: 67 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint; First Edition edition (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188717818X
• ISBN-13: 978-1887178181
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,190,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enlightening read, January 16, 2010

By 

R. Nemeth (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Logia of Yeshua: The Sayings of Jesus (Paperback)

This slight little volume (my copy is almost palm-sized) could easily be read in a few hours, but is also one of the most enlightening books I've read in years. It's worthy of reading a little at a time, letting yourself digest an idea or two, and revisiting it months or years later anew. I've found that parts of this text have popped into my head and taken on new meaning many years after I first read the book, which is to me the mark of great writing.

The authors claim to have carefully examined all of the writings theoretically spoken by and told about Jesus, and included only those words that the authors are confident the historical man actually said. The result is a remarkably small amount of text when you consider the impact Christianity's writings had over centuries.

The text itself (Jesus' and the writers' commentary) is really interesting, and not what I expected. I found the ideas, tone, way of thinking, and image of Jesus as a person to be quite different (and frankly more appealing) than the simplistic interpretations and punitive "fire and brimstone" images I've often encountered. These brief distilled 'original' words present a more nuanced picture of the man and his words, laid bare for the reader's own interpretation, which I found refreshing.

I highly recommend this text, even for readers who are not Christian or particularly religious. Beyond being an opportunity to explore Jesus and Christianity, its also an interesting philisophical and historical read.