Customer Reviews

The Logia of Yeshua: The Sayings of Jesus

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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.