Jesus of Nazareth: Part Two Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection [Hardcover]

"Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection" is the sequel to Pope Benedicts XVI's first book on the life of Christ: "Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration." What I am writing, I write as an Anglican priest and professor who has read previously only a few articles by Pope Benedict XVI (back when he was Cardinal Ratzinger). I'm happy to say that I find Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth" a wonderful commentary on the life of Jesus Christ. While it's very clear that the Pope is a scholar, it's also clear he is a man of deep faith: I want both of these in a good commentary on the life of Christ! This Volume 2 of the Pope's work makes me want to go out and buy his first volume as well. "Jesus of Nazareth", especially, makes for wonderful Lent, Passiontide, and Eastertide reading!

I heartily recommend "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem To The Resurrection" to all Christians who want to understand Jesus and His teachings better, to be closer to Jesus Christ, and to become more faithful disciples of His in the process. Any writer who manages to combine scholarly erudition with readability and deep insights into faith and theology deserves to be read. This is especially true if the writer is the present Pope!

In his forward, Benedict places his work, and that of scholarly exegesis in general, firmly in its theological context, as a response to the historical-critical exegesis that is even now exhausting itself. In other words, his work will combine the scholar's care for history with the saint's devotion to and care for the biblical text. Benedict says that he is not writing another "life of Christ" but wants simply to present the figure and message of Jesus.

When reviewing books, especially ones of a theological nature, I like to look at both the most difficult passages to see if the author will "wimp out" on the reader and to look at the most dense and important passages. Benedict states that the teachings of Jesus on eschatology near the end of the Gospels can be described as "the most difficult text in the whole of the Gospels?" So how does the Pope handle these difficult passages? With great skill and understanding. In essence, he looks at these passages through three temporal lenses. First, he sees them as being in continuity with the tradition that came before. Second, he sees a historical fulfillment in the destruction of the Temple.
Third, he sees them in terms of an eschatology that is beyond our time and reality. I believe this is a faithful way to understand these difficult passages and may be of great help to perplexed Christians. Rather than seeing a naïve and simplistic connection between Jesus' teaching and the end of the world, Benedict sees in them as well "a time for the Gentiles."

Being an Anglican, and not a Roman Catholic, I wanted to see how Benedict would handle "the theology of the words of institution." Benedict begins with a helpful reminder that the words of institution belong in the context of prayer, "the thanksgiving that leads to blessing and to transformation." In the breaking of the bread, we see the hospitality and caring of God that is to be applied in the caring nature of God's Church as well. Protestants may not be satisfied with Benedict's explanation of how Christ can say "This is My Body" while He is still standing there in the flesh, but Benedict expresses Jesus' meaning without being polemical. In essence, by way of anticipation, Jesus knows that He will indeed offer His life to His disciples and is already in the process of doing it. Nothing very controversial here for many of us.

On a more personal and less theological level, I find that in many places Benedict's insights not only helped me to understand certain passages better but also to know their deeper meanings. He does a wonderful job of showing how various passages of the Bible all are brought together in parts of the life of Christ (and some of you thought Roman Catholics don't know their Bible!) For example, I love Benedict's discussion of Jesus' passionate prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Even here, Benedict always keeps the relevant scholarship before, as a means of better understanding the passage at hand.

There are too many other important passages to go through, but I thought Benedict's handling of Christ' cry of dereliction on the Cross was very good, placing it, as he does, in the context of what has been called the "corporate personality" of the Psalms. This is in contrast to the individualistic way we tend to read the Scriptures. In other words, Benedict allows for the importance of private piety but always ties them to the life of Christ and therefore the life of the whole Church.

In summary, what we have in Pope Benedict XVI's "Jesus of Nazareth" is an explanation of the most important man who brought the most important message. It just happens to be written by, arguably, the most important (though all are equal in God's eyes) Christian alive today. Intelligent and clear, faithful and forceful, I'm sure it will bless the lives of many! My prayer is that "Jesus of Nazareth" will bring many Christians closer to Jesus of Nazareth.

Benedict XVI organizes his book in the following way:

I. The Entrance into Jerusalem and the Cleansing of the Temple
1. The Entrance into Jerusalem
2. The Cleansing of the Temple

II. Jesus' Eschatological Discourse
1. The End of the Temple
2. The Times of the Gentiles
3. Prophecy and Apocalyptic in the Eschatological Discourse

III. The Washing of the Feet
1. The Hour of Jesus
2. "You are Clean"
3. The New Commandment
4. The Mystery of the Betrayer
5. Two Conversations with Peter
6. Washing of Feet and Confession of Sin

IV. Jesus' High Priestly Prayer
1. The Jewish Feast of the Atonement
2. Four Major Themes of the Prayer

V. The Last Supper
1. The Dating of the Last Supper
2. The Institution of the Eucharist
3. The Theology of the Words of Institution
4. From the Last Supper to the Sunday Morning Eucharist

VI. Gethsemane
1. On the Way to the Mount of Olives
2. The Prayer of Jesus

VII. The Trial of Jesus
1. Preliminary Discussion of the Sanhedrin
2. Jesus Before the Sanhedrin
3. Jesus Before Pilate

VIII. Crucifixion and Burial of Jesus
1. Word and Event in the Passion Narrative
2. Jesus on the Cross (this is subdivided into 8 sections)
3. Jesus' Death as Reconciliation and Salvation

IX. Jesus' Resurrection from the Dead
1. What is the Resurrection of Jesus?
2. The 2 Different Types of Resurrection Testimony
- the Confessional Tradition
- the Narrative Tradition
3. Summary: the Nature of Jesus' Resurrection and its Historical Significance

Epilogue - "He Ascended into Heaven"

In Pope Benedict XVI's second volume of "Jesus of Nazareth" the Pope continues to explore the life of Jesus. This time it is from Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem until the time of his Resurrection. His purpose for writing the book is stated in the introduction, when he says, "I have attempted to develop a way of observing and listening to the Jesus of the Gospels that can indeed lead to personal encounter and that, through collective listening with Jesus' disciples across the ages, can indeed attain sure knowledge of the real historical figure of Jesus."

This encounter with Jesus is achieved through a unique analysis of the Biblical text. Benedict is trying to change the way in which Biblical scholars and theologians dive into the text and help shift Biblical studies toward a more intimate portrayal of Christ.

The current state of biblical studies in most of Christianity is still heavily dependent upon the historical-critical method of study. This method is really a compilation of various methods of trying to look into the past to examine the Biblical text in light of what we know about them during the time they were written. It tries to understand, as best as can be done, what the human authors of Scripture understood about the world, culture, themselves, God, etc. to draw out the meaning of the text.

Benedict XVI stated in volume I that the method is limited in what it can do for us, because it remains a method which leaves "the biblical word in the past". It also does not approach the text with the eyes of faith, but with a critical eye. This means that it is very limited in the scope of what it can do for us and it cannot bring us to a real encounter with a God who comes to us as a Living Word today.

Because of these limitations inherent to the historical-critical method, the Pope believes it has "yielded its essential fruit", even while it is indispensably helpful for a study of the Bible.

With this in mind, Benedict sets out to help us see the historical figure of Christ through the eyes of faith. This faith should be informed by the historicity of the Gospels, but never devoid of seeing Christ as He should properly be seen - not merely a figure of the past, but someone who is alive and present to us today. This takes faith.

While I believe the Pope achieved his goal, to a certain extent, in the first volume. I also believe he has done a better job of drawing us toward the face of Christ in the second volume. This is a great challenge, because so many things have already been written through the centuries about Jesus, as He is described in the Gospels. But, this unique approach of bringing together the wisdom of the Church's study of the Bible alongside a faithful and intimate portrait of Christ is a real achievement.

In addition to bringing about this new way of reading the Gospels, Benedict hasn't avoided the tough questions that arise when we read the Gospel accounts of Christ's life. He directly answers them and his answers are lucid and his style of writing will be readable for most people. One of the best sections is Chapter 4 - The High Priestly Prayer. In this chapter Benedict gives insights which opened up new horizons to me in understanding this difficult part of John's Gospel.

I have been blessed to a large number of Benedict's writings, but during his time as Pope and before. This is one of the best of the bunch.

In "Jesus of Nazareth Part Two" Pope Benedict sets out to finish his reflections on the life and significance of Jesus of Nazareth. The fact that this second and final book covers "just" the last week or so of Jesus' earthly ministry is the reflection of the impact and importance of that one week, which culminated in crucifixion that was followed by the glorious resurrection. The amount of space that is devoted to the Holy Week also reflects the fact that the Gospels themselves allocate a significant amount of space to it. The Passion narrative alone is by far the longest uninterrupted narrative of any event that has been described in the Bible. It is because of the events that took place during that week that there is Christianity to begin with - faith that is firmly grounded in the redemptive suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is no wonder then that many books have been written about that momentous week, and "Jesus of Nazareth Part Two" is another important contribution to our fuller understanding of the impact of the events that took place then.

People familiar with Pope Benedict's writing will know to expect a keen and refined intellect that is equally at ease at Biblical exegesis, theological reflection, and pastoral exhortations. Pope moves effortlessly between critical and insightful exegesis, highly developed theology, and effective and imminent preaching. Catholic Church is truly blessed to have in the person of Pope Benedict all the virtues and functions that it aspires to manifest and carry out corporally as an institution. Pope's writing is very lucid and accessible, but it demands a certain level of familiarity with the more nuanced details of the Gospel narratives. Even though there are numerous scriptural quotations throughout the book I find that having a copy of the Bible on the side to be very useful. Sometimes it is important to look up the entire passage or the chapter from which the quote is taken. The translation that is used in this book is RSV, but any other popular English translation will do.

Even though he is an eminent theologian and leader of the over billion strong Catholic Church, Pope Benedict at no point uses his own eminent status to impose his views on the reader. He engages in a scholarly dialogue with other theologians and exegetes, and many of his statements are laced with qualifications. He comes across as someone who relishes intellectual vibrancy that may lead reasonable well-informed people to conclusions that are different from his own. He aims to persuade his readers by the reasonableness of his views, and not by the authority of his office or the scholarly accomplishments.

The book is not yet another attempt to write about the life of Jesus. This book, like all the good theology, aims to answer a couple of fundamental questions about the events in Jesus' life: What does this mean to me? What does it mean for my path as a human being? The over-intellectualized theology that loses touch with the lives and concerns of ordinary human beings is almost completely antithetical to the basic message of Christianity. Good theology brings God closer to us, and helps us become more integrated in the Church. The Church, on the other hand, is not just a "community of believers" - it is an entirely new and different mode of existence.

The book deals with several themes that Pope Benedict has reflected extensively upon, both in his previous books and in many of his public statements: the plausibility and validity of the orthodox Christian view of Jesus, the absolute nature of Truth, the reality of sin and evil, and the uniqueness of Jesus as the road to salvation.

The publishing of this book coincides with the beginning of Lent, and I cannot imagine a more appropriate book for this season of reflection and personal acts of penance. One does not have to use it only for those purposes, though: its messages, just like those of Jesus of Nazareth, are timeless.

There are some indications that this might be the last major book written by Pope Benedict XVI. I certainly hope that this is not the case. The World needs constant evangelization, and a person of his sensibility, intellect, and courage is an important and powerful voice.

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