Jesus of Nazareth: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection Hardcover – March 10, 2011

"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 TempleII. Jesus' Eschatological Discourse 1. The End of the Temple 2. The Times of the Gentiles 3. Prophecy and Apocalyptic in the Eschatological DiscourseIII. 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 SinIV. Jesus' High Priestly Prayer 1. The Jewish Feast of the Atonement 2. Four Major Themes of the PrayerV. 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 EucharistVI. Gethsemane 1. On the Way to the Mount of Olives 2. The Prayer of JesusVII. The Trial of Jesus 1. Preliminary Discussion of the Sanhedrin 2. Jesus Before the Sanhedrin 3. Jesus Before PilateVIII. 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 SalvationIX. 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 SignificanceEpilogue - "He Ascended into Heaven"

I am reading this book for Lent. In order to get it to last the entire 40 days I'm reading 8 pages per day. Even then it can get a bit dry. This is written by Pope Benedict the theologian and scholar. He discusses conflicting theories of Jesus' life (for example, was the Last Supper an official Passover meal or not?). He covers Jewish history and cultural practices. He explains crucial words - in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. But he always comes down to the "answer" in terms of Jesus and his life and his actions. If you are looking for a warm fuzzy take on the Lord's life this is not it. If you are looking for solid ground on which to build an understanding of who He really was, this is worth your time.

The volume listed on this page is Volume II "From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection". This listing is totally misleading as it gives the sub title to Volume I (From Baptism to Transfiguration) - but click on the book icon displayed, and you'll clearly see it's Volume II. I know, I just received Volume II from this page. Also check the "buy with" line above and you'll see they suggest buying two volumes of the same book. Amazon has screwed this one, but naturally there's no place to go and report.

Once again the Holy Father demonstrates that he is one of the most profound and gifted theological thinkers in our time. After reading the first volume I watched Amazon.com with great anticipation for this second volume and I devoured it once it arrived. It exceeded my anticipation and I could not put it down. As a convert from a background that values a good working knowledge of the old testament, I am still impressed with the Pope's use of the old testament and his deep convictions concerning the common thread of covenant throughout scripture. But more than a deep theological work, he is a biblical theologian with a strong sense for the practical application to our lives as individuals as well as members of community - whether that community be church, or family, or nation. The implications of theology are not left to be abstract and irrelevant, they are truths that will inevitably change the world. Christians of every tradition (Protestant, Orthodox, or Catholic) will find the theological insights and applications most satisfying. But more than just Christians, Jews and Muslims as well will find references to how the Church sees herself in relation to other major religions. The theological insights are far-reaching in their applications even outside the faith into a world that is often hostile and misunderstanding of the faith. In this treatise we have at once apologetic reminiscent of Justin Martyr's epistle to Caesar and mystical inspiration reminiscent of St. Francis of Assissi. It is a challenge to modern biblical scholars to recognize and transcend the limitations of the historical-critical methods to return to a truly historical Jesus as those methods were intended to provide but failed. It is a warning shot across the bow of modern skeptical Christian theology that a new age of theological study which rebuilds the ancient walls has arrived. At the same time it is an inspirational and faith-building pep talk for Christians not to be afraid of the skeptics but to realize that they were right all along. The age of faith is not over, it is, as is our Lord, risen and alive indeed. It is not alive, however, at the expense of reason. Reason and faith are joined as they should have been all along and it will continue to turn the world upside down.

I've read the trilology and this was my favourite by a long shot. Even forgetting it's part of a trilogy on the life of Jesus, it stands alone as a beautiful book about Christ's last week on Earth. I love Pope Benedict. One day he'll be a saint and declared a doctor of the church, I firmly believe. But some of his books can be dense. I'm not a theologian but I know enough to get through some difficult texts. This book brings together sophisticated theology but is at the same time highly accessible. By all means by all three but if you only by one by this one.

The second part of a very important work. Pope Benedict is in the top flight of Christian scholarship, and this distillation of a lifetime's thought, meditation and no doubt prayer is a "must-have" for anyone wanting to know all that is needful about Jesus of Nazareth. Like many great scholars, Benedict has the ability to express very profound ideas in very accessible language, without any "talking-down". Not all the brief quotations in Greek have been fully translated, but the context makes their meaning clear.It isn't always an easy read, for it demands intelligent thought; but it is always worth the effort.

This is the second of the Pope's trilogy on the life of Jesus. I loved the first and this one is even better. I learnt so much from it - it is scholarly, devotional, biblical and Christ-centred. The section on Jesus saying 'this is my body' was particularly helpful to me. I am not a Roman Catholic and do not accept traditional catholic teaching on the mass - but what is said in this book makes a lot of sense and was personally very helpful to me. There is also one section where he teaches justification by faith (which was a bit of a surprise!). I highlighted so much of this book - that it looks like a rainbow! Highly highly recommended. Can't wait to get the third one...."The New Testament message is not simply an idea; essential to it is the fact that these events occurred in the history of this world; biblical faith does not recount stories as symbols of meta-historical truths; rather, it bases itself upon history that unfolded upon this earth."

Pope Benedict set out to explain in detail the events of the holy week, that is Christ's suffering and crucifixion and his resurrection. The book addresses the historical events in their theological interpretation and links them up with the Scriptures. It resolves all issues concerning the coming of the Word to take onto Himself the sins of the world, and what it means to mankind. The book also emphasizes the Lord's resurrection, what it actually means in terms of a physical event, and how those events not just fulfill the Scriptures but also prove the christian faith and all its foundations, and more so the reaching out of God the Creator to mankind through his manifested Word.Pope Benedict' book is an enlightment to all christians and a must have for strengthening the christian faith and message.

Benedict's monumental work on Jesus' Passion has helped me prepare adequately for Lent. Using his usual crystal-clear style, the Pope Emeritus delves deeply into the theological meaning of the various events between and including Palm Sunday and the Resurrection. After reading it, one becomes aware of the many hidden meanings of Jesus' life that are not apparent when simply reading the Gospel.I reccomend this book to anyone who wants to find out more about the incredibly deep meaning of Jesus' journey to the Cross.

Bound to be controversial with non-Christians, but Pope Benedict's great gift as a top theologian is that he can make his theology plain to the layman. Worth reading.