Rating: 
Summary: A Bible Major's Perspective
Review: As a Bible Major, I often find myself challenged to find good material that is both personable and yet scholarly when dealing with the life of Jesus. Endo Shusako San's portrayal is one which approaches Jesus in a manner worthy of several reads. In "Life" Endo discusses Jesus on a level which both biblical scholars and the lay person or even non-Christian can appreciate and on each level there is great integrity as well as success: a near impossible task! Also, having lived in Japan for half a year, finding love with a Japanese woman, and having plans of living there in one year, this book helps us step out of the otherwise American/Westernized picture of Jesus which the community of biblical scholars - who are mainly white and upper-middle class men - has developed. If you are ready for a vividly real, honest, and (most likely) accurate examination of Jesus' life, pick up a copy today!
Rating:
Summary: A Bible Major's Perspective
Review: As a Bible Major, I often find myself challenged to find good material that is both personable and yet scholarly when dealing with the life of Jesus. Endo Shusako San's portrayal is one which approaches Jesus in a manner worthy of several reads. In "Life" Endo discusses Jesus on a level which both biblical scholars and the lay person or even non-Christian can appreciate and on each level there is great integrity as well as success: a near impossible task! Also, having lived in Japan for half a year, finding love with a Japanese woman, and having plans of living there in one year, this book helps us step out of the otherwise American/Westernized picture of Jesus which the community of biblical scholars - who are mainly white and upper-middle class men - has developed. If you are ready for a vividly real, honest, and (most likely) accurate examination of Jesus' life, pick up a copy today!
Rating: 
Summary: A Compelling Account
Review: I wandered many years before finding my peace with Jesus of Nazareth; Mr. Endo gave shape to my heart. Raised in the traditions of the Catholic church, and with many clerics in my family, I would say that I was overly stimulated, early on in my life,by the intellectual side of christianity and rebelled/ revolted against the Church, many times. I have found my course was a normal one for men of my age: 1. blind faith in the Church 2. blind rage against the Church 3. uncomfortable truce with the Church. After reading A Life of Jesus, I am now at peace with the Church (I know it is mainly wrong), and have found peace with Jesus (at the very least, his life, as told by Mr. Endo, is one I can respect and use as a standard for my own). Its a stimulating read, and a remarkable effort from one of our centuries great authors.
Rating:
Summary: A profound and moving explanation of a simple man's life
Review: I wandered many years before finding my peace with Jesus of Nazareth; Mr. Endo gave shape to my heart. Raised in the traditions of the Catholic church, and with many clerics in my family, I would say that I was overly stimulated, early on in my life,by the intellectual side of christianity and rebelled/ revolted against the Church, many times. I have found my course was a normal one for men of my age: 1. blind faith in the Church 2. blind rage against the Church 3. uncomfortable truce with the Church. After reading A Life of Jesus, I am now at peace with the Church (I know it is mainly wrong), and have found peace with Jesus (at the very least, his life, as told by Mr. Endo, is one I can respect and use as a standard for my own). Its a stimulating read, and a remarkable effort from one of our centuries great authors.
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling Account
Review: I would have never discovered this book had it not been tucked away in a box of books given to us by an elderly friend...Endo wrote this book in the 70s and it deserves to be revived in connection with the recent interest in "the Historical Jesus". Endo provides a speculative historical account of the life of Jesus based on the New Testament. His attention to Scriptural detail is remarkable and he provides many compelling interpretations of the words of Jesus and the events of the gospels. His goal in writing this account was to explain Christianity to a Japanese culture that views a fathers as stern and judgemental figures. Hence, his challenge is to re-define God the Father as a loving and compassionate figure in contrast to the God often portrayed in the Old Testament. His thesis, in my own words, is that Jesus came not to tell everybody that He is God, but rather to tell us who God is. At a time in history when Jesus' countrymen were looking for a violent revolutionary to lead them from Roman occupation, Jesus was rejected as weak and ineffective. Only in dying with dignity and showing faith and forgiveness in his dying words were his followeres able to understand that his message was indeed revolutionary. He is careful to distinguish "fact" from truth" and hence "A Life of Jesus" is convincing and historically plausible as well as faith inspiring. He never asks the reader to place blind faith in unprovable accounts of miraculous events. Nonetheless, he ends with his account of the resurrection which argues that the transformation in Jesus disciples after the crucifixion is as miraculous as the corporal resurrection of Jesus from the dead, regardless of whether or not such a resurrection is historically factual. If this book were more well known, Endo would undoubtedly be attacked by evangelical conservatives for suggesting that acceptance of the factuality of the New Testament is not a prerequisite for faith. In fact, he doesn't even touch on the birth narratives because of the historical speciousness. His account may not convince skeptics to run out and join a church, but they may reconsider their notions of the meaning of Jesus and the nature of the Divine.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Approach to Christ
Review: Shusako Endo has written his "Life of Jesus" for a readership that is primarily Japanese. To that end, he writes in the preface: "The religious mentality of the Japanese is responsive to one who 'suffers with us' and who 'allows for our weakness,' but their mentality has little tolerance for any kind of transcendent being who judges humans harshly, then punishes them. In brief, the Japanese tend to seek in their gods and buddhas a warm-hearted mother rather than a stern father. With this fact always in mind I tried not so much to depict God in the father-image that tends to characterize Christianity, but rather to depict the kind-hearted maternal aspect of God revealed to us in the personality of Jesus." In short, Endo is completely aware that he is not capturing the "whole" Jesus in this account. Further, he wants the reader to understand that he is not trying to write an all encompassing account of one whom Endo completely agrees is the very Son of God. Having kept Endo's prefatory admonition in mind, I must agree that this book wonderfully conveys of the love of Christ for man. To that end, I highly recommend the book. On the down-side, Endo indulges in some rather speculative theories regarding Christ. To illustrate, Endo believes that Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist. He also asserts that Jesus' temptation in the desert by the devil is metaphor for a conflict he may have had with the Essenes. Unfortunately, Endo doesn't really endeavor to support these theories. In defense of the author, however, Endo is entirely up-front with the fact that his understanding of these matters is theory. He does not pass his notions off as uncontrovertible truth. His humility in this area is refreshing. If you have an interest in Christ and, more particularly, in what others think about him, pick this book up and take the time to read it slowly. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Approach to Christ
Review: Shusako Endo has written his "Life of Jesus" for a readership that is primarily Japanese. To that end, he writes in the preface: "The religious mentality of the Japanese is responsive to one who 'suffers with us' and who 'allows for our weakness,' but their mentality has little tolerance for any kind of transcendent being who judges humans harshly, then punishes them. In brief, the Japanese tend to seek in their gods and buddhas a warm-hearted mother rather than a stern father. With this fact always in mind I tried not so much to depict God in the father-image that tends to characterize Christianity, but rather to depict the kind-hearted maternal aspect of God revealed to us in the personality of Jesus." In short, Endo is completely aware that he is not capturing the "whole" Jesus in this account. Further, he wants the reader to understand that he is not trying to write an all encompassing account of one whom Endo completely agrees is the very Son of God. Having kept Endo's prefatory admonition in mind, I must agree that this book wonderfully conveys of the love of Christ for man. To that end, I highly recommend the book. On the down-side, Endo indulges in some rather speculative theories regarding Christ. To illustrate, Endo believes that Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist. He also asserts that Jesus' temptation in the desert by the devil is metaphor for a conflict he may have had with the Essenes. Unfortunately, Endo doesn't really endeavor to support these theories. In defense of the author, however, Endo is entirely up-front with the fact that his understanding of these matters is theory. He does not pass his notions off as uncontrovertible truth. His humility in this area is refreshing. If you have an interest in Christ and, more particularly, in what others think about him, pick this book up and take the time to read it slowly. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Mallowcups for Shusaku
Review: Shusaku Endo, in his own words a "solitary novelist in the Orient", has given us a singular gift in "A Life of Jesus." This novelist employed his talent to put a soundtrack and lighting to the gospels, complete with the dimensions of smell, taste, and touch. While I feel he used the word 'emaciated' one too many times in reference to Jesus, the point he makes is clear; Jesus was not what anyone expected a Messiah to be. Endo takes a good portion of the book to explore the POV's of the disciples. His is the first account I have seen that presents a compassionate portrait of Judas Iscariot, a man who, in the end, hated himself to death. Toward the end of the book, Endo hammered the perplexing question of what changed the cowardly disciples, who had abandoned Jesus to his fate...the conclusion Endo reached did indeed resonate with this particular reader, though I could not help feel a bit of restless frustration with the end...his conclusions about the 'electrifying change' he saw in the disciples not once suggested the beginning of the book of Acts, where a once denying Peter is now empowered to not only hold forth, but to do so boldly. The point Endo labors is more about the power of resurrection...he says "Regarding other miracles in the life of Jesus, the Gospel record is soft, compared to the resurrection." Indeed, it was fascinating to get inside the brains of Endo's disciples--the word 'resurrection' has new meaning for me. I greatly admired this work, am still thinking about it, and had the feeling it ended too soon. In Endo's own words, because I cannot say it better, "Regarding those who deserted him, those who betrayed him, not a word of resentment came to his lips...he prayed for nothing but their salvation. That's the whole life of Jesus. It stands out clean and simple, like a single Chinese ideograph brushed on a blank sheet of paper. It was so clean and simple that no one could make sense of it, and not one could produce its like."
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding alternative point of view
Review: This book is the life of Jesus, told in a way that will help today's individuals understand the political and religious climate back then. Using a writing style very similar to "The Perfect Storm", Endo write a beautiful story, interuppting it often to explain the history of a certain people, or explain the politics of the day, so that the reader can better understand what is occuring. Endo is very careful to point out the difference from what is fact and what is his personal belief, and often provides multiple points of view when his personal beliefs are concerned. All in all this is an outstanding book that allows people to better understand what the life of Jesus was really like. Whether or not you believe that he was the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth really did exist, and he did live an extrodinary life. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding alternative point of view
Review: This book is the life of Jesus, told in a way that will help today's individuals understand the political and religious climate back then. Using a writing style very similar to "The Perfect Storm", Endo write a beautiful story, interuppting it often to explain the history of a certain people, or explain the politics of the day, so that the reader can better understand what is occuring. Endo is very careful to point out the difference from what is fact and what is his personal belief, and often provides multiple points of view when his personal beliefs are concerned. All in all this is an outstanding book that allows people to better understand what the life of Jesus was really like. Whether or not you believe that he was the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth really did exist, and he did live an extrodinary life. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in the subject.
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