The Day Christ Died

Rating:
Summary: Moving Story of Christ's Final Day on Earth
Review: Jim Bishop has a way of making history come alive.

I'm not usually a fan of historical fiction, liking the stories of mankind straight up and as they happened. Jim Bishop does not fictionalize his stories the way a Vidal of Sharra does -- what he does is add color and texture to actual events and actual dialogue to make two dimensional histories come alive.

In this book, Bishop, as I understand it, took only the dialogue and scenes appearing in the Gospels to tell the story of Christ's final day on earth. The book is broken down into hour by hour chapters. Three background chapters -- one on Jesus? life; one on the Jewish world and one on the Roman -- give the "greatest story ever told" context and allow the reader to more easily slip back into a world 2,000 years old.

As I understand the Gospels -- and I am by no means an expert -- Bishop remains true to the Jesus story and the biblical account. While the Gospels are moving in themselves, having such a skilled writer describe the scenery, the points in Jerusalem where Jesus was taken and traveled and the characters who inhabit the drama enlivens an already supremely rich story.


Rating:
Summary: A remarkable account of Christ's sacrifice
Review: Jim Bishop seemlessly weaves his biblical scholarship and anthropological knowledge with scripture to create a full accounting of the last days Christ's life. Divorced from the realities of life under Roman rule, modern Christians may lack an understanding of the visceral realities of the crucifixion-which Bishop provides. Altogether a beautifully spiritual book.

Rating:
Summary: The Day Christ Died
Review: Jim Bishop writes a book that is not only Biblically accurate, but it is also entertaining. Although I do have a word of caution, remember this is fiction! He has taken Biblical fact and blended them together with fiction to create an understandable flow events during the ministry of Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, Jim does a great job bringing the reader into the Age of Jesus' time using historical research. He reviews the Jewish background (e.g., Law, customs, and more), as well as articulating the structure, politically and religiously, of the Roman Empire. Again, Jim Bishop writes an outstanding book that will educate everyone, and give all Christians who read it a deeper sense and appreciation of what Jesus did for all people.

Rating:
Summary: The Day Christ Died
Review: Jim Bishop writes a book that is not only Biblically accurate, but it is also entertaining. Although I do have a word of caution, remember this is fiction! He has taken Biblical fact and blended them together with fiction to create an understandable flow events during the ministry of Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, Jim does a great job bringing the reader into the Age of Jesus' time using historical research. He reviews the Jewish background (e.g., Law, customs, and more), as well as articulating the structure, politically and religiously, of the Roman Empire. Again, Jim Bishop writes an outstanding book that will educate everyone, and give all Christians who read it a deeper sense and appreciation of what Jesus did for all people.

Rating:
Summary: Well done for its time
Review: Jim Bishop's interesting and reverent work is suited for a Good Friday afternoon of meditation, and he manages to make it quite entertaining reading. Nonetheless, even allowing for the fictional elements, Jim's research would be contradicted by the findings of scripture scholars during the past three decades. His book would not serve for an accurate picture of first century Palestine, the authorship of the gospels, and so forth for serious study in 2001.

Rating:
Summary: Allthough interesting story, horrible recount
Review: this book led me down the road of jesus' death and i thought it could have done a better job. it told too much detail about the backround of the story and i found it misleading and tiring.