Jesus: The Son of Man
A Story Based on Jesus and His Times
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This book is invented. It is a constructed narrative. It is not a life of Jesus the Christ of the Catholic, Orthodox, or Reformed churches. Any resemblances are purely coincidental.
It all began when, as a child, I was impressed by the sound of bells calling the faithful in the neighborhood of my home in
At first I was dazzled by the pageantry, the gorgeous robes, the Crosses and icons, the liturgies, the chants, the incense, the imagery, and the kindly bearded priests wearing crowns. The sound of the languages used in these churches (Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, Armenian, Latin, and Arabic) created an aura of mystery that bordered on the sacred. This historical, visual, aesthetic, and intellectual splendor left me hungry. It failed to uncover Jesus for me. Only occasionally, through the piety and charity of some humble worshipers did I catch glimpses of him.
My subsequent studies led me to the only extant primary sources: the four gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul’s letters, all of which compounded my dismay for in them I found only the afterglow of the person who had sent waves rolling across the Mediterranean world and beyond and changed the very course of human history.
The difficulty, as I perceive it, is that the important and exciting information transmitted by the New Testament is primarily aimed at proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord, the Son of God. The form that has reached us is 50 to 60 years removed from the person himself. By then the path leading from history to myth had already been taken. The story is therefore a mosaic of selected, interpreted, extended, and diffused information largely prepared for the needs of special hearers and situations. Fact is mixed with meaning; the concrete is viewed with the eyes of faith, making it impossible to discover what really happened and how much personal interpretation had shaped the report. Thus I was left far from the human reality of Jesus.
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About the Book
JESUS, THE SON OF MAN imaginatively melds the little that is known about the life of Jesus with historical fiction. The result is a beautiful story of the life and times of Jesus Christ. Mounir Sa''adah has lived a good deal of his life in the lands so beloved to Jesus. His life has been steeped in Christianity. His creative mind transitions back and forth so skillfully from what is known to what might have been that the reader is unaware of the transfer. The result is a lovely story that should warm the heart of its readers. It will reward all those who read its pages.
Robert H. Linnell, Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California
former Professor, American University of Beirut. Lebanon
About the Author
My early years in
This book has evolved over many years as I have studied biblical literature and reflected on my earlier intimate travels in the Holy lands. I wanted to write a story of how the life of Jesus might have evolved from his early childhood to his adulthood, a time largely absent from our New Testament Bible.
The essential message of Jesus is love. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you ... " (John
Jesus is referred to as the "Son of Man" 75 times in the New Testament. Jesus taught that we should center our lives on love. Jesus himself lived a life of love but indicated the possibility that we could do even better. "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these ..." (John 14 12).
As the "Son of Man" Jesus emphasizes his humanity. Through his teachings of love we can all share this humanity and reach to even higher levels to do "greater works than these ." That is the purpose of our lives here on earth.
Mounir R. Sa''adah