Friday, June 2, 2023

Book Review: A God Named Josh by Jared Brock

About the Book:

The Life of Jesus Like You've Never Imagined.

Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say I am?" It's a question that still needs an answer today. With deft, insightful, and humorous strokes, award-winning biographer Jared Brock weaves archaeology, philosophy, history, and theology to create a portrait of Jesus we've never seen before.

This is a groundbreaking biography about the historical Jesus we don't usually think about: The child refugee. The "carpenter" who most likely worked with stone. The adult who walked at least 21,525 miles in His lifetime and yet never tasted tomatoes or potatoes. The itinerant rabbi whose real name wasn't Jesus. The political revolutionary whose brutal murder was secretly masterminded by a power-hungry mafia family.

More than a fascinating biography, A God Named Josh seeks to illuminate Jesus of Nazareth from new perspectives, grounded in history, that will surprise Christians and atheists alike.

Read an excerpt from A God Named Josh by Jared Brock on the publisher's website.


My Thoughts:

Other than the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Holy Scriptures, A God Named Josh: Uncovering the Human Life of Jesus Christ by Jared Brock stands as the first biography of Jesus that I’ve read. The book combined Scriptural accounts and secular history relating to Jesus of Nazareth aka Yeshua aka Yehoshua.

It took me nearly a month to read A God Named Josh as it’s a lengthy book. The author brilliantly organized this biography, and I loved learning new historical insights. Chapter 5 (The Relational Josh) uncovered Jesus’ familial connections and showed how interconnected his followers and family were. Chapter 7 (The Philosophical Josh) fascinated me and deepened my understanding of Yehoshua’s teachings. Chapter 8 (The Economic Josh) will challenge any Christian to think about the use of money. For me, the book’s greatest impact came from the chronicling of Yehoshua’s day-by-day journey from the triumphal entry to the resurrection. I’ll never look at a cross the same way and the author reconciled the resurrection accounts beautifully (something I’ve never been able to do in my own readings).

Every so often, Jared Brock stepped out of biographer mode and into a theologian or apologetic defender of the faith role. Most of the ideas in A God Named Josh stay within mainline evangelical framework, but sometimes the author challenges traditional interpretations and makes good cases for his ideas (though I didn’t come into agreement with every point). I recommend reading with an alert, discerning eye as there are plenteous suppositions (some presented as such and some quietly inserted). I often used the provided Scripture references to check up on the author’s ideas. Personally, I thought some of his interpretations were out of context or construed in a way that may or may not be correct and true. The book and its ideas made me examine certain Bible passages with a new view.

In A God Named Josh, Jared Brock writes in an intelligent, but relatable tone for Millennials, and included occasional crassness (mentioning the disciples’ stones) and infrequent misogyny (could have been easily avoided, and didn’t mesh with the way he elevated female disciples in other points in the book). I enjoyed this book and expect it to stay with me for a long time. 4.5 Stars.

 


Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the author or publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.


No comments:

Post a Comment