The Seeker’s Guide to Jesus in the Gospels

Steve Mueller
301 pages
Loyola University Press
$11.95
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From the Publisher
Jesus left behind no writings, autobiography, or soul-searching diary to help us understand his life and work. To know him, we rely on the accounts of his friends, which were shared, collected, and shaped after his death. This introduction to Jesus helps seekers explore the four Gospels in an effort to understand the extraordinary life of this first-century Jew from an obscure village in Roman Palestine.

About the Author
Steve Mueller is an editor and writer for Living the Good News Publications. For fifteen years, he was an instructor at the Denver Catholic Bible School. He frequently speaks and writes on biblical theology and spirituality and is the author of The Seeker’s Guide to reading the Bible.

Reviews

WARNING: For those who are "satisfied" with their relationship with Christ, who are not interested in embarking on a life-changing journey, who do not want to penetrate more deeply the essence of their lives, read no further. Steve Mueller's Seekers Guide To Jesus In The Gospels is not for you.

Far from instructing the reader "what Christ was and is," Mueller challenges him to embark on the road of passionate discovery. Striving beyond superficial glances at Scripture, Mueller asks poignant questions that probe the depths of authentic relationship. Inviting the reader to seek Jesus with "new eyes, new heart, and a new mind," he encourages him to become a "seeker of Jesus," willing to embark on a life-changing adventure.

Mueller, a gifted and knowledgeable writer, enriches the seeker's voyage with a historical, geographical, genealogical, and anthropological background of Jesus and his times. Dividing his book into three parts, he begins with a search for the identity of Jesus, examining "first century clues" to uncover Jesus of Nazareth. Building on this foundation, he guides the seeker through Jesus' "important relationships," providing a "lens though which we can understand him." Scripture passages the seeker formerly may have glossed over become pregnant with meaning, illuminating tired concepts of who Jesus was and is.

“Part Two” of Mueller's book presents a compelling encounter with Jesus as Prophet, Priest and King whose death/resurrection has drastically altered the past, present, and future of the world and--more importantly--of the seeker's own life. Exposing mystery and marrow of relationship with Christ, the seeker realizes that discovery of Christ's identity is a discovery of one's own identity. A pursuit of this kind cannot leave one indifferent, for it becomes a bond of relationship. "God breaks into our world, into our everyday lives, to be present for a relationship." Once the seeker wonders, searches, discovers, and embraces the God who "created us, sustains us, searches us out, and finds us to call us into a relationship that will never end," his worldview begins to change. As Mueller puts it, once one is fascinated with the person of Christ, every aspect of life is transformed: "If we want to follow Jesus, then we must learn to see the world as Jesus does, to evaluate it as Jesus does, so we will act as Jesus does."

Intellectually engaging, this page-turning work grabs not only the reader's interest but also the core of his relationship with Jesus. Mueller shatters static conceptions of Christ, challenging the seeker to pursue a vibrant relationship with him. "As in any relationship, when we are no longer willing to pay close attention to the other, when we cease to be surprised by the other or dare to ask questions or be challenged by the questions that the other puts to us, then perhaps the relationship is not as serious as we might think. If we can make Jesus more manageable by applying a simple label or definition, it becomes much easier to dismiss him. But we are transformed more completely as we allow ourselves to know the more complete Jesus."

Seekers Guide To Jesus In The Gospels is not another "theoretical book" on relationship with Christ. “Part Three” contains practical suggestions for following Christ today. Explanations of how to use Scripture aids, lists of over 30 additional resources for "further seeking," and questions for individual reflection or group study are just some of the ways Mueller guides the seeker on the adventure of being found by Christ. Throughout the book he intersperses valuable timelines, maps, Scripture charts, parallel diagrams of Scripture passages, and reflections from ancient and modern "Jesus seekers" of all faiths, making the book an indispensable manual for the seeker.

If you are willing to risk everything, to have false securities taken away, to embark upon a daring quest, then pick up Seekers Guide To Jesus In The Gospels. By the time you close the cover, you will be surprised by the Jesus you thought you knew.

—Sr. Michelle Pascal, FSP

Steve Mueller, teacher, author, theologian and parent, has written an engaging and popular overview of the life and message of Jesus .   The Seeker's Guide to Jesus in the Gospels helps us realize that "Jesus is alive and eager for a relationship" as we become disciples of Jesus.

Mueller writes in "plain English" helping all seekers better understand and appreciate Jesus and his relevance for our daily lives.

The Seeker's Guide to Jesus in the Gospels is a delight - biography, theology, spirituality and a reading and study guide to the Gospels. It can be used for personal reading, book groups and all types of adult education and ministry formation.

Here is a "Jesus book" that appeals to both the head and the heart. A "great read" for the everyday Catholic.

--Daniel J. Pierson

Copyright © 1998-2007, Daniel J. Pierson.
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