Friday, April 24, 2009

Unfinished Friday

The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's So Good About the Good News? by Peter J. Gomes. Published 2008 by HarperOne.

Click here to buy The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus from your favorite indie bookseller.

I had to read The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus for my book club, The Daughters of Abraham, which is a religion-themed club of Christian, Jewish and Muslim women. Scandalous Gospel was one of two Christian-themed selections we read this year; I can't remember the other one, but I can tell you that I didn't finish that one, either!

Peter J. Gomes is a Baptist minister and a professor at the Harvard Divinity School; he's a liberal Protestant, and his book is an eloquent, witty and enjoyable discussion of his views on Jesus. I actually had a good time reading the book and didn't finish it only because I became distracted by other obligations and lost track of time before the book club met to discuss it. Many of my own views are similar to his, and I enjoyed him at the same time as I could point at certain passages, such as the chapter on sin, as being very different from my own religion's dogma. That is to say, he talks about the assumption that one is going to heaven as though it's a given; in my religion, the given is going, um, elsewhere. In other words, he made me think and he made me laugh.

I would love to get back around to finishing The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus some day, if only I could locate it in the huge pile of books next to my sofa. Because I didn't finish it, it still hasn't made its way back to the bookshelves, so if I can ever figure out where it is I'll give it a go.

4 comments:

Sandra said...
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Sandra said...

It doesn't sound as if you missed any great revelation by not finishing this one. What I really want to know is if you finished reading Atmospheric Disturbances?

Marie Cloutier said...

Sandra- no :-) My husband finished it and was very "meh" about it. I'm probably not going to bother. :-)

Anna said...

I haven't heard of this one. I often lose books in my towering stacks. It's a good thing I keep my review copies separate.

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric