In Jesus in the Gospels: Old Stories Told Anew, familiar gospel stories are heard in an unfamiliar way. Here is the story of the Lord, the central figure in 17 separate narrations of such favorites as "The Birth of Jesus," "The Good Samaritan," "The Wedding Feast at Cana" and "The Woman at the Well."
Claiming the patronage of the rich Jewish tradition of the Midrash and the Apocryphal writings of Christianity, author Richard Mazziotta offers "plausible" renditions that are faithful to modern biblical scholarship. "In preaching I became convinced of the pastoral fruitfulness, indeed the necessity, for retelling the gospels," explains the author. The result, he believes, is a "cure for sameness" bred from the familiarity of well-known gospel texts. His freely elaborated style offers "a way for the preacher to enable his listeners to hear the proclamation of the gospel in its essential newness."
Preachers and teachers, as well as the general reader, will find their imaginations sparked by these stories as they encounter the culture and the times in which the gospel was first preached--the cities and villages, the roads, landscapes and seas of the world in which Jesus lived.