The agony in the garden, the betrayal by Judas and the denials of Peter, the trial, the crucifixion, the burial, the discovery of the empty tomb, the appearances to the disciples these gospel episodes are well known to all Christians. Too well known. The story has been re-told until we are familiar with the smallest detail, until we are immune to what is being said. What rs being said? That depends on who is saying it, and how: Mark, in his impulsive, vivid, sometimes less-than-grammatical style; Matthew, in the precise, colorless, intellectual language of the scribe;
Luke, the most literary, in his classical turn of phrase, his polish, his attention to and compassion for human feelings and failings; John, in apparently simple hand, expressing his vision, as the mystics must, in symbolic terms. These four taken together give us the remaining inspired account of the one who saved mankind. Each man writes with passion, with the desire to communicate the reality of his particular first-century experience of Christ. But can they still communicate to the everyday, twentieth-century Christian? Is the meaning of the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ translatable from the first- into the twentieth-century language of relevance?
THE PASSION AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST is a straight forward, readable book that makes it possible for the reader to answer yes. For, Pierre Benoit brings to these questions his scholarly knowledge as an exegete, placing the narratives in their historical context, pointing out the significance of the seemingly smallest details, giving insight into the personalities of the authors-all so that the meaning of their message may become the living reality that it was for the men who recorded it.