Jesus: A Biography from a Believer

by Paul Johnson

Reviewed for The Remnant by Vincent Chiarello

As is often the case, when a reader comes across a book that leaves a lasting impression, the author’s subsequent, or earlier, publications are often looked for. I first came across the writing of Paul Johnson after returning from an assignment in Madrid; his book, Modern Times, The World from the Twenties to the Eighties," was recommended because of Johnson’s unorthodox treatment, to put it mildly, of the Spanish Civil War.

And so, it was. Johnson’s claim was Francisco Franco had been primarily responsible for the Nationalist victory, but he was" ...an unlovable man and is unlikely ever to win the esteem of historians." That prediction holds true to this day. What Johnson could not have predicted, however, is that Spanish politicians of the Left still hold Franco in such contempt that, 44 years after his death, the current Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, has sought the disinterment of Franco’s body from his final resting place in the "Valley of the Fallen."

Prior to reviewing the Johnson book, I would like to call attention to my recent interview with David Allen White, who expressed the belief that children who are read bed-time stories by their parents are often found to be more literary minded than those who are not. Would that theory also apply in religious matters; specifically, to parents who "taught me about Jesus?" In his dedication, author Paul Johnson writes: "To my mother, Anne Johnson, who first taught me about Jesus."

Then this, appearing in an interview: "Johnson, whose middle name is Bede, is famously Roman Catholic. He kisses the feet of Christ crucified every morning and has met most recent popes.

He presented Pope John Paul II ("one of the most mesmeric characters I have ever met") with a copy of his 600-page

History of Christianity in Polish. "I am not by nature a very religious person.

I could never have been a priest. But religion is something I hang on to very tenaciously, particularly as I get older. I couldn’t do without it. The world is such a horrible and terrifying place in many ways that to have a religious faith is your most precious possession." How much of that "faith" was the direct result of his mother’s influence?

Author of more than a dozen books with both religious and secular themes, and a historian of international stature, Johnson describes his biography of Jesus as "a sketch," but introduces unknown - at least to me - aspects of Christ’s life, times, and legacy. Included in this "sketch" are chapters devoted to people well-known, but not as Johnson describes them; to the formation of the Apostles; and one entitled, "The Danger of the Miracles." But caveat lector: (let the reader beware): early on, he informs the reader: "...I do not cite my authorities, though I am prepared to defend all of my assertions, if challenged, by documentation, my desire is to convey the joy and nourishment I receive in following Jesus’s footsteps and pondering his words."

His sketch begins with a definition of Christianity that is straightforward: "...

but the fact that which all Christians have believed as I believe, that Jesus was and is God, too. The unique event of someone both God and man appearing on earth is the essence of Christianity."

But where did the term, "Christian" arise? Johnson explains: "The religion which commemorates Jesus’s teachings, death, and resurrection was well established in a half a dozen countries by 50 A.D. His followers were already known as "Christians," a term joyfully adopted by the faithful, even though it was coined in Antioch, a city notorious for its slang neologisms."

Educated at Stonyhurst College, the Jesuit school in Lancashire, England, and then at Oxford University, Johnson opens his biography of Jesus stating that the earliest surviving document that refers to Jesus is St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, about twenty years after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Within a century, "four biographies (the Synoptic Gospels), written in Greek, had been published and all have come down to us." He adds that the stream of biographers has not diminished over the centuries: "Today, there are over one-hundred thousand biographies of Jesus in English alone, and many more monographs. More than one-hundred were issued in the first decade of the twenty-first century." No other figure comes even remotely close to having that many biographies written about him or her.

Many people knowledgeable about the life of Christ know of King Herod, but Johnson completes the picture of this man that may be unfamiliar to most: "... for more than thirty years this astute financier, who had made himself the richest individual in the entire empire...

was the greatest builder of his age, creating a new port at Caesarea in Samaria, rebuilding and enlarging the Temple in Jerusalem, and building public baths, aqueducts and what we would call shopping centers in a half a dozen cities. Only half Jewish by birth, and wholly Greek in his cultural tastes, he was regarded as heretical by the Jewish religious authorities for sponsoring Greek-style games, theatres, and music. As his reign drew to a close - the last year of his life was the year of Jesus’s birth - his suspicions increased, and an atmosphere of paranoia prevailed at his court." Herod’s attempt to murder the infant Jesus - "as the massacre of the innocents came to be known...

was the reality of human wickedness, which Jesus was born to redress...The massacre of the innocents is a foretaste of Calvary."

In some areas, Johnson repeats what many already know: "It is a somber and unwelcome fact that for more than half of Jesus’s life, we know absolutely nothing about what he did or where he went or how he lived."

No writing of Jesus has survived, but Johnson does point out an aspect of the Jewish influence in Christ’s early life.

"Jews helped one another, and their communities ran privately organized welfare schemes for the sick, the infirm and orphans...There were poor Jews...but most of those referred to in the Gospels as "the poor" or "beggars" were non-Jews... Giving to "the poor" was part of the duty of every self-respecting Jew, and it, too, was part of the imagery of Jesus’s life."

But the mystery surrounding Jesus is further complicated by another question: what did he look like?

Johnson: "But not once, in all the four Gospels, are we given any indication of Jesus’s appearance." Neither does a description of Jesus appear in any of the canonical epistles or any documents of the first century A.D. It is not until "well into the second century...that we get the first iconography, and these attempts are typology rather than actual portraiture." There are 104 examples of this iconography in the catacombs, 97 in sarcophagi, 14 in mosaics, 45 in gold glasses, 50 in other artifacts, and 3 in manuscripts." In the end, despite the appearance of Jesus in the West in painting and sculpture, "...there is no credible evidence of what Jesus looked like." I did say that Johnson’s sketch would be a fact-filled biography. And the Apostles?

Using the Gospels as his sources, Johnson states that Jesus went to Caparnaum, on the Sea of Galilee, and, "... it was there that he chose his first followers, sturdy fishermen, strong and resourceful, to stand around him and protect him when his words angered the self-righteously orthodox."

Johnson relates an incident, unknown to me, where, "Jesus escaped being murdered by the pious mob at the hilltop synagogue. "Although the core of the Apostles were fishermen, "Jesus was adamant that the men he called should put his mission first," and "which may have created dissension within families." Still, Matthew’s Gospel has Jesus tell both Simon (Peter) and his brother, Andrew: "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

But with that responsibility came a requirement for all of the apostles: "And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." Yet, they were special, for they had been given the power to carry out what Jesus had sought. The Gospel of Mark says that the twelve were "ordained" to begin the Christian priesthood, the "apostolic succession" which continues to this day.

Then this: "...and they came unto him...

that he might send them forth to preach." (Mark: 3:13-14) Most Christians are fully aware of Christ’s power to perform miracles, but Johnson notes: "...Jesus, conscious as he was of supernatural powers of every kind, was unwilling to use them for display - that was one of the temptations he resisted in the wilderness. He was a reluctant miracle worker." The first of the miracles recorded occurred when he attended a wedding in the town of Cana, "...one of the most fascinating episodes in the entire New Testament, proving as it does the authenticity of the account and its detailed accuracy." A member

Continued Next Page