Jesus the Radical: The Portrait of the Man they Crucified
BOOK REVIEW
In the 1989 classic, Jesus the Radical: The Portrait of the Man they Crucified, RT France presents a concise synthesis of the gospel narratives while providing a backdrop of their historical context. The presentation is not a synopsis of the four gospels—in the sense of a juxtaposed comparison of the texts—but rather an analytical summary of the materials in the four gospels. RT France begins and ends with a chronological treatment of the life of Jesus, but treats the main part of Jesus' ministry thematically. The book’s lens focused mainly on Jesus’ life within the Jewish society at the time, with themes of condemnation, society, miracles, disciples, and the Kingdom of God, intertwining with one another.
Historical context offers another perspective
RT France constantly provokes the reader to read and think of Jesus not in terms of just His death and resurrection, but on how He stood out during those times and how He was living as a radical. The first few chapters of ‘Nazareth’ and ‘Expectations’ explores the historical context of the society then, providing an often overlooked perspective in reading the Gospels. Jesus used unconventional approaches to healing: He deliberately healed on the Sabbath knowing what offence this would bring to those who believed the Pharisees. He recognized that His self-identification with the Isaiah passage (Isaiah 61:1) in Nazareth would bring immense conflict and danger, but went ahead anyway. His entire Sermon on the Mount turned the well-established Jewish traditions and canonical Old Testament laws seemingly upside down. The early chapters do an excellent job in highlighting the context of Jesus’ actions, providing a stark reminder of Jesus’ radical life.
Compelling and inspiring
The book shines the most whenever RT France points out commonly read parables and stories of Jesus’ life and steers the reader towards a different, but contained perspective on society today. One such quote stood out:
Jesus was churned up inside at the sight of the leper’s deformity, of a widow’s grief, of a crowd of people like sheep without a shepherd, of a crowd with nothing to eat. Jesus was an emotional person. But his emotions were translated into actions. Every time we hear of Jesus being churned up inside, we find Him immediately taking steps to remedy the situation.’(pg. 102)
Snippets of such galvanizing phrases can be found throughout the book, and transforms the book from a factual read of the gospel, to a thought provoking, sentimental view of Jesus’ life.
And the verdict is…
With poignant thoughts centred on on Jesus’ suffering and life as an impetus for living as salt of the earth and light of the world, Jesus the Radical is a sharply written piece that offers a refreshing take on the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John for readers today. END
