The Last Days of Jesus

March 15, 2014
This distillation of the best-selling Killing Jesus: A History (2013) retains the original's melodramatic tone and present-tense narration. Also its political agenda. The conservative pundit's account of Jesus' life and, in brutal detail, death begins with a nonsensically altered title, an arguable claim to presenting a "fact-based book" and, tellingly, a list of "Key Players" (inserted presumably to help young readers keep track of all the names). Like its source, its prose is as purple as can be, often word for word: "There is a power to Jesus's gait and a steely determination to his gaze." Harping on "taxes extorted from the people of Judea" as the chief cause of continuing local unrest, the author presents Jewish society as governed with equal force by religious ritual and by the Romans, and he thoroughly demonizes Herod Antipas ("he even looks the part of a true villain"). Alterations for young readers include more illustrations, periodic sidebars, far fewer maps and a streamlining of context so that the focus is squarely on Jesus, with less attention on the historical moment--an unfortunate choice. Assorted notes on 16 various side topics, from a look at Roman roads to the rise of the cross as a Christian symbol, follow. A mix of 19th-century images, photos of ancient sites and artifacts supplement frequent new illustrations (not seen) from Low. Insofar as the reading level of the book for adults is on a par with this effort--for the most part, only the substance has been simplified--it's hard to see the value of this iteration. (source list, recommended reading) (Biography. 12-15)

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May 1, 2014

Gr 4-9-The title of this illustrated, ineptly condensed version of O'Reilly's bestselling adult book Killing Jesus (Holt, 2013) is misleading; the book is actually a pseudo-biography of Jesus Christ from birth to death, with as much material on his youth and ministry as on his final week. O'Reilly's audience is uncertain. He confusingly begins with Jesus's presentation at the temple and the visit of the Magi, omitting the basics of the Christmas narrative, and ends with the empty tomb-no Easter resurrection here (even though it's identified in the afterword as "the core of the Christian church"). O'Reilly also states that Jesus's miracles were "stories" or "puzzling events" and that Jesus only claimed to be God's son but was actually Joseph's child, which may offend Christians. The volume's other flaws make it unacceptable as history. For instance, the "Note to Readers" asserts this is a "fact-based book about Jesus the man," but the book combines information with supposition and a lot of storytelling. The latter is based on the New Testament gospels (although no scriptural citations are provided), attributing emotions and motives to the main players. Even the genuine data is not documented, so it's uncertain where O'Reilly's details come from. His writing can't save the book-he annoyingly switches between present and past tense, sometimes in the same sentence. At least the numerous illustrations have some merit. For an alternative, try Lois Rock's The Lion Encyclopedia of Jesus (Lion, 2011), for younger readers, which does an excellent job of tying Jesus's life to modern Christian practices.-Ann W. Moore, Schenectady County Public Library, NY

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