Book Review: Jesus Journey by Trent Sheppard

As Christians we believe that Jesus was not only God in the flesh, but that he was also fully human. He was 100% God and 100% man as He walked this earth. There have been many books are articles defending the divinity of Christ but there are not that many on the humanity of Christ.

Trent Sheppard attempts to explore the humanity of Christ, in his book, Jesus Journey. Sheppard looks at the relationship Jesus has with his family and his disciples. Sheppard also looks at the relationship Jesus had with God the Father. Throughout the rest of the book, Sheppard goes through various gospel accounts on how Jesus related to people and situations in His humanity.

This is book seems to be a more of a conversational book where there is no deep theological truths being proclaimed. While an author attempts to communicate the humanity of Christ, it is important not to water-down His divinity, which I felt Sheppard did at times. For example, Sheppard believed that Jesus was fully aware that He was God in the flesh, but was surprised that His earthly parents were shocked to find Him in the temple of the age of 12. Jesus knew men (John 2:24), which is why He never fully trusted in them. Sheppard was trying to make Jesus more human and less divine in this situation.

Sheppard wrote that Jesus's baptism was a defining moment for Him because He heard the Father's confirmation. Its almost as saying Jesus's baptism was the best day of His life. However, Sheppard does mention that the Resurrection was important because it was not a symbolic resurrection, but a bodily resurrection which Christians have believed since the New Testament times.

There are a lot of weaknesses in this book, which leads me to say this is one I would not recommend in studying the humanity of Jesus.

Thanks Booklook Bloggers for letting me review this book.