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Coming to Know and Follow Jesus

Living Jesus

Living Jesus Book Cover Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel, Luke Timothy Johnson, HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco CA, 1999. ISBN: 0-06-064283-1.

From the Preface: In this book I venture to think through the implications of a strong belief that the real Jesus is the living, resurrected Jesus and that being a Christian means modeling one’s life on that Jesus as best we can. In that sense it is less a polemical and more constructive sequel to my recent publication, The Real Jesus. The earlier book took on the cultural phenomenon of Jesus in the nightly news. This one reflects on the mystery of the person of Jesus as good news.

I have written this book for people who, like me, find much of what is called spirituality too far removed from traditional Christian faith, and much of what is written about Jesus too little concerned with the transformation of human freedom.  Calling anything a spirituality these days is an invitation to misunderstanding, since there are so many varieties afloat. Readers should not look here for a how-to manual for psychic renewal or reassurance. Nor should they expect a rendering of Jesus that enables casting off of ecclesiastical manacles.  Spirituality here means not the cultivation of the human spirit, but the response of human freedom to the Holy Spirit of God. For Christians, this encounter involves the person of Jesus not as a historical figure of the past, but as resurrected Lord in the present.