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Description: America’s favorite storyteller reads the world’s greatest story. Garrison Keillor and Dan Johnson both grew up in the bosom of fundamentalism. Their shared love of the Bible and its stories led to this collaboration, which blends details from all the gospels into a single book-length story. Keillor narrates the biography of this amazing man, Jesus, from the slum of Nazareth in the province of Galilee, who confounded dignitaries, healed the sick, and taught those who would listen. He claimed to be God, and that through his death God would graciously forgive the offenses of all who accept this. His story is the foundation from which Christianity has developed, stumbled, and evolved. Centuries ago, early Christians listened as the Bible was read to them. This new recording continues that tradition with a conversational translation performed by America’s favorite storyteller. Audiobook Unabridged; 8 hours on 7 CDs
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Review Summary: Unharmonious amalgamation of the gospels |
Date: 2008-11-18 |
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Details: One of then lessons of Christian higher education is that attempts to harmonize the gospels are a very bad idea. "The Gospel of Jesus" was my first experience to test this wisdom for myself.
Blending the stories of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John into a single narrative is nothing new, it having been tried as early as the second century by Tatian. Indeed, we run into harmonizations every Christmas when we hear of the Word made Flesh (John) born in a manger (Luke) and announced by a star (Matthew). But how does blending the four subtly distinct voices of the evangelists work in a modern context?
Voiced by the mellifluous Garrison Keillor -- of "Prairie Home Companion fame -- how could GoJ miss? But miss it did, and on many levels. Aside from causing bible scholars to turn up their noses, GoJ was often tedious and confusing. GK's voice, delivering a story without the humor or irony, was flat and mournful. Listening to it hour after hour was a chore. And the story itself was hard to bear. The Synoptic sections were easiest on the ear and (Matthew and Luke's Infancy disparate narratives aside) harmonized fairly well, all having Mark as their source. But John's long, metaphysical reflections stopped the flow of action cold. Rather than harmonizing certain similar actions -- for instance the anointing of Jesus by a sinful woman (Synoptics) or Mary of Bethany (John), Jesus is weirdly anointed twice. In the crucifixion scene, Jesus is offered two wine-saturated sticks. Pilate ran in and out of the praetorium so often that I was getting dizzy. And the Messianic Secret -- in which Jesus took pains (in the Synoptics) to avoid publicly proclaiming his Messiahship, never mind divinity -- is dropped altogether. Instead, Jesus talk of "I, the Son of Man," a practice sjure to result in stoning and a sudden end to his already dangerous ministry.
Some helpful additions were made to the text, intended to make sense of ambiguous passages. Jesus asks for the cup "of bitterness" and the wine "of suffering" to pass him by. Other texts used very modern paraphrases to clarify the meaning of idiomatic statemenmts -- "The truth of the matter" rather than "Amen, Amen I say unto you". Not a bad thing, but they did lose the sense of the local dialect that better translatations provide.
All in all, "The Gospel of Jesus" was a mess and a bore. Not recommended except for those who refuse to read the gospels in any other way. |
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Review Summary: The Gospel of Jesus |
Date: 2008-02-22 |
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Details: A wonderful compilation and reading of the words and works of Jesus. At first I was a bit hesitant to purchase a reading of the Gospel by the dramatic voice and personality of Mr. Keillor. I was very pleasantly surprised and grateful, however, to find that he completely allows the story to speak for itself. The pacing is perfect and gives one time to think about the spiritual significance of the words. I have listened over and over and will continue to do so for years to come. The perfect gift for one who has everything, and a great bargain, even if one pays full-price! |
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Review Summary: new testament finally told by a story teller |
Date: 2007-04-08 |
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Details: This is great: I borrowed this from the library and now I'm buying it. Very understandable and easy to listen to. He draws you into the story and makes you feel as if you are there, as he always does. Wish he would do the old testament, too! |
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Review Summary: WOW! |
Date: 2007-02-04 |
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Details: I wasn't sure what to expect. I feared that inventing a "Gospel of Jesus" would trivialize the message, yet, this is wonderful! I found it almost meditative, prayerful. I do so appreciate that it "tells the old, old story that I have loved the best." |
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Review Summary: The Gospel of John |
Date: 2007-01-12 |
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Details: I liked it quite a bit. Garrison Keillor's style of reading helps to bring out the peaceful nature of Jesus. I did wish at times that he would emote a bit more, however. I also wished he wouldn't have put quite so many pauses in the sentences. But other than that, I was quite inspired by his reading. |
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out of 9 Reviews
