The Hidden Jesus: A New Life

by Donald Spoto

A long-time teacher of theology offers another biography of Jesus, debunking attempts to paint him as a mere historical figure and arguing that he was the human incarnation of God. Reprint. 40,000 first printing. Tour.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity, Biography, History, Spirituality, Christian

312 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

A prolific and respected biographer and theologian, Donald Spoto is the author of twenty published books, among them bestselling biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, and Ingrid Bergman. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Donald Spoto earned his Ph.D. in theology at Fordham University. After years as a theology professor, he turned to fulltime writing. The Hidden Jesus: A New Life, published in 1999, was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "offering a mature faith fit for the new millennium." His successful biography of Saint Francis was published in 2002.

Reviews

[Nicolas Shump]

Donald Spoto is a former priest and academic who is now best known for writing well-researched and thoughtful biographies of Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando.
Spoto writes well and The Hidden Jesus: A New Life is not a book for specialists, though it is informed by Spoto's former career and his training. It would be a good introduction for someone interested in the academic study of Jesus and the field of Christology.
Spoto is a wonderful storyteller and this books flows effortlessly. As a gifted biographer, Spoto has an ear and eye for tone and detail. The "new" material would be Spoto's chapters on ethics and morality. I think Spoto does an excellent job focusing on the human aspect of Jesus. His final chapters are compelling and inspiring. A reverent and hopeful life of Jesus.

[Nicolas Shump]

Spoto is a former priest and academic who is now best known for writing well-researched and thoughtful biographies of Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando.
Spoto writes well and this is not a book for specialists, though it is informed by Spoto's former career and his training. It would be a good introduction for someone interested in the academic study of Jesus and the field of Christology.
Spoto is a wonderful storyteller and this books flows effortlessly. As a gifted biographer, Spoto has an ear and eye for tone and detail. The "new" material would be Spoto's chapters on ethics and morality. I think Spoto does an excellent job focusing on the human aspect of Jesus. His final chapters are compelling and inspiring. A reverent and hopeful life of Jesus.

[Amber]

A good beginning for those looking to get into a relationship-based understanding of the Bible and Church traditions. Also a decent introduction to metaphorical reality theory and how that applies to theology for those who would like to know more about how that works, but aren't up to more complicated theological tracts. Though there were several points where I disagreed with Spoto, or felt like he didn't fully live up to the rhetorical line he was leading up to with his examples, it was structured in such a way that this book is good for beginning discussion- though it is not the whole discussion, and never pretends to be.

[Suzanne Arcand]

A fascinating book that help me discover a whole side of the religion I born in that I didn't know.

[Dennis]

Though I appreciate the depths of the explanations I often found them a little too long. The point that Jesus story is on going and he lives on makes me think he could have written about more...

[Jim]

Treatment of Jesus’ life from both an historical and a spiritual perspective. The author is a believing Christian. I found I agreed with him on nearly everything on the spiritual side. I have no expertise on the historical.

[Kathy Peterson]

This book made me think differently about the Nativity story, etc. separating more symbolic elements from more factual elements. Many good insights that have stuck with me through the years and strengthened my faith.

[David Coody]

The book I wish I wrote. Unbelievable job.

[Mckinley]

Interesting contemporary context of Jesus Christ. Some chapters more interesting than others.