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To Know Christ Jesus
This modern spiritual classic by Frank Sheed, the renowned author, publisher and lecturer, is brought back into print for the benefit of new generations of readers to develop a deeper, more profound knowledge of Jesus Christ. Sheed's concern with the Gospels is to come to know Christ as he actually lived among us, interacted with all the various people he encountered from his infancy to his passion and death--the God-man who was like us in all things except sin.
Sheed has tried especially to see Our Lord in his effect upon others--seeing how they saw him, trying to see why they saw him so. There is much about Mary and Joseph in their task of bringing up a baby who was literally adorable; about John the Baptist; about Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalen; about Nicodemus; about people we meet only for a moment, like the man born blind and the owners of the drowned swine; and why the Pharisees, not only the worst of them but some of the best, would not accept Christ.
Faith, doctrine, prayer, worship--all the content and consequences of Christian belief--rest on the person of Christ Jesus as recorded in the Gospels. In this classic study, Frank J. Sheed employs wide learning, theological sophistication, spiritual insight, and a lucid style to bring the reader to a personal encounter with the living Lord. To Know Christ Jesus has been justly called "one of the most satisfying studies of the Gospel ever made."
Frank J. Sheed had a distinguished career as a publisher, lecturer, street-corner evangelist, and popular writer. He and his wife Maisie Ward were the founders of the publishing house Sheed & Ward. His many books include Christ in Eclipse, What Difference Does Jesus Make?, Theology and Sanity, and A Map of Life.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 9, 1962
287 people are currently reading
1038 people want to read
About the author
Frank Sheed
71 books122 followersFrancis Joseph Sheed was an Australian-born lawyer, Catholic writer, publisher, speaker, and lay theologian. He and his wife Maisie Ward were famous in their day as the names behind the imprint Sheed & Ward and as forceful public lecturers in the Catholic Evidence Guild.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
March 12, 2019
How have I missed this wonderful Spiritual classic* all these years?
Sheed’s masterpiece on Our LORD has been a joy to read. I cannot recommend it too highly. What I enjoyed the most was his masterful integration of the four Gospel stories which he continued throughout the text. He summarized the accounts of events, showing overlaps, contradictions or omissions, reflecting on what/why each evangelist might have written thus, and drew connections from various stories which I had never put together before.
Although I appreciated all of these skills, it was where Sheed connected things which no one else ever had—at least no one in my experience. One example was Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, where the Rich Man asked Abraham to have Lazarus return from the dead to warn his five brothers. Somehow, I had never associated that parable with Jesus’ actual raising of his friend, Lazarus, from the dead. But as Sheed pointed out, that was the only parable where someone had a name and it was Jesus’ greatest miracle. It did not, however, result in the Rich Man’s ‘brothers’ being converted. Instead, it led to greater fear and an increased desire to have Jesus crucified.
There are other similar examples. This is a book to have on hand when you want to do Gospel meditation. It is well-organized and the black-and-white sketches scattered throughout are attractive, appropriate and add a great deal.
Most highly recommended!
*My sister said this was recommended to her as first in a series of books on Our LORD concluding with Pope Benedict XVI’s biographies on Jesus. Having struggled through those, I’m aware of beginning with the hardest, yet that was years ago and they merit rereading.
Sheed’s masterpiece on Our LORD has been a joy to read. I cannot recommend it too highly. What I enjoyed the most was his masterful integration of the four Gospel stories which he continued throughout the text. He summarized the accounts of events, showing overlaps, contradictions or omissions, reflecting on what/why each evangelist might have written thus, and drew connections from various stories which I had never put together before.
Although I appreciated all of these skills, it was where Sheed connected things which no one else ever had—at least no one in my experience. One example was Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, where the Rich Man asked Abraham to have Lazarus return from the dead to warn his five brothers. Somehow, I had never associated that parable with Jesus’ actual raising of his friend, Lazarus, from the dead. But as Sheed pointed out, that was the only parable where someone had a name and it was Jesus’ greatest miracle. It did not, however, result in the Rich Man’s ‘brothers’ being converted. Instead, it led to greater fear and an increased desire to have Jesus crucified.
There are other similar examples. This is a book to have on hand when you want to do Gospel meditation. It is well-organized and the black-and-white sketches scattered throughout are attractive, appropriate and add a great deal.
Most highly recommended!
*My sister said this was recommended to her as first in a series of books on Our LORD concluding with Pope Benedict XVI’s biographies on Jesus. Having struggled through those, I’m aware of beginning with the hardest, yet that was years ago and they merit rereading.
May 15, 2024
This is a synthesis of the Gospel stories, looking at the life of our Lord as a whole in the context of his times and environment as well as of religion. I had forgotten, since I last read it 8 years ago, how fresh and modern Sheed's approach is which is extraordinary since it was first published in 1962.
He looks at characters I never thought about, such as Theophilus, for whom Luke wrote his gospel and Acts of the Apostles. After musing about whether Theophilus was a Christian and what he might have been taught before sitting down to read Luke's work, Sheed puts us in touch with how the gospel would have struck Theophilus and been generally responded to in that age.
He also makes me laugh with the wry way he brings St. Paul down to earth and has sympathy for the man in the pew:
He looks at characters I never thought about, such as Theophilus, for whom Luke wrote his gospel and Acts of the Apostles. After musing about whether Theophilus was a Christian and what he might have been taught before sitting down to read Luke's work, Sheed puts us in touch with how the gospel would have struck Theophilus and been generally responded to in that age.
The Greek word "akribos"—it means accurately, carefully—could hardly have prepared him for what follows immediately—the angel Gabriel bringing to the priest Zachary the announcement that his elderly wife would bear his elderly self a son, the angel going on to tell a virgin in Nazareth that she would conceive. One imagines Theophilus incredulously muttering "akribos" to himself—all the more if he had known Luke as a pagan in his medical student days at Tarsus.Notice too how Sheed reminds us of Luke's own background and the testimony of having such a man write about Christ.
He also makes me laugh with the wry way he brings St. Paul down to earth and has sympathy for the man in the pew:
...if only we had notes of that long sermon preached byPaul at Troas, during which Eutychus, surely the patron saint of the Sunday laity, fell asleep!All of these little touches make those ancient times and people live and breathe for us ... as well as bringing us, we hope, closer to knowing Christ Jesus more personally.
August 27, 2021
This was my spiritual reading book for a couple of months, so I spent a lot of time with it! It was recommended by my dad after he read it during Lent, and it did not disappoint.
Frank Sheed essentially goes through the Gospels piece by piece and teases out interpretations and an accurate image of Jesus by looking at the stories with a new gaze. And it's a really beautiful way of coming to the Gospels afresh, especially for me, someone who has heard these stories for her entire life. (If this means anything to you, the ending was actually kind of suspenseful? (In the way eucatastrophe should always be, except we get bored. (As G. K. Chesterton would say, "our Father is younger than we." Which is a quote that only I will understand in this context, but it makes me happy, so I'm leaving it in.)) He has a special emphasis on the fact that Jesus was not simply a meek and "nice" preacher--He had fire, He spoke sharply, etc. (As Chesterton would again say, "We have torn his soul into silly little strips...though the garment was woven in one piece from top to bottom.")
It's also an interesting insight into the mindset in which the Gospels were written. (The number of times he implicitly rolls his eyes about what the disciples chose or chose not to include makes me smile.)
I will say that I don't entirely agree with all of his assertions, especially about Jesus's levels of meaning in certain assertions...he seems to disagree in a few places with the idea that a passage can be interpreted literally and figuratively/pertaining to the Church & moral life, which...Sheed, have you heard of the four sense of scripture by chance? *facepalm*
But overall, his doctrine is sound and the portrait he draws is very interesting.
I would highly recommend reading this while sitting in the church/chapel, just sayin'.
Four stars!
Frank Sheed essentially goes through the Gospels piece by piece and teases out interpretations and an accurate image of Jesus by looking at the stories with a new gaze. And it's a really beautiful way of coming to the Gospels afresh, especially for me, someone who has heard these stories for her entire life. (If this means anything to you, the ending was actually kind of suspenseful? (In the way eucatastrophe should always be, except we get bored. (As G. K. Chesterton would say, "our Father is younger than we." Which is a quote that only I will understand in this context, but it makes me happy, so I'm leaving it in.)) He has a special emphasis on the fact that Jesus was not simply a meek and "nice" preacher--He had fire, He spoke sharply, etc. (As Chesterton would again say, "We have torn his soul into silly little strips...though the garment was woven in one piece from top to bottom.")
It's also an interesting insight into the mindset in which the Gospels were written. (The number of times he implicitly rolls his eyes about what the disciples chose or chose not to include makes me smile.)
I will say that I don't entirely agree with all of his assertions, especially about Jesus's levels of meaning in certain assertions...he seems to disagree in a few places with the idea that a passage can be interpreted literally and figuratively/pertaining to the Church & moral life, which...Sheed, have you heard of the four sense of scripture by chance? *facepalm*
But overall, his doctrine is sound and the portrait he draws is very interesting.
I would highly recommend reading this while sitting in the church/chapel, just sayin'.
Four stars!
March 8, 2021
Modern Christians have a challenge when it comes to learning about Jesus Christ. The primary texts about Him and His life were written almost two thousand years ago in a style that is not familiar to today's readers. Even a contemporary translation that eschews "thees" and "thous" has an uphill battle with what seems to be choppy texts that do not share the sort of chronological through-line that we expect from history or biography. Literature has changed a lot; so has politics and technology. A quick glance would easily separate contemporary cities from classical cities, if one could see them side by side. The twenty-first century Christian has little context with which to imagine or identify with the first century world. Sheed puts his finger on the problem:
"Too many of us tend to think of our Lord as moving, and acting, and speaking in a sort of luminous vacuum called Palestine, with towns in it which are names but hardly places, of which no more need be known than that they were filled with Jews and ruled by Romans. For many Christians a kind of unreality attaches to our Lord, a though he were a figure in one of his own parables. It makes his words and deed more real to us if we see them in the place of their happening." [pp. 153-154]
Sheed bridges the gap for his readers with a highly readable text. He takes the story of Jesus from the four gospels and orders it out a bit more. He also provides the larger context of life way back then, filling in the details that the authors naturally assumed their contemporary audiences already knew. He explains the geographical connections of places. He gives some detail to what the Pharisees, Sadducees, Jews, Samaritans, Romans, royalty, peasants, lepers, tax collectors, and everyone else thought of themselves and of other groups. Sheed is also delightfully down to earth: "What of Peter? We cannot, for instance, imagine that born activist doing nothing at all when twice our Lord's enemies were on the point of stoning him. Surely, we feel, he must have punched somebody." [P. 302]
Sheed is also very cognizant of not going beyond the texts and re-weaving the story according to his own pattern. He admits candidly when he speculates or makes educated guesses and cautions the reader to use their own judgement. He refers back to the gospels often, sometimes even asking the reader to read a chapter or two before Sheed gives his own analysis and commentary. His honesty and faithfulness to the evangelists' words is refreshing and inspiring.
Of course, if you want to know Christ Jesus, you should read the gospels (and the rest of the New Testament too). Sheed would say the same thing. This book is a great supplement and well worth reading after (or along with) the gospels.
Highly recommended.
"Too many of us tend to think of our Lord as moving, and acting, and speaking in a sort of luminous vacuum called Palestine, with towns in it which are names but hardly places, of which no more need be known than that they were filled with Jews and ruled by Romans. For many Christians a kind of unreality attaches to our Lord, a though he were a figure in one of his own parables. It makes his words and deed more real to us if we see them in the place of their happening." [pp. 153-154]
Sheed bridges the gap for his readers with a highly readable text. He takes the story of Jesus from the four gospels and orders it out a bit more. He also provides the larger context of life way back then, filling in the details that the authors naturally assumed their contemporary audiences already knew. He explains the geographical connections of places. He gives some detail to what the Pharisees, Sadducees, Jews, Samaritans, Romans, royalty, peasants, lepers, tax collectors, and everyone else thought of themselves and of other groups. Sheed is also delightfully down to earth: "What of Peter? We cannot, for instance, imagine that born activist doing nothing at all when twice our Lord's enemies were on the point of stoning him. Surely, we feel, he must have punched somebody." [P. 302]
Sheed is also very cognizant of not going beyond the texts and re-weaving the story according to his own pattern. He admits candidly when he speculates or makes educated guesses and cautions the reader to use their own judgement. He refers back to the gospels often, sometimes even asking the reader to read a chapter or two before Sheed gives his own analysis and commentary. His honesty and faithfulness to the evangelists' words is refreshing and inspiring.
Of course, if you want to know Christ Jesus, you should read the gospels (and the rest of the New Testament too). Sheed would say the same thing. This book is a great supplement and well worth reading after (or along with) the gospels.
Highly recommended.
December 22, 2025
Me ha gustado la narrativa con que presenta la vida de Cristo, basado en los 4 evangelios y que va remarcando lo que cada uno nos dice. Solamente sería de ver si hace más énfasis en el misterio Pascual
September 30, 2011
I loved this book in that it really has you engage the Gospels. It fleshes out the stories and helps you to know (and want to know) more about Jesus. One particularly great part about this book was the way that the author would refer you to Scripture (read this part of the Bible before reading on in the book). There should always be prayer and Scripture reading involved with any serious attempt to get to know God, and the fact that this was assumed for the reader just makes my heart smile. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. It was not only informative, but highly entertaining and a great read. :)
December 25, 2025
It’s outdated in terms of its research and information, but it does a really nice job of bringing you through the story of Jesus. I would recommend it to anyone interested in an extremely accessible and formative journey into the heart of the Christian faith. It opens up the world behind the text and makes it feel lived in and familiar.
I listened to this on audio, and it was decent in that format
I listened to this on audio, and it was decent in that format
January 28, 2023
This is definitely a book read over a period of time rather than all in one go. I read a chapter or two each day and I think I retained more and was able to think more about each part that way.
April 18, 2023
I've never read a book that walks through the gospels chronologically, though it seems like an obvious idea for a theologian writer. This book delivers exactly what I expected and tells the story of Jesus's life from a clear and chronological view. This would pair well with the Bible Timeline study.
March 16, 2021
Jesus Christ, a real person
Sheed presents an intimate knowledge of Jesus through a thorough understanding of the history and geography of his times. Under Sheed's insightful analysis the New Testament reveals a three dimensional portrait of Jesus of Nazareth and the reader truly comes 'to know Christ Jesus'.
Sheed presents an intimate knowledge of Jesus through a thorough understanding of the history and geography of his times. Under Sheed's insightful analysis the New Testament reveals a three dimensional portrait of Jesus of Nazareth and the reader truly comes 'to know Christ Jesus'.
December 29, 2025
If you can get past the author’s use of Greek names instead of Hebrew (e.g. Elias, instead of Elijah); and the occasional veneration of Mary and Peter, I highly recommend this book. I learned A LOT, about the political climate just before, and during Jesus’ time on earth, as well as the religious climate. It spurred me on to learning more and found myself making charts so I could visualize it even better. What drew me to this book initially, is that I heard it speculated about Jesus’ young life, before his public ministry, and what it might have been like, given the conditions in which he lived. I have SO wanted to know myself what Jesus was like as child, teen, young adult, and all the other ministerial days that are not recorded in the Gospels. It would be impossible for this book to cover all these years, and it does not attempt to. The bulk of it is sticking closely to the Gospels, but includes other historical events that are occurring around the same time and how this would impact the ministry of Jesus, and vice-versa. I found this fascinating. It also linked connections between the Gospels that I had not noticed before. Finally, I appreciated the author reflecting my own thoughts, such as wondering about details that we probably won’t know until we are with Him in eternity, whether those details could have been profound, or just mundane. I feel that this shared wonder is borne out of truly loving this God-man and wanting to know everything about Him.
May 13, 2022
This is a very good book that details Jesus' life in a more comprehensive and linear way than the Gospels provide us. After all, they were more concerned about what Jesus did, not when.
Sheed does his best not to speculate, though he offers likelihoods, such as Mary, Jesus, and Joseph discussing Jesus' lineage and the conception. It would fit in to his staying behind at the Temple when he was 12. He also uses research from other scholars and authors to fill in information about what Israel (really Palestine in that time) was like regarding geography and social norms.
My biggest issue is that Sheed uses spellings I've NEVER seen before:
Zachary for Zachariah (that wasn't awful)
Messias for Messiah
Isaias for Isaiah
Elias for Elijah
Osee for Hosea (that was the worst)
The book started to drag a bit for me but it was still great.
Sheed does his best not to speculate, though he offers likelihoods, such as Mary, Jesus, and Joseph discussing Jesus' lineage and the conception. It would fit in to his staying behind at the Temple when he was 12. He also uses research from other scholars and authors to fill in information about what Israel (really Palestine in that time) was like regarding geography and social norms.
My biggest issue is that Sheed uses spellings I've NEVER seen before:
Zachary for Zachariah (that wasn't awful)
Messias for Messiah
Isaias for Isaiah
Elias for Elijah
Osee for Hosea (that was the worst)
The book started to drag a bit for me but it was still great.
February 8, 2024
This book, in the words of many product reviews "does what it says it will". Though I did learn several new things, it's nothing earth-shattering. Sheed doesn't demand you to sell your belongings and do missions somewhere to "really know Christ", nor does he describe tips for a more intense prayer life (helpful as these guides are!).
Instead he presents the Lord in the practicalities of his life. His teachings and how they affected those in their hearing stand in the foremost place. It is a study of the gospels without lofty theological reflection.
It is from a Catholic perspective.
Instead he presents the Lord in the practicalities of his life. His teachings and how they affected those in their hearing stand in the foremost place. It is a study of the gospels without lofty theological reflection.
It is from a Catholic perspective.
March 3, 2023
Five Stars are not enough
F. J. Sheer has left us but more importantly he has left us his books among which this could be his finest. As a Christian you owe it to yourself to read and learn about Jesus in a whole other way . Don't fail to read this telling of the life of Christ.
F. J. Sheer has left us but more importantly he has left us his books among which this could be his finest. As a Christian you owe it to yourself to read and learn about Jesus in a whole other way . Don't fail to read this telling of the life of Christ.
December 4, 2023
I’m confident this book was at least as good as my four star rating, but I mostly just don’t trust my evaluation of it because I am so personally bad at reading commentary-style non-fiction. Reader, know thyself!
October 16, 2024
Een dik boek dat alle gebeurtenissen tijdens het openbare leven van Jezus tracht te verklaren. En dat is meteen de makke, want niet alles valt te verklaren, hoe hard de schrijver ook zijn best doet. Ik kon hem dan ook niet altijd volgen.
July 9, 2025
Excellent!
I've read several books on Christ's life and this one is very thorough and insightful. I'm certainly glad it was recommended to me and I would encourage all who love Christ to read it.
I've read several books on Christ's life and this one is very thorough and insightful. I'm certainly glad it was recommended to me and I would encourage all who love Christ to read it.
October 17, 2025
One of the best books on the gospels, the life of Jesus and info from culture and extra biblical works. Sheed writes with humor, reverence and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Worth every minute of reading
April 11, 2020
Outstanding Book
Profound. What an amazing read. It opened my eyes to so many things about the life of Jesus the Christ. A must read.
Profound. What an amazing read. It opened my eyes to so many things about the life of Jesus the Christ. A must read.
March 25, 2021
It is theology, spiritually rich.., and funny!!! I enjoyed every page.
March 3, 2022
ESC read-along (accelerated)
March 20, 2022
An easy read about the life of Christ. It uses the gospels to explain his life from the beginning to the end.
April 24, 2022
A in-depth exploration of the life of Jesus Christ which gave a great deal of context to His life and had a profound effect on me. I cannot recommend this masterpiece more highly.
December 17, 2022
Truly remarkable. Highly recommended.
October 26, 2023
An excellent Scripture companion to enter into the Our Lord's Sacred Humanity. Much needed today in this age of sentimentalism and synodal charisma...
March 31, 2024
Gran libro para entender mejor la misión de JHS y así dar contexto a su vida. Cuanto mejor conozcamos a JHS más cerca de él estaremos.
November 21, 2024
Absolutely love. Could not recommend more!
June 11, 2013
What if the intellectually savvy and wonderfully genuine Frank Sheed were to sit down in your living room and take you through the entire Gospel story from Annunciation to Resurrection? Would you accept his invitation? So buy this book. Sheed uncovers the personality and vitality of Jesus Christ in these pages with more realism and profundity than any other writer I have recently read.
From the beginning on, he doesn't skip any big moments through the entire life of Christ. You are taken on a journey, which is written systematically and poetically, as if you were a first Apostle - encountering this shocking man and discovering heavenly truths anew. What this book sets out to do - "To Know Christ Jesus" - it does well, by vaulting you again and again back to the original scripture passages and inspiring you to dig deeper in every interaction with this Jesus Christ.
After reading I can say that I know the person of Jesus Christ more actually and vividly than ever before. This book is certainly the end result of a younger Sheed, wrestling and investigating page by page and word by word, what treasures are contained in Holy Scripture. He has mined them for his readers. And in the true litmus test of a Christian author; being drawn to relationship with Christ, I consider this work an outstanding success.
From the beginning on, he doesn't skip any big moments through the entire life of Christ. You are taken on a journey, which is written systematically and poetically, as if you were a first Apostle - encountering this shocking man and discovering heavenly truths anew. What this book sets out to do - "To Know Christ Jesus" - it does well, by vaulting you again and again back to the original scripture passages and inspiring you to dig deeper in every interaction with this Jesus Christ.
After reading I can say that I know the person of Jesus Christ more actually and vividly than ever before. This book is certainly the end result of a younger Sheed, wrestling and investigating page by page and word by word, what treasures are contained in Holy Scripture. He has mined them for his readers. And in the true litmus test of a Christian author; being drawn to relationship with Christ, I consider this work an outstanding success.
December 9, 2014
This narrative re telling of the life of Christ stands rightfully beside Archbishop Sheen's "Life of Christ." Sheed, like Sheen has a wonderful lucid writing style. He is clearly in love with his Subject and his personal insights and suppositions about what people like Pilate or Judas might have thought, are wonderful. Sheed uses his knowledge of the original Greek to explain the deeper meaning of many beloved verses.
Despite knowing the story very well Sheed made it fresh and beautiful. I definitely have some new images for use in prayer and contemplation. I highly recommend this book!
Despite knowing the story very well Sheed made it fresh and beautiful. I definitely have some new images for use in prayer and contemplation. I highly recommend this book!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews