The Essential Jesus: 100 Readings Through the Bible's Greatest Story

by Whitney T. Kuniholm

Jesus is the most influential person of human history. "Jesus never became a political, military or government leader; he never wanted to. He never owned a multinational corporation or acquired any wealth to speak of; he didn't need it. He never wrote a book, never staged a concert tour, never appeared on television and never had a radio talk show--or even his own blog. . . . What's so special about Jesus?" (from the introduction) Most of us know something about Jesus and are intrigued by him. Perhaps as a child we attended Sunday school, or when flipping channels we've heard TV preachers talk about Jesus. We may have even thought, I'd like to find out for myself what Jesus said and did so I can come to my own conclusions about him. But we haven't had the opportunity to take a closer look. The Essential Jesus by Whitney T. Kuniholm will help you discover who Jesus is and why he is so significant--even life-transforming. Through both Old and New Testament readings you will discover why God sent Jesus, what Jesus taught, how he treated people, why he did miracles, the meaning of his death, the significance of his resurrection, what the Bible says about his second coming and much more. Whether alone or in a group setting, you can discover for yourself what makes Jesus so special.

Genres: Christian

199 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2007

Reviews

[Becky]

I loved that this book took you into great passages of scripture every week. It is organized by theme, and is always pointing you to Jesus. The 100 readings give a great overview of the story of Jesus that is threaded through the whole Bible and would be very helpful to someone new to the faith or new to understanding the Bible as a whole story.

My main issue is with the discussion questions. I often found them a bit off topic. They didn’t draw you into understanding the passages more, and tended to focus discussion on side issues.