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The Life of Jesus Christ: A Biographical Overview of the Life of Christ
There was only one man who was so important that His birth caused our calendar to split in two (B.C./A.D). There was only one man who, despite being tempted, did not sin even once. There was only one man who died for your sins and mine and by whom we can have eternal life. That man was Jesus Christ of Nazareth.How much do you know about Jesus? Have you spent much time thinking about how He lived? Do you know Him? James Stalker carefully goes through each stage of Jesus’ life and presents, in a biographical format, what we know about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.If anyone deserves to have our attention and our interest, that person is Jesus. He is more than a hero. He is a perfect example of how we should live. He is the only one who gives us any real hope at all. If we are to take up our cross and follow Him, we must understand what that means and must see what that looks like. This book will help you to do just that.About the AuthorJames Stalker was born in Crieff, Scotland, on February 21, 1848. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and he was ordained as a minister of the Free Church of Scotland in 1874. He began his ministry at St. Brycedale, in Kirkcaldy, in that same year, and in 1887 he began pastoral duties at St. Matthew’s in Glasgow. He was also a professor of church history at the Free Church College in Glasgow. James Stalker was a widely known preacher of his day in Scotland and America. He also authored many books, the two best known of which are his Life of Jesus Christ and his Life of St. Paul. James Stalker died on February 5, 1927.
169 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1891
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About the author
James Stalker
167 books6 followersJames Stalker (1848-1927) was a minister, lecturer and preacher for the Free Church of Scotland (United Free Church). He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he had a career of remarkable distinction, winning prizes in every class. He did especially well in philosophy, and gained the third place in English literature. He went on to New College to study for the ministry. Stalker also spent two summers in Germany where he attended Berlin and Halle, where he studied under Tholuck, Dorner, Weiss, Kostlin, Dillmann and Riehm.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 13, 2019
An interesting and well-written synopsis of the Gospels but suffers mightily in that a reader must have an expansive vocabulary to understand what Mr. Stalker wished to get across. In 1880 this book would receive 5 stars. In almost 2020 it merits only 3. Poets and other lovers of the English Language will love it, however. His writing style is exquisite.
November 18, 2015
Older work on the life of Christ, but still very helpful.
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September 4, 2019Outstanding classic that provides insight that one might miss in normal study. Easy and engaging, it is worth the read.
November 15, 2024
Each month Aneko Press's newsletter includes a free kindle book, often a Christian classic that I haven’t read. A recent one was “The Life of Jesus Christ” by James Stalker. I downloaded it and read it, and as usual with Aneko’s offerings, it was worth my time.
Stalker was born in 1848, and this book was written around 1900. He was a Scottish pastor, and the book goes through Jesus’ life. I found it really helpful because he includes various cultural things about the time that I wasn’t aware of, which make the gospels more understandable. Often he’d describe something, then put a Bible verse referring to it, and usually it would be a verse I’d often read and thought, “Hmmm, that seems a little random.”
On Jesus’ birth, he wrote, “I never felt the full emotion of the scene until one day when I was standing in a room of an old inn in the market town of Eisleben, in central Germany. I was told that on that very spot, four centuries earlier, amid the noise of a market day and the bustle of a tavern, the wife of the poor miner, Hans Luther, who happened to be there on business, being surprised like Mary with sudden distress, brought forth in sorrow and poverty the child who was to become Martin Luther, the hero of the Reformation.”
“Look at the group that gathered to gaze on Him! It represented in miniature the whole of His future history.” He then mentions the shepherds representing the invisible under-classes, Simeon and Anna representing the devout, and the Wise Men, representing students/thinkers. “There must also have been awakened in them a deeper desire, to which God responded. If their search began in scientific curiosity and speculation, God led it on to the perfect truth. This is always His way. Instead of making tirades against the imperfect, he speaks to us in the language we understand … He used the knowledge of these men, which was half falsehood and superstition, to lead them to the Light of the World.”
Stalker discusses the young Jesus in the temple as our only story from his childhood, writing “Only one flower of anecdote has been thrown over the wall of the hidden garden, and it is so exquisite that it fills us with intense longing to see the garden itself. However, it has pleased God, whose silence is no less wonderful than His words, to keep it closed to us.”
And I found this interesting, as he ponders how much of an influence Jesus’ childhood setting had on Him: “The greater and more original a character is, the less dependent it is on the characteristics of its environment. It is fed from deep wellsprings within itself, and in its beginning there is a type enclosed that expands in obedience to its own laws and bids defiance to circumstances. In any other circumstances, Jesus would have grown to be in every important respect the very same person as He became in Nazareth.”
As to Jesus’s fondness for parables: “About 1/3 of all His sayings that have been preserved to us consists of parables. This shows how they stuck in the memory. In the same way, the hearers of the sermons of any preacher will probably, after a few years, remember the sermon illustrations far better than anything else in the sermon. These parables have remained in the memory of all generations since.”
“(Jesus is) equally understandable to all. Every hearer will receive his own portion from Him. The small and shallow mind will get as much as it can take, and the largest and deepest will get its fill at the same feast.”
At Jesus’ death: “The sorrow that He felt at seeing the ground on which He had bestowed so much labor turning out barren is to be measured only by the greatness of His love to the souls He sought to save.”
Sorry for so many quotes, but I think they give you a flavor for the book. I found it full of interesting and fresh insights, despite (or perhaps because of) it being over 100 years old. It was well worth my time.
Stalker was born in 1848, and this book was written around 1900. He was a Scottish pastor, and the book goes through Jesus’ life. I found it really helpful because he includes various cultural things about the time that I wasn’t aware of, which make the gospels more understandable. Often he’d describe something, then put a Bible verse referring to it, and usually it would be a verse I’d often read and thought, “Hmmm, that seems a little random.”
On Jesus’ birth, he wrote, “I never felt the full emotion of the scene until one day when I was standing in a room of an old inn in the market town of Eisleben, in central Germany. I was told that on that very spot, four centuries earlier, amid the noise of a market day and the bustle of a tavern, the wife of the poor miner, Hans Luther, who happened to be there on business, being surprised like Mary with sudden distress, brought forth in sorrow and poverty the child who was to become Martin Luther, the hero of the Reformation.”
“Look at the group that gathered to gaze on Him! It represented in miniature the whole of His future history.” He then mentions the shepherds representing the invisible under-classes, Simeon and Anna representing the devout, and the Wise Men, representing students/thinkers. “There must also have been awakened in them a deeper desire, to which God responded. If their search began in scientific curiosity and speculation, God led it on to the perfect truth. This is always His way. Instead of making tirades against the imperfect, he speaks to us in the language we understand … He used the knowledge of these men, which was half falsehood and superstition, to lead them to the Light of the World.”
Stalker discusses the young Jesus in the temple as our only story from his childhood, writing “Only one flower of anecdote has been thrown over the wall of the hidden garden, and it is so exquisite that it fills us with intense longing to see the garden itself. However, it has pleased God, whose silence is no less wonderful than His words, to keep it closed to us.”
And I found this interesting, as he ponders how much of an influence Jesus’ childhood setting had on Him: “The greater and more original a character is, the less dependent it is on the characteristics of its environment. It is fed from deep wellsprings within itself, and in its beginning there is a type enclosed that expands in obedience to its own laws and bids defiance to circumstances. In any other circumstances, Jesus would have grown to be in every important respect the very same person as He became in Nazareth.”
As to Jesus’s fondness for parables: “About 1/3 of all His sayings that have been preserved to us consists of parables. This shows how they stuck in the memory. In the same way, the hearers of the sermons of any preacher will probably, after a few years, remember the sermon illustrations far better than anything else in the sermon. These parables have remained in the memory of all generations since.”
“(Jesus is) equally understandable to all. Every hearer will receive his own portion from Him. The small and shallow mind will get as much as it can take, and the largest and deepest will get its fill at the same feast.”
At Jesus’ death: “The sorrow that He felt at seeing the ground on which He had bestowed so much labor turning out barren is to be measured only by the greatness of His love to the souls He sought to save.”
Sorry for so many quotes, but I think they give you a flavor for the book. I found it full of interesting and fresh insights, despite (or perhaps because of) it being over 100 years old. It was well worth my time.
September 29, 2022
Long and dense but very inspiring
This book, which I have read twice, will be excellent reading for all who consider themselves committed Christians. The writing would be considered old-fashioned now, but the many revelations of the life of Christ and what He inspired make it worthwhile.
This book, which I have read twice, will be excellent reading for all who consider themselves committed Christians. The writing would be considered old-fashioned now, but the many revelations of the life of Christ and what He inspired make it worthwhile.
September 18, 2022
The Life Of Jesus Christ
Though not much is known of Jesus' early life, this book covered much of his spiritual life until his death at 33 years old. It covers his popularity and influence, but how, at the end, he was scorned until his resurrection.
Though not much is known of Jesus' early life, this book covered much of his spiritual life until his death at 33 years old. It covers his popularity and influence, but how, at the end, he was scorned until his resurrection.
December 7, 2023
Enjoyable overview
This is a concise, short, and enjoyable book. Given the text is over a century old, the reader must allow for the omission of certain knowledge we have acquired from documents and archeology.
This is a concise, short, and enjoyable book. Given the text is over a century old, the reader must allow for the omission of certain knowledge we have acquired from documents and archeology.
August 31, 2021
Good book
This is a good book, it cleared up some stuff I didn't have a good grasp of, check it out.
This is a good book, it cleared up some stuff I didn't have a good grasp of, check it out.
June 9, 2022
A quick read on christology in the form of biography. This book not that deep, and posed only as introduction.
September 8, 2024
POWERFUL
A powerful read on the chronological life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Inspiring, captivating, life altering, highly recommend to all that wants to know Jesus more!
A powerful read on the chronological life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Inspiring, captivating, life altering, highly recommend to all that wants to know Jesus more!
December 21, 2024
Educational and well-written!
September 2, 2025
This was such an endearing read. It brings you face to face with Jesus, and it gives insight into his life story. This would be an awesome Bible study for a group as well.
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July 8, 2020I liked his paragraph 152: "Judas Iscariot is the byword of the human race. In his Vision of Hell Dante has placed him in the lowest of the circles of the damned, as the sole sharer with Satan himself of the very uttermost punishment; and the poet's verdict is that of mankind. Yet he was not such a monster of iniquity as to be utterly beyond comprehension or even sympathy. The history of his base and appalling lapse is perfectly intelligible. He had joined the discipleship of Jesus, as the other apostles did, in the hope of taking part in a political revolution and occupying a distinguished place in an earthly kingdom." Judas and the other apostles were similar in the beginning of their time with Christ, but the other apostles changed and could see the difference between the earthly kingdom and a heavenly. This shows a transition I wish to progress in.
April 27, 2019
Mostly discusses the three years of Christ's work. The author included a study guide.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews