Jesus, In His Own Words

by Robert H. Mounce

What if Jesus were to tell you in first person about His time on earth? 

"You are about to read an account of the life and ministry of Jesus that combines all four gospels into a single narrative and allows Jesus himself to tell us the story," writes veteran Bible translator Robert H. Mounce at the beginning of Jesus, In His Own Words . "Although the style is contemporary, the desire is to clarify the meaning of the original text rather than to impressthe reader with clever phrases." To that end, Mounce's more conversational interpretation of the Gospelsallows the reader to "be there" during" Christ's birth and boyhood, at his baptism by John the Baptist, on the hillside when he spoke about the kingdom, amidst the miracle workings, and so on. His approach makes the words fresh to longtime believers and inviting to those seeking Scripture for the first time. Complementing the prosaic text, a full index of people, places, verse units, basic themes, and paragraph headings is also included.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2010

Reviews

[Bexbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are seeking a more personal deeper understanding of who Jesus is and you only want to hear it from His recorded words; then this book is must. I will be continuously reading this book for the rest of my life ut is that good.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Jesus, In His Own Words" combined the gospels and told them in first person from Jesus' point of view. This book was written in everyday language, and a few modern words or phrases were used. The translation was easy to understand and helped bring out insights I hadn't noticed before. Mounce also occasionally inserted very brief commentary (often cultural information) that's not actually in the Bible.

The gospels were sorted into roughly chronological order (birth, childhood, ministry, death, resurrection). However, I found some of the ordering confusing or jarring. For example, Luke's family line for Jesus was placed after Jesus' baptism. Sometimes, the events didn't read like they were in order due to the time or place indicators for the various events. Also, I was surprised that John 6:25-71, which I view as one unit, was broken apart and John 6:26-59 and John 6:60-71 were separated by seven events that occurred at various locations in Israel.

Sometimes words were left out or changed from dialogue to description. For example, Luke 23:43 "Jesus answered him, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise' in NIV became "And I assured him, 'This very day you will be with me in paradise.'" Perhaps some omissions, like "fasting" in Matthew 17:21, were because the word wasn't in early manuscripts.

There were also a few odd or potentially misleading translations of words, like "abandoning the Jewish faith" in "Because of Lazarus, many were abandoning the Jewish faith and beginning to believe in me" for John 12:11. And the ten virgins in the parable of Matt. 25:1-13 carried torches instead of lamps (which made the need for oil seem kind of odd).

Overall, though, I'm glad I read this book.


I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting combining (“harmony”) and translation of the 4 gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The electronic version I read still had quite a few typos and grammatical errors, which was odd, but I still appreciated the book on the whole – it’s a helpful meaning-based translation, and the few little clarifiers and reminders Mounce inserted along the way (clearly set out as parenthetical in the text) were almost all quite timely and helpful.

Of course, with any harmony, you lose a lot of the sense of each gospel writer’s unique perspective and purpose, so it’s a bit limited in usefulness for that reason. Further complicating this was the switch to writing as if it were Jesus telling the story, which was a mixed effect for me…it was interesting for sure, but it also did seem to increase that feeling of being distant from the original writers, which can make it a little harder to really make sure you’re understanding clearly (because I think it’s really important to read the Biblical works on their own terms / in the way their author intended if we’re hoping to minimize misinterpretation, miscommunication, misunderstanding, etc.).

[Wyndy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very easy book to read. This is the life of Jesus as told by Jesus, in the first person, in everyday understandable language. The author has studied the apostles' accounts of the life of Jesus and then retold it from His perspective. A type of autobiography. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, learned many new points, and found some clarification just because of the perspective. Definitely a book for someone interested in the story of Jesus without all the other biblical commentary or tangents.

[Margaret Chind]

*Thanks to the Daniel Blythe Agency for providing a copy for review.*

-- Look for a preview in October.