Jesus of Nazareth: The Illustrated Edition by Pope Benedict XVI

This illustrated edition of the bold, momentous book written by Pope Benedict XVI is beautifully adorned with reproductions of classic works by a veritable pantheon of classic painters—from Tiepolo to Chagall. Begun before his election to the papacy, the book contains masterfully cogent and accessible essays on the life of Jesus, including his baptism, his temptation in the desert, the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord’s Prayer, the disciples, the parables, the principal images of John’s Gospel, Peter’s confession and Jesus’s Transfiguration, and Jesus’s two self-descriptions, "Son of Man" and "Son." Pope Benedict XVI responds to the revisionist historical literature that makes Jesus a man of his time and place, and he discusses recent archaeological, historical, anthropological, and sociological research. As sensitive as it is erudite and brilliant, this edition is lavishly illustrated with handsome reproductions of classical depictions of Jesus by a roster of eminent artists, including Caravaggio, Tintoretto, Veronese, Bellini, Kandinsky, Gauguin, Matisse, and many others.