El Evangelio Segun Jesucristo / The Gospel According To Jesus Christ (Spanish Edition)

This thoughtful, provocative study of Jesus's self-understanding as both son of God and an all-too-human family member caused debate in the Portuguese parliament [upon its original publication]. Saramago reveals a deep knowledge of scripture, theology, and Christian history, but his true gift may lie in evoking the physical world. Christian writers have often downplayed the earthier aspects of the Incarnation, but here Jesus is "identified as a shepherd by the smell of goat." God says that it is "dissatisfaction, one of the qualities which make man in My image and likeness," which led him to desire a son on Earth. "There will be a church," God tells Jesus, giving a lengthy martyrology as evidence. Jesus dies as do many of us, lamenting "a life planned for death from the very beginning." [Recommended for academic and public libraries, as well as general bookstores.-Ed.] [LJ 1993]