Wednesday, June 13, 2007

New Book Answers Critic

One of Pope Benedict's loudest critics of his recent book Jesus of Nazareth is former Catholic (now Jewish) scholar Geza Vermes who wrote in his review of the book in the Times:
Another recurrent theme in Ratzinger’s perception of Christ is that Jesus
intended the Gospel to be preached to all the nations. If so, did he just forget
Jesus’ sayings that contradict the universality of the apostolic mission,
namely, that both Jesus and his disciples were sent only to the “lost sheep of
Israel” (Matthew x, 5-6; xv, 24).

In a new book that will be released in July and is now available for ordering on Amazon-- The Apostles. The Pope answers this criticism, as well as providing an excellent overview of what can be known from Scripture and Traditions about the first followers of Jesus--as well as what lessons we can derive from their example. Here is an excellent follow-up to Jesus of Nazareth.

If you go to The Apostles Amazon page, you can buy both Jesus of Nazareth and The Apostles for $25.14!