I'm not sure exactly what happened but this book moved me in ways I'm not sure I know how to articulate at the moment. It may be one of the most profound things that I've read on Christ.
Miles takes the whole Christ narrative and then frames it in the end as work of art! Art as a way of understanding. I think that has things ticking in my brain that were either dormant or have never come alive before. I'm so used to reading about Christology from either a historical standpoint or theological; whether Jesus really existed, who was he and was he divine.
Miles presumes right at the very beginning that Jesus is God. That's what makes the story so compelling. He then reviews and interprets it like a novel. Like a work of art. He pulls things out that I've never seen before. It was very moving and very deep.
What's fascinating to me is none of this minimized the person and work of Christ in anyway. At least not to me. What it actually did is enhance it in a very significant way. Miles moved away from arguing about the historical Jesus or textual criticism. He looks at Jesus from a different angle. The way an artist would look at him.
I think that brings Jesus into view in a very unique way and exposes aspects about him that we would not otherwise see. Because of that I am very grateful to Jack Miles for this book.
I guess this one's not going back on the shelf anytime soon.
