The Saints' Guide to Knowing the Real Jesus

David Mills is a wordsmith. As an author and senior editor of Touchstone Magazine, he knows about words and uses words brilliantly. This accounts for his attention to the basic Christian belief that 'The Word was made flesh'. Mills is passionate about the historical fact of the Incarnation and he is intent on making that fact relevant for us today. He is adamant that the theological words used to describe the event of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ are vitally important to the discovery of the real Jesus. The disputes about the identity of Jesus were not ancient and irrelevant quarrels over meaningless theological distinctions. They were the extremely relevant decisions that still affect our views of Jesus, (and therefore our views on God, the Church and the World today.)In an age where religion is swamped with personal emotion, individual choice and self-help trends, Mills reminds us that the Christian faith is founded on some objective events, and that the meaning of these events were hammered out, at great cost, by the very first Christian theologians. Likewise, when every few years we see yet another scholarly attempt or 'project' to discover 'the real Jesus'or 'the historical Jesus' Mills reminds us that the theological reflection about Jesus that went on in the first few centuries of the Christian Church was actually the first attempt to consider the historical facts in the light of eternity. It thus determined who the mysterious teacher from Galilee really was. The answers are already there. We don't need to re-invent the wheel.As a result, we can put all our sentimental or scholarly opinions about Jesus on one side. With a brisk pace, a witty style and a challenging tone Mills helps us put away the false images of Christ to meet the fullness of Jesus Christ discovered by the first Christians. Once grasped, the full profundity of this Jesus Christ is astounding and fresh. By introducing us to the writings of the Early Church Fathers Mills introduces us to a Jesus Christ who is far more than any theological project or sentimental worship experience can manufacture.If you are one who likes endless religious discussion that ends up being unresolved, this book is not for you. But if you are looking for in depth answers, if you are looking for a solid understanding of Jesus Christ grounded on historical fact and theological reflection, if you are looking for a universal vision of Jesus that has stood the test of time buy this book and treasure it--not for itself, but for the one to whom it introduces you.

A modern cliche states that "words are cheap." The fact of the matter, as David Mills explains in this pithy and challenging book, is that words are expensive. Even priceless. G. K. Chesterton noted that "the Church and the heresies always used to fight about words, because they are the only things worth fighting about." It is an observation that Mills, senior editor of Touchstone magazine, has taken to heart. His goal, Mills writes, is to "explore the early Christian saints' passion for saying exactly the right things about Jesus. They cared about distinctions and fine points of wording to which few today outside a seminary give two seconds' thought."In the early centuries of the Church, theology was a dangerous discipline. Insisting on a certain word over another could lead to exile and even death. As Mills shows, the turmoil surrounding the Arian heresy--which held that Jesus was a lesser god than the Father--bears witness to the vital nature of words. "For the earliest Christians, getting the words right was a matter of salvation." This book shows, in a warm and personal style, that Christians today need to take words, especially those describing Christ and the Christian Faith, far more seriously. Mushy language and vague sentiments have a poisonous effect on how we view Christ, His Church, and the nature of salvation.The chapter titled "The Word and the Right Words" is an especialy insightful explanation of the relationship between Christ, the Rule of Faith, and the Scriptures. Mills laments how we today often separate them from one another, always to our detriment. A former Anglican (like Chesterton), he knows personally the dangers of severing dogma from authority and doctrine from Tradition. Summarizing these thoughts, he observes, "If you want to hear the Word of the Lord, you will want to hear it within his Body. If you don't want to hear it within his Body, you probably don't really want to hear it." It is just one of many timeless challenges of this timely book.[Carl Olson is editor of Envoy magazine. This review taken from a longer review published in National Catholic Register.]

The events of September 11, 2001, appear to have given rise to a new interest in the life of the spirit. Not the least frequent of question one hears is how a person's faith might be so strong that he is willing to give his life for it. "Mere fanaticism" has insufficient explanatory power, since it is not difficult to see that what one believes, more than how one believes it, determines the spiritual capacity for self-sacrifice. There would also appear to be a natural longing in the human heart to believe there is something worth dying for, and Someone to vindicate the dying, quite apart from the irrationality of the fanatic and his god. Here in the West many Christians are beginning to ponder again the nature and quality of their faith. They hear rumors of martyrs, but the benign, almost infinitely manipulable Jesus they so often encounter in church--the flaccid, unmanly Jesus so friendly to educated opinion and the movments of the Zeitgeist--hardly seems worth it. David Mills' little book "The Saints Guide to Knowing the Real Jesus" explains the God worth dying for and why so many people--more in our century than in any other--have resisted not only evil, but lesser goods, to the death for his sake. In spare and sparkling prose reminiscent of C. S. Lewis, Mills tells why the martyrs' Christianity is the opposite of fanaticism--reason grounded on the mystery of divine charity rather than unreason arising from human hatred. He explains why serious Christians have always indentified as heretics people bent on making the faith more digestible to the arbiters of current wisdom, thus explaining the durability and persistence of Christianity that holds close to the original vision and the ephemeral character of that which doesn't.The book serves well not only as a primer on the Christian faith, useful for those who are called upon to explain it, but also for Christians trying to recapture it in a stronger and more convincing form than they have had it in the modernized churches. Highly recommended. //