by James Martin
———. Following the Way: Jesus, Our Spiritual Director. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2001.
———. Jesus: A Portrait. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2008.
Pilch, John J. A Cultural Handbook to the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012.
Pixner, Bargil. With Jesus in Jerusalem: His First and Last Days in Judea. Israel: Corazin, 1996.
———. With Jesus Through Galilee According to the Fifth Gospel. Israel: Corazin, 1992.
Powell, Mark Allan, ed. HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. Rev. ed. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2011.
Pritchard, James B. HarperCollins Atlas of Bible History. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2008.
Ratzinger, Joseph, Pope Benedict XVI. Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration. New York: Doubleday, 2012.
———. Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011.
———. Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives. New York: Doubleday, 2007.
Reed, Jonathan L. Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus: A Re-examination of the Evidence. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity International, 2000.
———. The HarperCollins Visual Guide to the New Testament: What Archaeology Reveals About the First Christians. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2007.
Rohr, Richard. Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps. Cincinnati: St. Anthony Messenger, 2011.
Sanders, E. P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. London: Penguin, 1995.
Schneiders, Sandra M. Written That You May Believe: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. New York: Crossroad, 2003.
Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad, 1983.
Scirghi, Thomas J., SJ. Everything Is Sacred: An Introduction to the Sacrament of Baptism. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2012.
Senior, Donald. Jesus: A Gospel Portrait. Rev. ed. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 1992.
Sheed, F. J. To Know Christ Jesus. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1962.
Stegemann, Ekkehard, and Wolfgang Stegemann. The Jesus Movement: A Social History of Its First Century. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1999.
Teresa, Mother. Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta. New York: Doubleday, 2007.
Throckmorton, Burton H., Jr. Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels. Nashville: Nelson, 1992.
Trueblood, Elton. The Humor of Christ. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1964.
Von Speyr, Adrienne. Book of All Saints. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2008.
Wright, N. T. The Challenge of Jesus. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1999.
———. Jesus and the Victory of God: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989.
Zerwick, Maximilian, SJ. A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament. Translated by Mary Grosvenor. Rome: Editrice Pontificio Instituto Biblico, 1988.
Zimmerman, Irene. Woman Un-Bent. Winona, MN: St. Mary’s, 1999.
FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION
TO LIST ALL THE resources that have helped me understand the New Testament since I entered the Jesuits would make this book far too long. So I have limited this list to resources I used specifically in writing this book. First, let me single out several that were my constant companions and that I recommend for further exploration.
The Sacra Pagina series, edited by Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, was, after the Bible, my bible. Each book in the superlative series provides not only a line-by-line analysis of the New Testament, but also solid theological exegesis, so that you are able both to study the Jesus of history and to come to know the Christ of faith. The series is learned, wise, balanced, thoughtful, and well organized. It grounds itself on what is known and can be proven, and its use of Greek is helpful for both scholar and newcomer. The authors of the four books on the Gospels are: Daniel J. Harrington, SJ (Matthew); John R. Donahue, SJ, and Daniel J. Harrington, SJ (Mark); Luke Timothy Johnson (Luke); and Francis J. Moloney, SDB (John). I cannot recommend this series highly enough or thank the authors enough for their scholarship and industry.
Let me also recommend three other books on Jesus that I kept close at hand. A Marginal Jew, by the Rev. John P. Meier, a massive, multi-volume study of the historical Jesus, offers a wealth of information and the most detailed analysis of Gospel texts from a historical standpoint you will find anywhere. His first volume has an especially good chapter on the tools of historical analysis of the Gospels. Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was, by Gerhard Lohfink, is a superb book that beautifully combines the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. The Misunderstood Jew, by Amy-Jill Levine, provides an overview of Jewish practices from the time of Christ and corrects some common errors in the “standard” ways that we look at Jesus and “the Jews.”
Several relatively brief books on Jesus were also very useful. To my mind these are the best short books on Jesus for the general reader. Jesus: A Historical Portrait, by Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, is a concise and popular treatment of what we can know about Jesus historically. The Historical Figure of Jesus, by E. P. Sanders, is a somewhat longer version of the same topic, and a bit more academic. Consider Jesus, by Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, looks at Christology and has an especially interesting chapter on Jesus’s self-consciousness. Fully Human, Fully Divine, by Michael Casey, OCSO, is particularly strong on how the two “natures” of Jesus work together. Gerald O’Collins, SJ, has written a fine book, Jesus: A Portrait, which looks at Jesus in his various roles, for example, as “healer,” “storyteller,” and “Lord.” The fine volume Jesus Our Brother, by Wilfred Harrington, OP, looks at the human Jesus, and Jesus: A Gospel Portrait, by Donald Senior, CP, is particularly good on Jesus in his Jewish context. And although I didn’t use his book in my research for this work, Albert Nolan’s Jesus Before Christianity, the first book I read in the Jesuit novitiate on the historical Jesus, is a fine introduction to the historical Jesus.
As more devotional titles about the Christ of faith that I’ve enjoyed and used in this book, let me cite two authors from the past and one from more recent times. William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible not only offers an analysis of the Gospels, but also draws spiritual lessons from it. (Barclay’s approach is methodical and creative; he offers you, for example, three insights from a particular passage and then illustrates with an example from real life. Barclay’s books The Mind of Christ and Crucified and Crowned are also fine.) F. J. Sheed’s To Know Christ Jesus, one of the first books on Jesus I read in the novitiate, retains its power more than fifty years after its publication. Though some of the historical research is outdated, it still ushers us into the life of Christ in a powerful way. More recently, Jesus of Nazareth, by Pope Benedict XVI, is an inspiring three-volume series, each book designed for both the scholar and the curious, with an emphasis on Christ of faith. (A longer list of the books that have inspired me to come to know the Risen One would take several pages.)
For information about the Holy Land, needless to say, I relied on Jerome Murphy-O’Connor’s The Holy Land, which was unfailingly helpful. At times Murphy-O’Connor started to feel like the third person in our pilgrimage. With Jesus through Galilee and With Jesus in Jerusalem are both excellent guides written by Bargil Pixner, a Benedictine monk of Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, who spent twenty-five years living in Israel, half of them in Galilee. His guidebooks (which include detailed maps of Galilee and Jerusalem) are popular in Israel but somewhat harder to locate elsewhere. Finding them is worth the effort.
Regarding what archaeology can reveal about life in the first century, the work of Jonathan L. Reed was a boon. I started with his The HarperCollins Visual Guide to the New Testament: What Archaeology Reveals About the First Christians, a presentation whose lavish illustration does not detract from its scholarship. Most helpful of all was his book, written with John Dominic Crossan, Excavating Jesus, which examines what archaeology can tell us about the area in which Jesus lived. Re
ed’s Archaeology and the Galilean Jesus offers many essays on the most recent finds in and around Galilee. Father Harrington recommended Jodi Magness’s delightfully named and impressively researched Stone and Dung, Oil and Spit: Jewish Daily Life in the Time of Jesus as well as Mark A. Chancey’s Greco-Roman Culture and the Galilee of Jesus, which is equally scholarly and equally helpful.
Several excellent one-volume Bible commentaries I have long found helpful will serve general readers well. From the more scholarly to the more popular, they are: The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds.), The HarperCollins Bible Commentary (James L. Mays, ed.), and The Collegeville Bible Commentary (Dianne Bergant and Robert Karris, eds.). The Catholic scholar Raymond E. Brown’s Introduction to the New Testament and his monumental books The Birth of the Messiah and The Death of the Messiah also provide excellent scholarly commentary. Also, The Jewish Annotated New Testament, edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, provides superb commentary on specifically Jewish terms, practices, and beliefs for the relevant New Testament passages.
For textual analysis I used The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament (the Nestle Greek text), by Alfred Marshall, which provides a word-by-word translation of the koinē Greek; The Greek New Testament, edited by Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, SJ, Bruce M. Metzger, and Alan Wikgren; A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament, by Maximilian Zerwick, SJ, translated by Mary Grosvenor; as well as Gospel Parallels, by Burton Throckmorton, which provides a comparison of the sequence of the Synoptics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Kerry Weber
JAMES MARTIN, SJ, is a Jesuit priest, editor at large at the Catholic magazine America, and the author of several books, including the New York Times bestseller The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything as well as Between Heaven and Mirth, A Jesuit Off-Broadway, and My Life with the Saints, which were named “Best Books of the Year” by Publishers Weekly. Among his other books are This Our Exile, In Good Company, Lourdes Diary, Searching for God at Ground Zero, Becoming Who You Are, and the e-book Together on Retreat.
Before entering the Jesuits in 1988, Father Martin graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and worked for six years in corporate finance. As part of his Jesuit training, he worked in a hospice for the sick and dying in Kingston, Jamaica; in a hospital for the seriously ill in Cambridge, Massachusetts; at a school for poor boys in New York City; with street gangs in Chicago; in a prison in Boston; and for two years with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Nairobi, Kenya, where he helped East African refugees start small businesses. He studied philosophy at Loyola University Chicago and received his graduate degrees in theology at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1999 and pronounced his final vows as a Jesuit in 2009.
Father Martin has written for many religious and secular publications, both in print and online, including The (London) Tablet, Commonweal, U.S. Catholic, the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Slate. He is a frequent commentator in the national and international media, and he has appeared on the major radio and television networks and in venues as diverse as NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, FOX’s The O’Reilly Factor, and Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. He lives in a Jesuit community in New York City.
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ALSO BY JAMES MARTIN, SJ
Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter
Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life
The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Behind the Scenes with Faith, Doubt,
Forgiveness, and More
Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from
Thomas Merton and Other Saints
Lourdes Diary: Seven Days at the Grotto of Massabieille
My Life with the Saints
Searching for God at Ground Zero
This Our Exile: A Spiritual Journey with the Refugees of East Africa
In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate
World to Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience
Together on Retreat: Meeting Jesus in Prayer (e-book)
Together on Retreat (Enhanced Edition) Vol.1
Together on Retreat (Enhanced Edition) Vol.2
10 Best Books to Read for Easter: Selections to Inspire, Educate and Provoke
PRAISE FOR JESUS: A PILGRIMAGE
“Do we really need yet another book about Jesus? If the book is this one, the answer is yes. James Martin’s approach is unique and original, and it will net the reader a glimpse into the Nazarene not available elsewhere. He combines three ‘sources’: the biblical accounts, his own Ignatian-trained prayer life, and highly perceptive visits to the places where Jesus lived and taught and died. The result is a fully contoured picture of Jesus not to be found elsewhere. No matter how much or how little one knows already about Jesus, this book is invaluable.”
—Harvey Cox, Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School
“During the past decades, many books have focused on Jesus from the vantage point of either the quest for the historical Jesus, or systematic Christology, or personal spirituality. Rarely has any one book attempted a synthesis of all three. The engaging Father James Martin has not only attempted but also achieved such a synthesis. Every reader will enjoy the journey—nay, the pilgrimage—through this triple territory with such an insightful companion.”
—Rev. John Meier, author of A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus
“Jesus: A Pilgrimage is part travel guide, part spiritual reflection, and part Scripture study—and an altogether delightful read. Father Jim Martin, SJ, ably blends these elements to help seekers encounter the Jesus of history through the eyes of a modern pilgrim. Whether you’ve visited the Holy Land a dozen times, or simply have a pilgrimage at the top of your wish list, his reflections will bring you fresh insight.”
—Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York
“There are no dull moments in this book. What a joy to take this fascinating pilgrimage with James Martin, a journey from a theological and historical perspective, and one that leads to a refreshing awareness and understanding of the beloved carpenter from Nazareth. As I read Jesus, I yearned for a more deeply committed relationship with him.”
—Joyce Rupp, OSM, author of Praying Our Goodbyes
“Jesus: A Pilgrimage is a delight to read and a work of substance for the committed Christian. Vividly written and rich in historical detail and analysis, it’s also a movingly personal journey of faith, a diary of the author’s pilgrimage to the land where God and human destiny intersect, the land Jesus called home.”
—Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., archbishop of Philadelphia
“This is not a dry theological manual, nor is it merely a commentary on the Gospels; it is a sensitive, heartfelt inquiry into the person of Jesus. In James Martin’s book the great texts of the Gospels come to life and are transformed for the reader into an encounter with Jesus as he really was.”
—Rev. Gerhard Lohfink, author of Jesus of Nazareth
“This is an invaluable book for anyone desiring to know more about Jesus and how his life can illumine our own spiritual pilgrimage.”
—Kathleen Norris, author of The Cloister Walk
“Want a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a reliable guide? Travel with Jim Martin, who is at his best here, opening the Gospels with a light touch. Serious scholar, yes, but mainly a pilgrim, trying to make his way, just like us.”
—Helen Prejean, CSJ, author of Dead Man Walking
“Jesus is a must read for those who want the Bible brought to life with accuracy, sincerity, and sparkle.”
—Candida Moss, professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the Un
iversity of Notre Dame
“What can be said about Jesus that’s never been said before? James Martin answers that question with an insightful, balanced, intelligent, widely embracing, and faith-filled account of his journey in search of Jesus. This is a book for everyone, regardless of creed or background. This is James Martin at his best!”
—Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, author of The Holy Longing
“The ancient practice of pilgrimage, Ignatian spirituality, delightful wit, and astute observation of the complex contemporary reality of Israel and Palestine meet in this account by James Martin, SJ. He offers a personal meditative memoir, but informed by critical biblical and archaeological scholarship and graced with his accustomed narrative skill. His entertaining, thoughtful, and inspiring account will delight both seasoned pilgrims and those who want to be.”
—Harold W. Attridge, Sterling Professor of Divinity at Yale Divinity School
“It takes a ‘human one’ to write well about the consummate ‘Human One,’ Jesus. James Martin does that very well! Come to see, and be seen by, the One who has loved so many of us into life.”
—Richard Rohr, OFM, author of Everything Belongs
“This delightful book combines personal reflections and spiritual nuggets along with insights from top biblical scholars, theologians, and archaeologists in an engaging style. Martin makes Jesus and his land and times come alive, inviting others to meet Jesus and embark on their own pilgrimage.”
—Barbara E. Reid, OP, professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago
“Father James Martin’s book on Jesus is a gem. Learned yet highly accessible, he weaves together insights gleaned from the Gospels, a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Ignatian spirituality, and his personal and pastoral experience. This is a Jesus book I highly recommend.”
—Thomas D. Stegman, SJ, associate professor of New Testament at Boston College
“It isn’t often that a book invites you to make a journey through the Holy Land in the company of an inspiring, well-informed, and entertaining guide like James Martin. Discover things you never knew about Jesus’s homeland. Enter into the Gospel narratives firsthand. Enjoy the journey, but don’t be surprised if it changes you.”
