153 - The Jesus Tradition: Images of Jesus in the West

The Jesus Tradition: Images of Jesus in the West

By Gerard S. Sloyan

Mystic, Conn., Twenty-Third Publications, 1986. 121 Pp. $5.95.

This book is a learned scholar's baffling attempt at the obviously impossible, to survey in brief compass images of Jesus throughout Christian history. The book is meant to be inspirational. Some of its longer quotes do provoke meditation. But the predominate tenor of the text is scholarly and intricate. Alternately it reads like a transcription of class notes, an annotated bibliography, a series of brief introductions to the Christian classics. Sloyan's profound historical insight often piques the curiosity then frustrates it when the subject abruptly changes, never to return. The more elaborated statements on medieval mysticism and on the views of Jesus in liberation theology, feminism, fundamentalism, and church-alienated youth are satisfying. The ten pages on Francis of Assisi is best of all, simply because, for once, Sloyan takes

154 - The Jesus Tradition: Images of Jesus in the West

the space needed to express what he knows.

Daniel A. Helminiak, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.