JESUS BEFORE CHRISTIANITY

Albert Nolan ( Claretian Publications Copyright 2008)

Written by Albert Nolan, The book is intended for those who want to have a first glance of
a famous figure. Jesus who lived before us about 2 millennia ago is described in a most
understanding writing- style. With an easy approach from his human living in that time, the
author has best given the readers the significance knowledge about Jesus for both believers
and non-believers.

A New Perspective leads readers to look at the time of Jesus compared to our time. It is
truly quite the same. The author has somehow succeeded in interweaving the two periods
into one glimpse of what happened. It gives the reader a more understandable standpoint to
start their journey back to more than 2000 years ago. Our time is experiencing an explosion
of all kinds of disasters which threaten the living of the world. Those are nuclear bomb,
population explosion, imminent war, etc. Flashing back to Jesus’s time, it also gives us an
atmosphere of an impending disaster which could happen at any time. Thus a king is found
to be necessary.

Chapter two introduces us to John the Baptist that we can see the main difference of the
message that he came for in comparison or rather in line with the message that Jesus
brought about. Firstly, after a long time with the absence of prophets, the Jews desperately
needed one, and came John the Baptist with a prophecy of repentance (Lk 3:12).and we
need to know “A prophecy is not a prediction, it is a warning or a promise” (p. 19).