The angel gave precise instructions, and promised a miracle to confirm the choice of the right man.Īccordingly, Zacharias called together as many widowers as he could find. They should find a husband for Mary, but he should be a good deal older, a steady and experienced man. So Zacharias prayed, and an angel told him what to do. What could they do? They had taken charge of her they couldn’t simply throw her out. That, of course, would pollute the holy place. Zacharias nurtured the child like a dove, and she danced for the Lord, and everyone loved her for her grace and simplicity.īut she grew as every other girl did, and when she was twelve years old the priests of the temple realised that before long she would begin to bleed every month. Joachim and Anna vowed to dedicate her to the Lord God, so they took her to the temple and offered her to the high priest Zacharias, who kissed her and blessed her and took her into his care. One day she saw a nest of sparrows in a laurel tree, and wept that even the birds and the beasts could produce young, when she could not.įinally, however, possibly because of their fervent prayers, Anna conceived a child, and in due course she gave birth to a girl. It was considered shameful that Joachim had never fathered any offspring, and he felt the shame keenly. She was the daughter of Joachim and Anna, a rich, pious and elderly couple who had never had a child, much as they prayed for one. The death of the other is not part of the story.Īs the world knows, their mother was called Mary. This is the story of Jesus and his brother Christ, of how they were born, of how they lived and of how one of them died. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. It is a text to be read and reread, studied and unpacked, much like the Good Book itself. Written with unstinting authority, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a pithy, erudite, subtle, and powerful book by a controversial and beloved author. Parts of it read like a novel, parts like history, and parts like a fairy tale I wanted it to be like that because it is, among other things, a story about how stories become stories.” In Pullman’s own words, The story I tell comes out of the tension within the dual nature of Jesus Christ, but what I do with it is my responsibility alone. By challenging the events of the gospels, Pullman puts forward his own compelling and plausible version of the life of Jesus, and in so doing, does what all great books do: makes the reader ask questions. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is the remarkable new piece of fiction from best-selling and famously atheistic author Philip Pullman.

Philip pullman christ the scoundrel