Pope Benedict’s latest book on Christ, which focuses on his infancy, will be published in the United States Nov. 21.
Image Books, a division of Random House, will be publishing the work’s English translation in both the United States and Canada.
The book is titled Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives and marks the third and final volume in Pope Benedict’s series on Christ. It will focus on Jesus’ infancy and early life.
Pope Benedict focuses on the hope which the child Jesus represented for characters as diverse as Mary, Joseph, the magi and Simeon.
The first volume in the series, Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, was published as a hardcover in English in 2007 by Doubleday and in paperback in 2008 by Ignatius Press.
In the introduction of his first book the Pope explained that it was in “no way an exercise of the magisterium,” but rather an “expression of his personal search for the face of the Lord.”
In the work, the Pope explored the majority of Christ’s public ministry, including his baptism by John the Baptist, the sermon on the Mount, the meaning of the parables, the calling of the 12 apostles, the confession of Peter and the Transfiguration.
In the second work in the series, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, Pope Benedict examined Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem, his suffering and death, his resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven.
Published in English by Ignatius Press in 2011, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, made its way to the New York Times Best Seller List shortly after being released.
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I wonder how it would be if the bishops and laity laid off the priests and allowed them the grace to read and reflect on such books. As it is, their theology seems packaged for the mass market instead of the Mass, and they seem trained in administration instead of holiness … not all of them, but maybe most of them. Refreshing to find priests who are devoted to religious study and reflection, meditation, prayer!!!
His Holiness has an excellent style of writing. Not only are his works interesting,, they are also quite easy to comprehend. I am sure his books will be considered spiritual treasures for all the actual graces they will bring to the reader.May God reward Pope Benedict for the great contribution his has given to the Catholic Church.
Yes Yes, Father Karl. Spiritual Treasures for sure.
God bless our Pope!
And may Catholics adhere to ALL of his judgments and teachings!
jon, you go, boy.
i know she’s a weirdo, and has renounced her christian faith yet agian, but ANNE RICE did go through a catholic period of renewal and wrote a lovely couple of books as a beliver, including CHRIST THE LORD: OUT OF EGYPT.
the author uses her imagination to explore what it may have been like for the HOLY FAMILY to come back home after excile in egypt…
if you don’t want to support her financially by buying the boook, you could always check it out of the library…
How in the name of all that is good did the name of Anne Rice, an apostate heretic come up when the subject is a book written by Pope Benedict XVI?
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
Max, you may already know the reason that Anne Rice gives for having left the Church the second time, which was that she felt her gay son was being discriminated against by the Church’s teachings against homosexuality. She is so stunningly hated-filled in her anti-Catholicism at this point that to buy her books or even recommend her writing, even during her Catholic period, seems to me to dine with the devil. Fantasy-based fictional offerings by occasional drop-in, drop-out Catholics in relation to the life of Jesus Christ is not nearly so compelling to me as reading of His actual life and teachings in the Bible or reading of His real life and teaching in works by writers such as our wonderful pope. The pope’s Catholic period has been life-long, and his devotion to Jesus Christ and depth of knowledge of the subject are light years ahead of such common offerings as those of the faithless heretic and commercial fiction writer, Anne Rice.
Other nice books by the Pope are the collections of his Wednesday General Audience talks:
Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church
Saint Paul
Church Fathers
Church Fathers and Teachers
All available from Ignatius Press
Just received Jesus of Nazareth vol 3 in my iPad via Kindle.
It is really sad that you cannot see that Benedict is denying the historicity and Divine inerrancy of the Gospels in gratuitously asserting that there were no animals…The Old Testament refers to the animals at the Nativity in both Isaiah and Habakuk.
The Gospels: “…she laid him in the MANGER”…”you will find him lying in a manger…” – poor Saint Francis – ! The Fathers and Doctors of the Church – especially Saint Alphonsus – quote from these sources of Revelation copiously in their works [cf., “The Incarnation and Infancy of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”] They are definite regarding the great symbolic meaning of the animals presence as well as the meaning of the manger: the animals symbolize fallen Man with all of his vices; the manger indicates that Christ intends to be our Food and Divine Remedy for these vices in the Most Holy Eucharist…for Benedict to dump all this is an inconceivable impiety. The Church infallibly teaches at Trent, Vatican I, AND VATICAN II – that the Scriptures taken together and in each and all of their parts – are inspired by the Holy Ghost. Admit one “officious lie” or erroneous assertion – and the whole edifice collapses. Benedict XVI is a Modernist who follows the historico-critical method of exegesis – which destroys inspiration at the roots.
The Bible does not say that animals are the image of fallen man. The Bible says that animals are good. Furthermore, animals are not capable of sin, yet man is; therefore, animals do not represent fallen man.
Carl G, I hope you’re not drumming up this dissing of animals to justify pulling wings off flies when you were a boy, or something worse now.
There will likely be a few theological/doctrine surprises in his book to many of us who hold dearly to the true/traditional One, Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic (the 4 marks) faith; however, for those content with modernism and no little of Roman Catholic tradition in that they haven’t been well educated on the Roman Catholic faith, they may find few if no surprises at all.