The Faces of Jesus (1974)
A Life Story
Book Description
With timeless insight, Frederick Buechner meditates on the person, work, and life of Jesus Christ.
Reflecting on sculpture, canvas, fresco, and tapestry, Buechner presents us with his own portrait of the faces of Christ: ‘what I found myself doing’, he writes in Now and Then (1983), ‘was writing not in any sense either a scholar’s life of Christ or a complete life, but as much of a life as emerged from the pictures themselves.’
Beginning with the annunciation and nativity, Buechner journeys through the ministry, the Last Supper, the Passion, and the Resurrection of Christ, pausing over each work of art to draw out the life within it, and the life it represents:
He rises from the table to stand there in silence, and if, like a rose, time itself has a center, a heart, his face is that center, as faith beholds it, and all our times pulse out from it like petals as he raises his life to his lips, his death. […] So once again, for the last time or the first time, we face that face – all the ways men have dreamed it down the years, painted and sculpted it, scratched it into the teeth of whales, stitched it into wool and silk, hammered it out of gold. There it is.
Originally published as The Faces of Jesus by Paraclete Press, it was reprinted as The Life of Jesus by Weathervane Books, a division of Imprint Society, Inc., and distributed by Crown Publishers, Inc. by arrangement with Riverwood Publishers Ltd.
Reviews
"Reading this book is akin to praying with religious art, with Rev. Buechner as a reverent guide to the artist's intent."
— Rachelle Linner, The Catholic Review Online
"...yet another of Mr. Buechner's poetic musings; this time he puts a human face on the gospel events, one that mirrors our own. The prolific Mr. Buechner is a recipient of multiple national book awards. Clearly he has a way with words. He makes familiar New Testament encounters refreshingly vivid, drawing the reader in so closely that we must either gaze in awe or avoid meeting Jesus' eyes altogether."
— Dallas New Religion
