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Cover of The Jesus I Never Knew Study Guide

The Jesus I Never Knew Study Guide

Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up

  • Bible Studies & Devotionals
  • Publisher: Zondervan
  • Published: 1997

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Publisher's Description

In this Bible study guide—companion to the bestselling book The Jesus I Never Knew —Philip Yancey cuts through existing views and preconceptions of who Jesus is and returns us to the Jesus of the Gospels. How does the Jesus of the New Testament compare to the Jesus we think we know so well? From the manger in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem, Philip Yancey presents a complex character who generates questions as well as answers—a disturbing and exhilarating Jesus who wants to radically transform your life and stretch your faith. This 14-week study guide will help you and your group press beyond the traditional picture to uncover a Jesus who is brilliant, creative, challenging, fearless, compassionate, unpredictable, and ultimately satisfying. Each chapter: Begins with Yancey’s reflections on rediscovering Jesus. Discusses how different people and cultures view Jesus. Points us back to the Bible with Scripture readings. Asks discussion questions and includes note-writing sections and prompts. Included are Yancey’s suggestions for viewing Hollywood films on Jesus, with optional directions about film usage in studying The Jesus I Never Knew.


Endorsements (10)

“When we look hard into God’s Word, we always learn something new about Jesus. Thanks, Philip, for pointing the way in your new book.”

Joni Eareckson Tada

“In the more than twenty years I’ve known Philip Yancey, he’s shown a deep and persistent hunger for the truth in Jesus. I would rather read his words on Jesus than almost any other contemporary’s, for I know that he speaks from deep learning and deep passion.”

Tim Stafford

“This is the best book about Jesus I have ever read, probably the best book about Jesus in the whole century. Yancey gently took away my blinders and blazed the trail through my own doubting fears, pious know-it-all, and critical balderdash until I saw the Savior anew and thought I heard him ask me, “Now whom do you say that I am?” and I understood the question as I never had before.”

Lewis B. Smedes

“In this, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey is both more personal and more focused on Jesus than perhaps he has ever been before. He remembers the experiences of his childhood church with honest sight and astonishing insight—and then he holds himself and his reader to a true biblical and historical investigation of who this Jesus was (and is) after all. Jesus becomes, under his faithful eye, human and divine and powerfully present, in the text of Scripture and in our lives. It is this progression—from a view of our Lord too narrow for the full promises of the Bible to a presence both broad and blessed—which is the genuine gift of Yancey’s book. I am grateful for the gift.”

Walter Wangerin Jr.

“Philip Yancey can always be counted on not only to tell the truth, but to pursue it with passion. passion. In The Jesus I Never Knew, he continues the hunt.”

Virginia Stem Owens

“Philip Yancey takes the reader with him on his very personal journey to Jesus. In The Jesus I Never Knew, I became convinced that the Jesus I met—in some ways for the first time—has known me all along. This book is destined to become a favorite—to recommend to those still seeking Jesus and to pass along to those who’ve met him, but long to know him more.”

Elisa Morgan

“In The Jesus I Never Knew, Yancey both educates and inspires the reader to take a closer look at the biblical Jesus and his motivations. In doing so, he helps us gain new perspective on what it truly means to be a follower of Christ. Even those who think they know Jesus well will find new information and meaning in this remarkable book.”

Dale Hanson Bourke

“In his unique, challenging, and careful way, Philip Yancey breaks through stale stereotypes to give us a powerful antidote to the “Prozac Jesus” and other inadequate images, to reveal the complex reality and impact of Jesus of Nazareth on all of life. A fresh and helpful book.”

Roberta Hestenes

“Yancey’s flair for honest, vivid, well-informed down-to-earthness gives piercing power to these broodings on the gospel facts about Jesus Christ. In a day when novel ideas about Jesus are all the rage, Yancey’s pages offer major help for seeing the Savior as he really was.”

James I. Packer

“There is no writer in the evangelical world that I admire and appreciate more.”

Billy Graham

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