Book Review: Who is This Man

Time for another book review.

Information about the book
Title:  Who is this man?:  The unpreditable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus
Author:  John Ortberg
Publisher:  Zondervan (a division of HarperCollins)
Copyright:  2012
Links:  I read the book as a kindle book, so Amazon was my source.  When I went to get the link from Amazon, I saw that the kindle version is priced (today - who knows what it will be tomorrow) at $2.99.  That's much less than I paid for it.
Website for author:  I can't find a site for Ortberg, but he is a contributor to Christianity Today, and they have a nice page about him.

Summary 
The forward to this book is written by Condeleeza Rice, who says, "In Who is this Man? John has written a powerful testament to the impact that Jesus has had on human history, on the human condition, and on our understanding of the obligations of one human being to another."  

In this book, Ortberg explores the difference Jesus has made on humanity and life here on earth. For example, how has humanity's treatment of women been changed by the life and example of Christ.  Topics explored include how Jesus changed the treatment of the oppressed, the value of a person, the struggle to understand truth, the concept of greatness, our treatment of our enemies, the idea of power and authority, the definition of goodness, the limits of our mission in the world, marriage, and art.  Suffice it to say, Jesus changed the world -- every aspect of it.  Ortberg's book explores that change.
 
Impressions
I bought the book solely because Ortberg wrote it.  I have read several books by him and have taught a couple of classes based on his books.  I've liked all of them, and this one was no exception.

For me, the books was full of ah-ha moments.  Do you know those times when you are reading, and you read a sentence or paragraph and know that something you didn't know before has been revealed to you?  Or that something you believed has been exquisitely phrased by what you have read?  Those are ah-ha moments, and for me they are the special gifts that a book can bring when you read it.

Ortberg has a wonderful voice in his writing.  His books, including this one, are engaging and interesting.  They are well researched, but don't feel like a text book.  He is funny - surprisingly so - the laughter will sneak up on you.  He is insightful, and he is a "truth-teller."

The great thing about a kindle book is that I am able to highlight those passages that "speak" to me as I read.  It's great for blogging, because I can go back and write posts from what I marked.  The Kindle software compiles these highlights into a notebook.  I was going to tell you how many highlights I have from this book, but it is truthfully too many to count.  There are probably at least 150 passages highlighted.

Recommendation
I would recommend this book as a good one to read on your own.  I would also recommend it a book for a book study, and I think there is material available to help facilitate that.

Posts
This link will take you to the posts I have written on the blog inspired by this book.
Also, over the years I have written numerous blog posts based on other Ortberg books; you'll find links to those in the sidebar.