MIRACLES AND WONDER

The enduring power of the Gospels, explored.

Renowned historian and writer Pagels returns to the study of Jesus’ life and teachings with a career-capping question: “What makes the stories of Jesus so powerful that countless people…continue to read and engage them, even stake their lives on what they find there?” In this latest work, Pagels struggles with this mystery but provides only half-hearted answers to her readers. Through parts of this book, Pagels goes back over the well-traveled ground of modern biblical critics. For instance, she sees the Gospels of Matthew and Luke as “propaganda” meant to quiet ancient rumors about Jesus (such as stories that he was born illegitimately). However, Pagels takes a nuanced approach to such critiques. She admirably relinquishes the search for the historical Jesus, which scholars have been engaged in for over two centuries, and instead wrestles with “the astonishing persistence of Jesus, both rediscovered and reinvented.” Recognizing that the Gospels were not meant as pure history, and cannot be judged as such, Pagels delves into the power of their stories and the timelessness of their morals. Jesus “envisions this world turned upside down, its values shattered, the status quo abruptly reversed,” and this acts, in a distinct way, as a signpost for marginalized people from one generation to the next. The stories of Jesus are renewed continually because they offer hope in a way no other religious leader has been able to offer. Pagels sees in the stories of Jesus a consistently paradigm-breaking message, the “gospel,” or “good news,” for lack of a better term, which has appealed to believers and even nonbelievers alike across time and geography. However, Pagels hesitates to distill her conclusions much further.

Intellectually mature, but demands a more well-crafted conclusion.