One for All

At last, a `life of Jesus’ you can read without having to pick up a bible! About 70% of the population of the United Kingdom identify themselves as Christian. However it is clear from quiz shows, general conversations and aspects of national life that most people know very little of the Bible, not even the short gospel narratives – the stories of Jesus – which are the basis of the Christian faith. Perhaps a reason for this lack of knowledge could be that the four gospels are often set in small print and columns amongst the rest of the 66 books of the seemingly formidable library we know as `the Bible’. In order to make the gospels more readily accessible to today’s byte-size world, John Swift has integrated the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John into one narrative in his new book, One for All. Based on several bible transitions and a number of scholarly commentaries, Swift’s diatessaron brings together the gospels in a way which is different from any other. It comes with helpful notes about Judaism and the resultant chronology of the last week which has emerged will surprise many readers...