JESUS OUR CONTEMPORARY

The author states his purpose as that of re-interpreting Jesus for our time. He finds old styles of preaching about Christ, such as preaching about the Cross, gone. The search must be for an authentic way of speaking about Jesus for today. In pursuing this goal, he draws upon Bonhoeffer as well as upon those current resources for contemporary preachers--Camus and Beckett--and his interpretations are tested against his experience in ministry in city slums, such as the East Harlem Parish of New York, and the section of London increasingly crowded with West Africans. Much, that is said is strongly pointed toward social concern. The writing is clear if not always fresh. The interpretation of Jesus given, though corrective of older traditions, will still be intelligible mostly for those inside the church, rather than for the contemporary outsider.