Meet Jesus: The Life and Lessons of a Beloved Teacher Hardcover – Picture Book, March 1, 2008

bought for a curious 7-year-old from our non-religious home. I thought it did a nice job of telling his most famous stories, providing context and showing different points of view about Jesus, without proclaiming him as divine. It recognizes that many people believe he is the son of God... and many people do not.... but either way, he teaches valuable lessons about caring. I like the references to specific bible verses and the fully written-out verses at the end. Although the book is definitely caters to those who don't necessarily see Jesus as God, it doesn't disrespect that belief either... and it doesn't just skip over all of the references... though there's definitely some cherry picking of the stories that are told. The resurrection just gets a brief mention, as something that some people believe happened. Most of it is about the parables and lessons taught by Jesus himself. I think this would even work well for Christian families who want their kids to understand different perspectives... that not everyone believes exactly the same thing. I grew up in a Christian household, and I would have loved this book as a kid. I'm certain some Christians would find it offensive - the ones who strongly believe there is only one TRUTH, and claiming otherwise is heretical... But I think it would work for a lot of more open or moderate families.

Awesome! This book is exactly the way I want to teach my kids about Jesus.I am a former Christian and even though I’m not into the religious or God aspects of Jesus, I sill consider myself a follower. Jesus, as told by the Gospels is a wonderful person with wonderful lessons of peace, love and acceptance. He also isn’t afraid to get down and dirty and tell hypocrites they are awful.This book gives the historical and Religious context to Jesus while still allowing kids whose parents don’t do the whole God part a chance to learn the very important lessons this Rabbi taught.So glad to have it! I hope this author/publisher does a whole series on Religious figures: Meet Mohammed! Meet Moses! Meet Buddha. Meet etc...

My little boy is curious about Jesus and wanted to know his story. As a Progressive Christian, I wanted to share that story in a sensitive, inclusive, and age-appropriate way. This book was perfect and we enjoyed reading it together. It conveyed the idea of how special Jesus was, and that his overwhelming message was about God's love and compassion for all people. The book explains Jesus' birth, childhood, teachings, and death. Thankfully, it does not "justify" that death via substitutionary/penal atonement (i.e. that God actively wanted and required Jesus to die so that sins could be forgiven). This is a theology I (along with many Progressive Christians) do not embrace and do not wish to teach my son. Our focus is more on Christ's life and teachings, his role as Savior in bringing the good news of God's Kingdom in the here and now, and the idea that we are already, all of us, saved by God's grace, with no "blood payment" needed. This book, therefore, was especially welcome. It helped convey exactly what I wanted my son to know as he explores his relationship with God.

My 8 year old son wanted to read a book about Jesus. I looked through dozens before I found this one. I wanted a book that told the story of Jesus and the importance of his message of peace and love without focusing on the virgin birth, resurrection, etc. I wanted my son to know the amazing story and teachings of Jesus. I also wanted him to understand that some people believe Jesus was the literal son of God, but whether or not you believe that does not take away from his message. This was the perfect book for that. We have read it together several times.

I bought this book to read with my five-year-old son after he posed numerous questions about Jesus, such as whether he was really the son of God, and whether he is in Heaven. I am raising my son as a Unitarian Universalist and come from a Jewish background, so it was important to me to explain Jesus in terms of the varying beliefs that people hold. Some people believe that he is the son of God, others do not, etc. I also wanted my son to know the basic story of Jesus and all of the wonderful things that Jesus stood for and taught. This book fit the bill perfectly! The book explains the important aspects of Jesus's life (his birth, his teachings, his death) in a way that is non-denominational. The books approach worked very well for me and my boy.

This is the BEST book about Jesus that I have found. I consider myself a UU Christian and so I prefer to focus on the teachings of Jesus's life rather than his death. I want my children to know of his teachings, but not told that they have to believe or say certain things relating to his death in order to go to heaven. If you are a UU, UU Christian, Progressive Christian, etc. I think you will find that this book is perfect for you and your family.

I was looking for a book that emphasized Jesus as a person rather than the Son of God who rose from the dead, and this is exactly what I wanted. The book hones in on Jesus' teachings of kindness and respect to all. My boys ages 6 and 3 paid attention and learned a good deal.The book does a fair job of dealing with the death of Jesus; it isn't entirely glossed over and if my 3 year old weren't present I probably would have read it word for word.. although I will admit that I did change a few words in that section for the time being.All in all, exactly what I wanted. This is a book they can grow with.

We bought this for my nephew last week for his first communion day. We looked for books that talked about Jesus without putting too much emphasis on religion. This book really gets the message across about Jesus and how peace and love is important in the world. I love that it included some scripture in the back of the book. We bought a small olive tree to go along with the book so he could learn how to care for something living other than just people or pets or belongings, and it ties in with the theme of "extending the olive branch" to those around us.