From Stephen Mitchell comes an interpretation of the Gospels that peels away the distortions regarding the character and teachings of Jesus that have accumulated over timeThis translation of the life and teachings of Jesus creates an image of not only a great spiritual teacher, but of a real person. Eminent author and translator Stephen Mitchell's approach to the Gospels has been widely praised for its depth, clarity, and radiance. This is a stunning work for believers and non-believers alike. This book from a liberal perspective attempts to reconstruct the authentic sayings of Jesus. Writes the author in his introduction, For all reputable scholars today acknowledge that the official gospels were compiled, in Greek, many decades after Jesus' death, by men who had never heard his teaching, and that a great deal of what the Jesus of the gospels says originated not in Jesus' own Aramaic words, which have been lost forever, but in the very different teachings of the early church. And if we often can't be certain of what he said, we can be certain of what he didn't say...I have selected and translated from Mark, Matthew, Luke, and (very sparingly) from John, only those sayings that seem to me authentic accounts and sayings of Jesus.