Imagining Jesus in His Own Culture

“An experienced biblical scholar and Ignatian retreat director, Neyrey deftly integrates what we can know of the historical Jesus as he speaks and acts in his own context, with the time-tested structure of the spiritual exercises. This book, the result of years of biblical research and experience of the exercises, produces a very new approach for today’s readers who would come to know the real Jesus better in their lives.”


—Carolyn Osiek, Professor, Brite Divinity School





“Engaging use of the famous Ignatian spiritual exercises is employed to imagine Jesus and his teaching rooted in a first-century Mediterranean context. Lucid, vivid writing with generous textual and cultural illustrations transports the general reader to the turf and culture and ‘imaginative everyday scenarios’ of earliest Christianity. Here is vintage Neyrey the master teacher and exegetical guide at his instructive—and pastoral—best.”


—John H. Elliott, Professor, University of San Francisco





“‘By combining St. Ignatius’s contemplative prayers with an historical study of Jesus in the Gospels, Neyrey reaches an extraordinary achievement. He brings us into the foreign culture of Jesus, but strangely enough, at the same time he makes Jesus more familiar to us. This makes reading the book a unique and uplifting experience.”


—Halvor Moxnes, Professor, University of Oslo, Norway