OVERVIEW:

Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage is a doctrinal study on the life and ministry of Christ, and is a widely appreciated document among Latter-day Saints. The book consists of 42 chapters, each focusing on important aspects of the life and mission of Jesus as the Messiah.

Since it was first published in September 1915, Jesus the Christ has been viewed by the LDS church as a classic text on the LDS church's teachings and beliefs concerning the life and ministry of Jesus. Elder Marion G. Romney said, "One who gets the understanding, the vision, and the spirit of the resurrected Lord through a careful study of the text Jesus the Christ by Elder James E. Talmage will find that he has greatly increased his moving faith in our glorified Redeemer."

In his preface to the first edition, Elder Talmage wrote: "The author has departed from the course usually followed by writers on the Life of Jesus Christ, which course, as a rule, begins with the birth of Mary's Babe and ends with the ascension of the slain and risen Lord from Olivet. The treatment embodied in these pages, in addition to the narrative of the Lord's life in the flesh, comprises the antemortal existence and activities of the world's Redeemer, the revelations and personal manifestations of the glorified and exalted Son of God during the apostolic period of old and in modern times, the assured nearness of the Lord's second advent, and predicted events beyond-all so far as the Holy Scriptures make it plain.

"It is particularly congruous and appropriate that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-the only Church that affirms authority based on specific revelation and commission to use the Lord's Holy Name as a distinctive designation-should set forth her doctrines concerning the Messiah and His mission."


EXCERPT:

"It is a matter of history that, at or near the beginning of what has since come to be known as the Christian era, the Man Jesus, surnamed the Christ, was born in Bethlehem of Judea. The principal data as to His birth, life, and death are so well attested as to be reasonably indisputable; they are facts of record, and are accepted as essentially authentic by the civilized world at large. True, there are diversities of deduction based on alleged discrepancies in the records of the past as to circumstantial details; but such differences are of strictly minor importance, for none of them nor all taken together cast a shadow of rational doubt upon the historicity of the earthly existence of the Man known in literature as Jesus of Nazareth.

As to who and what He was there are dissensions of grave moment dividing the opinions of men; and this divergence of conception and belief is most pronounced upon those matters to which the greatest importance attaches. The solemn testimonies of millions dead and of millions living unite in proclaiming Him as divine, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer and Savior of the human race, the Eternal Judge of the souls of men, the Chosen and Anointed of the Father—in short, the Christ. Others there are who deny His Godhood while extolling the transcendent qualities of His unparalleled and unapproachable Manhood."