How can non-Christian monotheists, or atheists, appreciate the character of Jesus the Man? While this question may be considered as blasphemous by Christian believers, it is a pity that this schism should leave Jesus hidden behind theological curtains.

In the troubled land of Israel under Roman rule, many a sect flourished. The Priesthood was corrupt, the Edomite kings of the Herod dynasty were cruel, and people seeked redemption in many different forms. Josephus and Philo of Alexandria both tell us of sects that flourished in this era, as do the findings in such archaeological sites as Qumran.

Joseph Klausner took upon himslef the ungrateful task of describing in vivid lines and with great sympathy the character of Jesus of Nazareth. Ungrateful, since most Christians would reject the depiction of Jesus as (a perhaps extraordinary) flesh-and-bones. Ungrateful, since most religious Jews would detest the positive lines in which Klausner paints his "Reb Jesus", in whose name they were persecuted for almost two millenia.

Jesus, in Klausner's pen, is a religious reformist, a man of great moral integrity, acting within the framework of the Jewish people. He is a man of simple (should I say simplistic?) and vivid visions, who is intimately acquainted with the agricultural lifestyle and nature, from which he draws many of his allegories.

Despite the impossibility of the task, Klausner achieves a decent result.

The book's main weakness is due to Klausner's weakness for a good story and for Romanticism.