Book Report

The Kingdon and the Crown - Volume 3
Behold The Man
by Gerald Lund


I read the first 2 books in this set about 18 months ago or so. I wasn't sure how much I liked them at the time. (Don't get me wrong, they were interesting, just something about them rubbed me different.) Anyway, at the time, I wasn't burning to get my hands on the 3rd book to see how it ended. (I think it likely had something to do with the fact that everyone was talking about the movie The Passion of the Christ, I figured I had the New Testament, and The Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants, etc, I knew how the story played out to this point, and had other things to do than to run out and get the 3rd book to read it. Maybe I just have an aversion to book collections of fictional histories, placing fake people in 'real' stories, and making stuff up. Maybe I have an aversion to things that take multiple thick books to get through, like Abstract Algebra or the encylopedia.) The book didn't get read, but I was in the library a week ago gettinga book for Tara, and quickly browsed through the Sampler collection, and picked this book up.

Anyway, I think I liked this book better than the first two. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he finished writing the book after his call as a Seventy. (Am I just making this fact up?)

The book deals with the last year of the Savior's life. (through the eyes of the fictional family devised to tell the story.) At least half the book covered the last week or ten days of the Savior's mortal ministry.

Anyway, I liked how the author wrote this book, he seems to have been more careful about twisting quotes away from the things written in the New Testament. (Am I remembering that wrong too? It seems like I remember it bothering me that he didn't use direct quotes from the Savior in the 1st two books, but worded things different. Maybe that was something else I was thinking of. This book makes me want to dig out my copy of Jesus the Christ and re-read it, and possibly be ready to fully participate in Sunday School next year. (But don't hold your breath on that one just yet.)