My Neighbor Jesus: In the Light of His Own Language, People, and Time

The book is entitled My Neighbor Jesus because that is the way that George Lamsa sees him. Jesus is not someone mysterious to him. Jesus is someone he recognizes, whose daily life is not unlike the life Lamsa himself had growing up. He grew up in a remote region of ancient lands where the customs, manners, and idioms, as well as the language of the Bible had been preserved throughout the centuries. He then wrote as one who had first hand knowledge and experience with the peoples, places, and traditions interwoven into the narrative of the Scriptural record. When Lamsa came to the Gospels and read about Jesus Christ, he understood him in ways that escape the average person simply because the Western reader is a foreigner to the land where Jesus lived. And through his eyes, the reader comes to know Jesus more intimately as well.