R. E. O. White – Eerdmans – 203pp. – $3.50

Seldom does a book merit as unreservedly as does The Stranger of Galilee, the judgment, “beautiful.”  Rev. White has written as life of Christ that is both tender and tough, as is its divine Subject.  With smoothness and timing he intertwines the events and spiritual implications of Christ’s short life on earth.

The theme is an old and well-worn one.  Yet, White avoids the nauseating sentimentality which characterizes so many other lives of Christ, and with wide-ranging vocabulary, evocative feeling, and boldness of summary, writes a book of delicate power.  Under the chapter title, “Who Killed Jesus,” the author concludes, “So Jesus died.  A little cruel sport, some thoughtless ingratitude and mob emotion, . . . And the Christ of God is crucified . . . Yet Jesus was not their passive Victim . . . He followed with unfaltering step the path of loyalty to duty, truth, and God, and laid down His life.”  Mr White is an author of rare brilliance and a Christian of rarer insight.

For personal reading and spiritual growth or as a gift, The Stranger of Galilee stands in the class of superb Christian writings.