The Gospel of Everyone

This poetic retelling of the Gospel of Luke imagines how the people surrounding Jesus--including the ""minor characters"" who appear only once or twice--reacted to this man. Rather than discuss the history, the politics, or the theology surrounding Jesus of Nazareth, these poems enter into the human experiences of what it might have been like to walk side-by-side on the dusty roads to Emmaus, Jericho, or Jerusalem, feeling the heat of the day while hearing what this man has to say and watching him perform simple acts of kindness as well as miracles that confounded, confused, and inspired those around him. As you read these poems, you'll also see the struggle the apostles and others felt as they tried to determine just who was this man. Enter into their amazement, hope, despair, and more as they fall in love with a man who gives them hope for a better way to live and for a better world. Enter into the minds, too, of those who opposed and betrayed him to see their struggle. Finally, read these poems as a way to connect your own humanity to Jesus' humanity, in part, to transform him from icon to flesh and blood. ""In reading Paul Totah's poetic celebrations of characters in the Gospels . . . I found myself marveling at Totah's take on each of them--so much like my own in many respects, and yet so new and fresh to me in other ways. . . . It was the kind of teaching that not only enlightened my mind; it enkindled my heart and triggered in me new flights of imagination. . . . For lovers of Jesus, this is a new kind of treat."" --Robert Blair Kaiser, author of Clerical Error and Inside the Jesuits: How Pope Francis is Changing the Church and the World ""Paul Totah reads the Gospel of Luke in a poetic version that reveals his own spirituality with very human takes on individual figures and stories. These short poems would be useful for personal meditation, as they draw out our own fears, joys and longings. Totah puts the well-known gospel into an engaging modern narrative."" --Eugene Bianchi, Professor of Religion, Emeritus, Emory University The son of immigrants from Palestine, Paul Totah grew up a Roman Catholic and was educated by Jesuits at St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco, where he serves as director of communications and where he taught English for twenty-five years. He is the author of The San Francisco Fair: Treasure Island 1939-1940 (1989) and Spiritus Magis: 150 Years of St. Ignatius College Preparatory (2005). He lives in Pacifica with his wife, Kathryn.