The Life of the Savior: Compiled Solely from Scripture

by Various

The New Testament writers were acquainted with the Savior’s teachings and his perfect example. As apostles and messengers of the Lord, they were appointed by God to teach the truths of His doctrine and to testify that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. These authors used different approaches to write about the life of Jesus.

John wrote primarily about the last week of Christ’s mortal ministry, while Matthew included many references to Old Testament prophecies which he applied to the life of our Savior. Luke emphasized that Jesus felt compassion towards and came to heal the poor and downtrodden. Mark wrote a short account emphasizing Christ’s power as a Savior. The combination of these accounts gives us a broader understanding and knowledge of Jesus Christ and the events that transpired in His ministry.

The Life of the Savior was compiled to provide a continuous, fluid reading of the four Gospel accounts while including any modern scripture, as revealed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, that refers to and clarifies the Savior’s life. The result is a commentary-free, scriptural account that paints a vivid and insightful picture of Jesus Christ.

Genres: Religion

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Hyrum Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad this book exists. Now, for an in-depth study of the New Testament, I still recommend reading the Four Gospels. Each Gospel writer wrote with a different purpose and a different audience in mind.

Bearing that in mind, this is a wonderful way to get a complete chronological read-through of Christ's ministry on earth. I found it particularly helpful for the last week of his life, as we were able to get a more complete picture of all the events that surrounded his trials and crucifixion. Reading this book is much easier than constantly cross-referencing between books.

The book is beautifully arranged, with a simple, colour-coded way of letting us know which text comes from which source. There is a very helpful and complete index and appendix at the back as well, making it a great resource for study.

While I enjoyed the insertions from the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants (and, on occasion, Pearl of Great Price), I would have inserted them a little differently; I felt like they were just a tad overused.

[Evan Thacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading this. It was my favorite read-through of the gospels ever. I am going to start immediately to read through it again. What I liked about it: the use of KJV, the harmonization, the organization into sections, the inclusion of relevant passages from BoM and D&C. Reading this strengthened my faith in Jesus Christ.

[Jessica Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s so nice to be able to focus on and read scripture about Christ’s life in chronological order. Such a great resource.

[Kim Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really this was 4.5 stars which had nothing to do with the content -- it is scripture -- the life of my Savior -- and in that way it was beautiful. It had to do with the formatting. I thought I was going to really like having modern scripture interwoven with the life of Christ, but I didn't. It was a bit jarring to be reading a story about Christ in the 3rd person and then suddenly read something from the Book of Mormon in 1st person. On one hand, I liked the different colors representing different books of scripture. On the other hand, again, it was a little distracting -- especially with the JST being darkened. I would love to read something like this just written out (without modern scripture in it, except towards the end -- I liked what was done there) with no color changes or anything like that.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the different insights I gained as I read all the different books of scripture in chronological order, having them side by side with each other gives a more complete picture of the saviors life, I can’t imagine how much time this took to put together, thank you 😊