Kevin de Ataíde's Reviews > 'JESUS, THE SON OF MAN (ARKANA)'

It is all too easy for people to mistake Khalil Gibran for a non-Christian; British book-stores place his books in the Islam section. He appears to have been a Maronite Orthodox Christian.



And that gives him excellent insight into the life of Christ, from the perspectives of his contemporaries, friend and foe, because of the preserved tradition of that old church. The figure in this book matches the Gospel figure to a greater extent than the Jesus-loves-you-just-as-you-are images that we hear too much of today.



There is a grave temptation to look at the Christ-figure and see what you WANT to see, to see yourself. Then, when you go to the Gospel, you find an awe-inspiring figure who does loves the individual, but probably not just the way he or she is. Because his message, always, was 'Repent'. Mr. Gibran uses similar language to Biblical and early Christian writings, portraying the God-man as the Apostles may quite plausibly have seen him.



Here is something memorable in the book from Christ to Mary Magdalene, whom Mr. Gibran describes as a reformed prostitute:

'I love you in yourself. Other men see a beauty in you that shall fade away sooner than their own years...all men love you for themselves. I love you for yourself.'