Jesus Examined

Novelist Mary Gordon's new book, Reading Jesus: a Writer's Encounter with the Gospels, began as an effort to understand Christian fundamentalism by looking at the primary sources of the Christian tradition. As she examined Jesus' life and work, she discovered that she did not always agree with Jesus's teachings, refusing, for example, to heed his words to "let the dead bury the dead." Yet she did not find her faith undermined by these disagreements, and instead came to a richer if more complicated understanding of what it means to be a believer. Interview conducted by assistant editor Kerry Weber. Photo by Emma Dodge Hanson.