Religion: Kagawa's Jesus

Japan's No. 1 Christian has written a novel about the life of Jesus. Author is soft-faced, reedy-voiced, myopic Toyohiko Kagawa, who is also Japan's No. 1 writer, turns out quantities of poems, tracts, devotional books, novels on economic and agrarian subjects. Behold the Man (Harper; $2.50) is his most ambitious work yet.

Among countless critical and biographical studies of Jesus, about a dozen are standard today, either for scholarship or popular appeal. Kagawa's book is not likely to displace any of the dozen. Nor does it rank in craftsmanship with George Moore's fanciful The Brook Kerith (which had Jesus survive the Crucifixion,...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!