Seriously, before I even begin, I have to tell you this is perhaps the best book I have ever read.

Mansfield is an artist. Truly. His capability of telling a story and projecting you into the scene brought the last days of Christ and the crucifixion to life. I was there! I really was!

I have never been so brutally moved in my 58 years on this earth! And I have read, and studied the crucifixion many times. I thought Mel Gibson's The Passion, was about as close as I would ever come.. But Mansfield is an extraordinarily talented and gifted writer! And he is very humbling. I went to his Facebook page and mentioned how much the book touched me. He was kind enough to personally respond. Do you know how few people actually do that?

He walks us through the Sanhedrin demanding the crucifixion of our Savior. The brutality of the beating he was given. And the scourging. I wept and wept, and can still, days later, weep from it. The piercing pain as the large nails were driven through Christ's wrists and feet. His literal suffocation. Seeing His mother in the crowd watching Him. His gasping for final breaths. His great last effort as He yells "It is finished!".

There is oh so much more here. The hidden agenda behind the crucifixion, which we are only now beginning to understand. The cruelty of those who would rather see a murderer freed than Jesus.

Pilate's lack of desire to do anything but keep the populace happy, and out of his hair, and his symbolic washing of his hands.

You will see, hear, feel, taste, and smell it all. And your heart will break as you see for the first time what it must have been like to have witnessed the horror.

I get more from a really good story teller than I do from a visual. I was overwhelmed with the Passion. But my life has been forever changed by Killing Jesus. And I think that's exactly what Mansfield intended. Lives will be changed by this book.

I strongly recommend you read Killing Jesus by Stephen Mansfield. ( )

This combination of biblical accounts and historic research brought the death of Christ into a more real experience than I've ever had in reading about these events. ( )

This combination of biblical accounts and historic research brought the death of Christ into a more real experience than I've ever had in reading about these events. ( )

With all the has been written, up to recently about Jesus, I was left wondering what the point of this book was. Mansfield's style was narrative as if an eye witness to the events that led to the crucifixion and a bit beyond. Yet I thought it added little to what has been revealed by other authors. He focuses on the conspiracy of various Jewish leaders and the Sanhedrin to have Jesus tried and executed. No great surprise, in fact Jesus predicts the persecution and provokes them to it in the scripted format. The story does not come off quite right it seems if he had lived and ruled at the time. Instead we as they did, await his return. Many over the ages have written their account and spin on the event. There is something out there for practically everyone, this is yet another version. ( )

Well done impressive and thought provoking. ( )