The Character of Jesus: A Paraphrase for Twenty-First-Century Readers

Charles Edward Jefferson

Apr 2024 · Barry Gray Mattox

About this ebook

Many people have fallen in love with the original 1908 edition of The Character of Jesus as a resource that creates and reinforces their love and awe for the person Jesus Christ. Numerous Christians prize Dr. Jefferson’s work as one of their favorite books and as a source for reinvigorating their faith. This paraphrased edition of the book makes this great work more available to today’s readers (including younger readers) who might find early 20th-century language and events harder to comprehend. This edition is very useful for personal character studies that not only show the perfection of Jesus Christ, but create personal convictions in the reader to aspire to those same 26 characters traits. With the aid of an AI tool and some additional editing, we have been able to “re-write” the book to a 9th-grade reading level “paraphrase.” (By comparison, the NIV Bible is written in a 7th -grade reading level.) We have endeavored to maintain the spirit of the book, while updating some of the content in order to make the work consistent with modern wording and references. This book is recommended to anyone wishing to know Jesus better and so to aspire to have Jesus’ heart and character.

About the author

As an ordained minister of the Congregational Church, Charles Edward Jefferson (1860-1937) wrote several books on Jesus, the apostle Paul, parenting, preaching, pastoring, and other Christian subjects. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, in 1882 and from the School of Theology of Boston University in 1887. He was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1887. He was pastor of the Central Congregational Church at Chelsea, Massachusetts, until 1898, when he became the pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle, New York. In 1914 he became chairman of the executive committee of the Church of Peace Union, endowed by Andrew Carnegie. His book, The Character of Jesus, was derived from a series of lectures that he gave at the Broadway Tabernacle in 1907 and 1908 and subsequently published in 1908.

Dr. Barry Gray Mattox, Editor (1950 - )

Deborah Joyce Mattox, Editor (1951 - )