This was a brilliant and unique look at the life of Jesus. I enjoyed reading it. It was a way of telling the story that I had not encountered before. It made me appreciate Jesus as a man with the amazing mind of God.

Groundbreaking. A book that truly bridges the gap between believers and non believers, and shows that empathy and service (among others) that showed the real genius of Jesus.

This book is a must read for anyone. The book breaks down the different components of the Genius of Jesus.. This book is for someone who knows Jesus as well as someone who doesn't know Jesus. There is great knowledge that you can apply to your life from this book.

We often turn to geniuses for solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. Turning to Jesus, McManus found his life changed. He shares insights on living life he has gained from knowing Jesus. Unlike other geniuses, in knowing Jesus a transformation takes place. There is a transformation of genius – not necessarily in understanding physics but in becoming aware of the wonder around us, to becoming a conduit for good, to being fully alive.

McManus explores the lessons he has learned from intimacy with God. He shares insights into engaging with people and dealing with controversy, conflict and opposition. The lesson from Jesus that most impacted me was on empathy. Jesus reveals that “empathy is the highest form of intelligence,” McManus writes. (533/1869) And this empathy is not just so we can care deeply and care well for others. It is also so we would know that God truly understands us.

I appreciate this study on the character and actions of Jesus and how they are to be an example and encouragement for our lives. Those who look to Jesus for clues to increase productivity may be surprised by this book. McManus highlights Jesus showing us power is servanthood, for example, not control. He writes about how Jesus helps us see the beauty in the world, not how we can manipulate it. This is a good book for readers who want to know how knowing Jesus is how we know to truly live.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

What a wonderful book, written from a unique perspective.

Great take on the character of Jesus, and offers solid insight on Jesus through his application of traits of genius: empathy, power, grace, the good, the true, the beautiful—and how Jesus represented each aspect of genius. A different type of approach and truly unique, one of the reasons I enjoy reading Erwin McManus.

Great read, easy to understand, not so easy to put into practice.

Highly recommended

This short book from Erwin McManus, shares about the genius of Jesus. In spite of being a short read, it is jam packed with goodies. Erwin says a genius is, “heretical in that they violate the status quo and challenge our most deeply held beliefs and values. They are original in that they see the world from a perspective that has never existed before. They are transformative in that their lives become a marker of before and after. They are extremists in that they are consumed in their pursuit of the creative act and convinced of the singular importance of their passion.”

Jesus was definitely one who violated the status quo. Erwin explains the various ways Jesus did this, through empathy, power, and grace and being good, true, and beautiful. Jesus sought to teach a different way of thinking, a kingdom way. Obviously, some were open to learning from him and others were not. Following are some quotes and key points related to these topics that impacted me.

EMPATHY

“We all want the mind of God, but what we need is the heart of God.”“Empathy is how love communicates.“

“When Jesus healed, it always had a deeper intention. He was never showing off. He was trying to change the way we see reality. When he healed the blind person, he spoke of our blindness and insisted that he came to give us sight. It was a metaphor wrapped in the miraculous - a way of getting our attention so we would know there was more going on than met the eye.”

When people flocked to Jesus to hear his teaching and were hungry, “Jesus was moved by compassion, while his disciples were motivated by convenience. Compassion moves you to embrace responsibility, accept challenges, make sacrifices, and take action to serve the good of others.” Jesus wanted to feed the people and satisfy their need.

POWER

“He framed power as servanthood.”

“The power that is unseen is always greater than the power that needs to be seen.”

“Jesus understood that all power and authority have been given to him. Having known that, he then tied a towel around his waist, grabbed a water basin, and took a knee. As uncomfortable as it made his disciples, Jesus began to wash their feet. This is what Jesus did with power. He took the posture of a servant.“

GRACE

“Condemning is easy. It’s also ugly and inelegant. Grace makes both the giver and the recipient more beautiful. Grace gives us room to grow, to change, to mature, to repent for a past you are resolved will not define your future.“

GOOD

“Jesus teaches us to choose between the right and the good. It may seem counterintuitive, but the greatest enemy to doing the most good is living your life always trying to be right.“

“Even if you will obey every law, it doesn’t always mean you’ve done any good…Being right is all about you. Doing good is about others.”

“Too often, though, these rules and regulations become legalisms of our lives and do our thinking for us…Dogmatism and fundamentalism develop when we adhere to principles as incontrovertibly true, without considering conflicting evidence or the opinions of others.”

“The spiritual leaders in the days of Jesus would have spent their entire lives keeping the Sabbath holy. This commitment, though born of noble intention, kept them from seeing that the most sacred thing they could do on that day was to help someone find healing.“

TRUE
This particular section was my favorite of the entire book. It’s worth reading this whole book, just for this one chapter. I particularly enjoyed learning the difference between being true and truthful and seeing why asking questions gets to the heart of our intentions.

“We need to see the subtle difference between the truth and the true. Truth is about accuracy, while being true is about intention.”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Jesus it’s this: often, the best answer is the right question.”

“ I rarely told my kids what to do. Instead, I spent most of their lives teaching them to think. I have always been convinced that telling people what to do makes them weaker. I feel the same way about giving people answers rather than guiding them with questions. Answers are like an aqueduct designed to carry your thoughts to a particular destination. The best questions function like a well. The right questions dig deeper and deeper into our own assumptions, values, and motives. Answers are the tools of doctors, while questions are the tools of surgeons.“

Jesus, “used questions as a way of cutting straight into the heart of the matter.“

“Questions posed to Jesus often came loaded with dark intentions and forced choices. In these conversations, the religious leaders were afraid to reveal their actual motives. Their singular intent was to discredit Jesus and prove he was not the Messiah, and they thought they could trap him by asking questions they knew would discredit him. With Jesus, the issue was never the question. The temple authorities would ask whether it was right to heal on the Sabbath, but the real issue was that Jesus was winning the hearts of the people. If his message of God‘s unconditional love and acceptance was embraced by the masses, those who controlled the temple in the synagogues would lose their power over the people. More often than not, their strategy would backfire. Jesus would expose their faith and self righteousness for what it was - a hardness of heart. They could not heal because God was not with them; they could not heal because they were not with God. The best way to avoid the real conversation is to control the narrative, but Jesus never allowed his rivals or adversaries to do that. He always somehow knew the question behind the question. Jesus had an unrivaled ability to get to the truth. His questions always worked to reveal, to expose, to expel darkness with his light.”

When Jesus was talking to Pilot, he asked, “What is truth?“ “Pilot asked his famous question not because he was searching for the truth, but because he was running from it. He was caught up in the politics of his day, and the implication of who Jesus was had a direct bearing on his own position and power. He didn’t want to know if Jesus was innocent. He wanted to wash his hands of all responsibility.”

“The person who genuinely searches for truth will always have an open mind and an open heart.”

And my favorite quote of the entire book is a challenge to be open to let God change us, to fashion us into His likeness, “The only truth that really matters is the truth that changes us. If the truth doesn’t make you true, then it’s a lie. This thought should be sobering to those of us who are Christians. If we have been transformed by a loving God, shouldn’t we become more loving? If we’ve experienced forgiveness, shouldn’t we become more forgiving? If we have come to know the source of hope, shouldn’t we become more hopeful? If we have been re-created by the creator who is the source of all creativity, shouldn’t we become more creative?”

If we do not let truth change us, we are not moving toward freedom. What an amazing book. You will find much to ponder and much to challenge you on your journey to becoming more like Jesus.

I received an arc copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed reading this book. I cannot give it five stars however, because I am just not sure what the intended purpose of the author was. I found each chapter engaging but at the end was still a little vague as to how they all tied together, except around the humanity of Jesus. I have enjoyed previous works from the author and I enjoyed this one as well. It was definitely a different approach to the person of Jesus. It reads as a series of sermons that have been adapted to a book. Perhaps that is why it was a little less connected than other works. Overall, I found it to be challenging and engaging. Definitely worth the read.

This book was incredible. I learned so much from this book. Each chapter was filled with so many wise words and advice, and also opened my mind to things I never thought of before. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and think everyone should give it a shot at least once in their life. I definitely believe this is a book you can go back to again and again, learning something new each time.

What is the purpose of your life? How can your life matter? There is more to life than simple existing. How do you find your purpose in life?

To better understand it, many study the works of geniuses. There are many of them in different disciplines, including science, arts, and philosophy. I always thought that the greatest of them was Leonardo da Vinci, but the author reasons it was Jesus. The one that never gets to be mentioned as genius and who left the most lasting impact. And there is a big difference between other geniuses and the one of Jesus. The others saw new ways in their fields; Jesus saw a new way to be human. His genius is reverse from the others. Not everyone is born a prodigy, but everyone has ability to transform into better.

Jesus’ genius was “how he engaged people from every walk of life, and how he dealt with controversy, conflict, and opposition.” The little interactions we experience every day matter and how we handle them.

The author interestingly illuminates different kinds of geniuses with concise examples; how we see it in modern time and how they were approached by Jesus and what a difference his methodology made. I enjoyed how he recaptures what, for example, empathy or ethics mean. My favorite was the genius of grace and how he profoundly learned that lesson that shapes his life to this day. He reminds us that in those most strenuous situations in life it might be hard to keep that grace, but those are the lives’ lessons worth noting and learning from. It’s not always easy to rise above the fray, but “grace gives us room to grow, to change, to mature.” The past doesn’t define our future.

McManus is a gifted wisdom-teller, who was an average student and an introvert. While studying genius in college and searching for his purpose in life, he ran into Jesus of Nazareth and that put him on his extraordinary journey, defying those who didn’t see him achieving much in life. He rose to achieve Doctorate degree and to be an advisor to the CEOs and others among many other achievements. He is a true testament to what he preaches about.

P.S. There was a time when I was reading book after book in spirituality to a point when everything started sounding the same. After taking a few-year break, I came across The Way of the Warrior by this author, followed by reading The Last Arrow. His writing is like a fresh air we need to breathe, a fresh perspective, something I highly recommend.

The author is the lead pastor of Mosaic, a nondenominational christian megachurch based in Los Angeles. In this book, he explores the concept of Genius, starting with how he defines it … which basically holds two things … it is nonconforming and it is transformational (the author actually splits nonconforming into three parts: 1. They are heretical. 2. They are original. 3. They are extremist). There are two ways that genius manifests: transforming what we do is the most common measure and transforming who we are is the second and most overlooked aspect. Conceptionally this is a pretty good fit into my own philosophy on what religion is supposed to do and it is the latter which describes the Genius of Jesus (who shows us how to transform ourselves).

The author then makes a bold statement: “Before you were twelve, you were a prodigy.” I think that is quite a stretch to basically say that we all have the potential for greatness … a potential that decreases as we get older when we don’t use the talents give to us by our creator. While the author may be engaging in a bit of fanciful optimism here; I can see what he is driving at and he comes up with some pretty good questions to get you started …

Have you embraced your identity? Do you know who you are?
Have you discovered your intention? Do you know why you’ve been put on this earth?
Are you endlessly inquisitive? Are you asking the right questions?
Are you expanding the parameters of your intuition? Are you open to the unknown?
Is your essence grounded in intimacy with God? Do you know the God who loves you?

“Whatever genius is within you, it was not given to you for your personal benefit but for the good of others. Genius is a form of stewardship. To unlock your genius, you must choose to bear the weight of great responsibility.” Which is another way of saying we are called to follow Christ’s example … but do we really understand that example?

McManus then introduces us to the different aspects of Genius of Jesus:

Chapter 3: The Genius of Empathy
Chapter 4: The Genius of Power
Chapter 5: The Genius of Grace
Chapter 6: The Genius of Good
Chapter 7: The Genius of Truth
Chapter 8: The Genius of Beautiful

I don’t always see his point nor do I always agree with his opinions (and even some of his facts or presumptions), but I can always see what he is trying to say and the is the true essence of communications. This book will help you re-examine your [Christian] faith and hopefully find within it something the will transform who you are … and that is the Genius of Jesus :-)

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheGeniusOfJesus #NetGalley

I’ve come to greatly appreciate the writing of Erwin McManus, he brings fresh thought to a world so deeply in need of it, but does so with a measure of grace and relevance few can capture.

In the Genius of Jesus McManus is in typical form, bringing his readers an incredible story that is intellectual enough to keep you thinking and yet simple enough to keep you full engaged. I found myself wanting to research more of what he had said yet I didn’t want to stop reading at the same time.

In all honesty this book had me captivated with the reality of how Jesus took the world he was born into and flipped it on its head. As a pastor I have read and heard the pattern of Jesus life many times over, but McManus gives us insight into the genius held within the pattern.

I think I was most captured by his writing on power, how Jesus took the normal picture and sense of what a powerful person looks like (in his time and even now) and reformatted out entire concept. Most importantly for me, he never changes the Biblical precedent, holds proper theology and yet opens our eyes to an area of Jesus few have ever seen in the Scripture. In the end I am left asking, how did I miss this for 20+ years?

This is a book I will read again, and it is one I would say is a clear recommendation to all people. Not just Christians. The words within are compelling and honest. They will expose to any who read it the incredible beauty of Jesus, of his life and death, the power of his resurrection, and the grace of his love for all.

If you have a chance to read this book, please do.

**I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. These are my personal thoughts.

Thanks for the advanced copy.

I finished this and then have spent time going back over certain aspects of it. I will be purchasing a copy of this for definite.
Erwin is a real talent, the writing, the structure and the overall feel of this ensured I went back and looked over certain aspects.
As a Catholic, I do not believe that you need to believe in order to read this.
I have learned a lot from this and it has a lot of takeaways and really relatable content which can be applied in everyday life.

I appreciate the deep thoughts in this book. Erwin is a master communicator and an eloquent writer. There are many great takeaways from this book...things that I will be meditating on for some time.

Bottom line up front: overall, this was a great read. I learned a lot and truly loved the perspective, the content and discussions. It clearly has a Biblical basis during its discussion about Jesus, his actions, his purpose, and the "genius" nature of everything he did! Furthermore, the author does a great job showing how all of our lives, from the past to the future, are interwoven, how Jesus makes scars beautiful, taking the “everything happens for a reason” mentality often used to a more global, yet practical perspective.

I highly recommend to all considering reading it. You won't be disappointed! The author does a great job of keeping the content applicable for all readers to be able to connect and relate with

Erwin McManus is a gifted writer, and his unique take on the life of Jesus is both refreshing and thought-provoking. Genius is a blend of human potential and faith. McManus briefly includes details of famous geniuses in many categories of creativity and academia. Before reading, I was not aware that da Vinci only completed fifteen works of art during his lifetime, yet he is known as one of history's most talented painters. Of course, he was the original Renaissance man who created achievements in many areas.

Some difficult passages in the gospel are better understood when examined by the intentional genius of Jesus' focus, words, actions and reactions. He is the ultimate example of genius for humans to follow. McManus examines Jesus' genius in five categories: empathy, power, grace, good, true and beautiful. Thoughtful, intelligent and informative, The Genius of Jesus is a worthwhile read.

A favorite quote of the book: "grace is only needed when it is undeserved."

I received a complimentary copy of the book without obligation. This review is my opinion.

3.5 stars
McManus's book presumes that the reader is a believer. Story upon story speak to Jesus's work in the Bible. And whether those stories are indeed fact or not, a reader only has to believe in the goodness of humanity to appreciate this book.
Trust, empathy, compassion to fellow human beings are expressed through the actions of Jesus. What McManus translates nicely for the reader (regardless of belief of God/Jesus) is that everyone has the ability to transform into better. Follow the example of someone (in this case, Jesus) who embodies the characteristics that you aspire to and you will become better.
The genius of Jesus in his ability to transcend time with his virtues of goodness was good enough for me.
McManus described it briefly with naming an historic musician, painter and great thinker. He pointed out that regardless of our fervour, most of us will not reach their genius. The genius of behaviour however, displayed by a man named Jesus, could alter our future, those around us, and generations to follow.