The real miracle of the incarnation is not that God transformed himself into a human body. The bigger miracle - the Good News - is about what kind of human personality he revealed himself to be. Traditionally, the church has focused on the ontological truth that Jesus is God. The more important truth is a psychological one - a personal one - that God's personality is the same as that of Jesus.

WOW! That is good news.

The Carpenter Trilogy is directed at revealing the details of this Personal miracle - it helps us truly understand the kind of human personality God revealed as his own. Everything else involved in "Christianity" - its theology, its doctrines, its beliefs - all start and end - with this unique personality who lived in one place at one time. You cannot learn more about God than you can learn from the human life of this God-man named Jesus. If you want to know more about God, you will have to find it in the day-to-day human life in which he chose to reveal his true personality. The Alpha and the Omega is only found there - in understanding the human story of the child born in a dirty manger and a man crucified on a bloody cross. God's power and glory can be seen in the heavenly galaxies or in the beauty of nature, but it is best seen in the blood, dirt, and tears displayed in the personal human life of one man who walked the dirty roads of Judah to show the love of God. The heavens declare his power, but to declare his love he chose to do it in person. The only way that could do the job - that could reach our hearts as well as our heads.

God could have written a book that would dumbfound Einstein or Stephen Hawking. He could have created a second sun like the one created at the end of the movie, 2001. This would have been a magnificent event – a miracle that would impress everyone and prove his existence. God has a strong ego, however, and is not worried at all about some folks doubting his existence or his power. He knows who he is - and has no need to "prove himself." He is the ultimate strong personality - the truly self-confident Person - who has the strength to appear weak, the wealth to appear poor. He is not worried about what people think about him. This seems like an obvious truth, but many of his theological "representatives" tend to portray him as some insecure neurotic nerd who desperately needs for us to agree with him.

A truly strong human personality is secure in himself. He does not need to show off to impress. Bill Gates does not need to wear a tux or drive a Rolls so that people will know he is rich. Warren Buffett still lives in his small house and drives his old car. Sam Walton drove his pickup. Genuine power and strength creates the ability to be genuinely humble.

The life of Jesus proves this! God decided to live a human life that is truly Himself. He did not need to be born in a palace, or lecture on advanced physics, or even free himself from a cross. That is exactly how the most powerful Person in the universe would live a human life.

But why bother? God does not need anything.

The other thing that the person who has everything can do - is to give to others. Not needing gives one the ability to truly be free to choose genuine love. If I am desperate for you to love me, then I am not free to love you first - and without expecting love in return. This is also why the life of Jesus reveals God's type of love. Maybe God could have written a treatise on the nature of Godly love. I do not think it would do the job. Love is not something you can write. You have to live it. We all know that, and God is probably a bit smarter than most of us.

So He did what he "needed" to do. His love was so great that it had to overflow. First, his love exploded into a universe - a pretty big bang anyone can see on a clear night. Later, this love drove him to produce his most daring creation - a being who was weaker and dumber than the angels but who had the freedom to reject God himself. That is one daring creation - the human soul, housed in a fragile animal body. This same overflowing love, however, finally came to its logical conclusion - for God to incarnate himself into the same fragile being - one that would truly experience hunger, pain, sorrow, laughter, and even death.

This is either the biggest fantasy story in history - and blasphemous as well - or it is the fullest expression of the Personality of our Creator God that is possible. It is not just the "good news" - it is the BEST news of the cosmos. If it is true, then the most important reading that anyone can do is to try to "read," or “engage” the personality of Jesus. That is hard, mainly because the story has been largely presented by "organized religion" - within their framework and their "world".

What The Carpenter Trilogy offers is a fresh way to learn about this divine, but human story. It tries to flesh out the story of Jesus found in the Bible by adding more details of the real world in which it occurred. It puts Jesus into his historical culture and time. It tries to make him more "real" by adding the environment in which he acted. It also presents the life story in its true chronological path, blending the four gospels into one synchronized account. None of the factual events have been changed. The Bible is the only true and accurate record, and it is that on which the Carpenter novel is based.

What it does add is simply a narrative that takes the reader into the world of Jerusalem in the first century. It retains biblical accuracy, but helps you imagine how these events were perceived by the real people who encountered the real life Jesus -- on the stone streets of real places like Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jerusalem. It is like reading the Bible for the first time - even if you have read it a hundred times. It is also perhaps the only exposure to the events and truths found in the Bible that many will ever read.

For every person of every time and every culture - everyone - the ultimate source of understanding God is in understanding his expression of his Person in this one human life. The most brilliant theological scholar or the most ignorant wicked criminal are each dependent on understanding the living love of God - as it becomes personal to them. There is no other way. When Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" - he was declaring this ultimate insight. The only way to know the truth of God's Person - is in the human life and death of Jesus. The Carpenter Trilogy offers a novel expression of that avenue to find God's Personality - and his Personal love. It is a humble attempt to be of some help to find the real Jesus who was known by real people who became his followers. Their experiences with the human Jesus became "Christianity" - in its original and its organized forms. The Carpenter Trilogy hopes to take you back to those living experiences in search of the real human Jesus - who is the real human expression of the living God.

Louis B. Tharp, Ph.D.
Clinical psychologist and professor of Philosophy, Psychology and Religion