The Gaze of Jesus: A Novel

"Let me be with you!" Homeless, living for years in a state of demonic insanity, Ithamar one day spots a mysterious man on the shore, runs to him, and finds himself wholly cured. But when he begs this healer to take him as a disciple, he is rejected and ordered to go home. Jesus and his entourage sail off toward the horizon without him. Why was he turned away—and how can he begin a new life?

Eight-time Nobel Prize nominee Riccardo Bacchelli imagines the life of the Gerasene demoniac after his exorcism: his inner battles, his return to the family and the first-century Jewish community, his quest for love and meaning. The healer's gaze has been branded into his mind, but he cannot grasp who this man really is. As he gathers secondhand news of the Galilean miracle worker, he is determined to piece together the puzzle.

Elegantly translated and introduced by Anthony Esolen, The Gaze of Jesus is a gripping psychological, historical, and theological investigation into what it takes for the "uncalled" to follow Christ, to seek the face of Jesus from a distance. Bacchelli offers a vivid and visceral experience of the world of the New Testament, including some elaborate character studies of the Bible's darkest figures: Herod, Herodias, and Judas.

Anthony Esolen translated the Modern Library edition of The Divine Comedy, as well as the Johns Hopkins edition of Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. An award-winning contributor to numerous periodicals, he has authored fourteen books of nonfiction, including Defending Boyhood, Out of the Ashes, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization, as well as a book of poetry, The Hundredfold. He has taught at universities since 1987 and currently serves as professor of literature and writer in residence at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in New Hampshire.