In 1928 Gibran published his longest book, Jesus, the Son of Man: His Words and His Deeds as Told and Recorded by Those Who Knew Him.Jesus had appeared in Gibran’s writings and art in various forms; he told Mary Haskell that he had recurring dreams of Jesus and mentioned wanting to write a life of Jesus in a 1909 letter to her. The book was written in a little over a year in 1926-1927. Haskell edited the manuscript. Seventy-eight people who knew Jesus—some real, some imaginary; some sympathetic, others hostile—tell of him from their own points of view. Anna is puzzled by the worship of the Magi. An orator is impressed by Jesus’ rhetoric. A merchant sees the parable of the talents as the essence of commerce and cannot understand why Jesus’ followers insist that he is a god. Pontius Pilate discusses the political factors leading to his decision to execute Jesus. Barabbas is tormented by the knowledge that he is alive only because Jesus died in his place. It was the most lavishly produced of Gibran’s books, with some of the illustrations in color. For once, the reviews were strongly and uniformly favorable, and the book has remained the most popular of his works next to The Prophet.
K. Gibran, Jesus, The Son of Man, New York: Knopf, 1928.
Yasūʻ ibn ʼal-ʼinsān [Jesus the Son of Man], Translated into Arabic by Sharwat 'Ukāshah, Bayrūt: Dār al-Shurūq, 1999.
Yasūʻ ibn ʼal-ʼinsān: ʼaqwāluhu wa-ʼafʻāluhu kamā ʼakhbarahā wa-dawwanahā ʼalladhīna ʻarafūh [Jesus the Son of Man: His Words and His Deeds as Told and Recorded by Those Who Knew Him], translated into Arabic by Anṭūniyūs Bashīr, Miṣr: al-Maṭbaʻah al-ʻAṣrīyah, 1932.
