Our Christian faith isn't based on an idea or a philosophy, or on some accumulation of cultural myths and traditions. It's based on a man: Jesus, the God who was born in ancient Nazareth and lived in the flesh and died; Jesus, the Word of the Father who was and is and ever shall be, a man.

We also believe that knowing this man is essential to our very salvation. That's why Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, archbishop emeritus of Bologna, Italy, and close friend of Pope Benedict XVI, wrote The Man Christ Jesus - to give us an intimate portrait of Jesus as we meet him in the Gospels. Only by experiencing a close, personal encounter with Jesus in his full humanity - just as his first disciples did - can we develop a true and salvific belief in the Christ of Faith. And so, meticulously following the Gospel data, Cardinal Biffi reveals:

• A man of unsurpassed physical strength, vigor, handsomeness, and charisma

• A true friend who exhibits selflessness and humility in all his dealings

• A brilliant and complex mind who teaches simple people with simple words

• A pious Jew, and a perfectly prayerful and obedient son of the Father

• A "politically incorrect" preacher whose message leaves no one unchallenged

• An "unsolvable enigma of history" that the World, without the gift of faith, will never understand

When we are brought face-to-face with the unique mystery of the man Christ Jesus, writes Cardinal Biffi, "either we reject him, or we fall on our knees before him." There is no middle way. Let these pages reveal to you the face of Christ, and bring you more readily and lovingly to your knees.