In His Steps takes place in the railroad town of Raymond, probably located in the eastern U. S. A. (Chicago, IL and the coast of Maine are mentioned as being accessible by train). The main character is the Rev. Henry Maxwell, pastor of the First Church of Raymond, who challenges his congregation to not do anything for a whole year without first asking: “What Would Jesus Do? ” Other characters include Ed Norman, senior editor of the Raymond Daily Newspaper, Rachel Winslow, a talented singer, and Virginia Page, an heiress, to name a few.
The novel begins on a Friday morning when a man out of work appears at the front door of Henry Maxwell while the latter is preparing for that Sunday’s upcoming sermon. Maxwell listens to the man’s helpless plea briefly before brushing him away and closing the door. The same man appears in church at the end of the Sunday sermon, walks up to “the open space in front of the pulpit,” and faces the people.
No one stops him. He quietly but frankly confronts the congregation—“I’m not complaining; just stating facts. —about their compassion, or apathetic lack thereof, for the jobless like him in Raymond.
Upon finishing his address to the congregation, he collapses, and dies a few days later. That next Sunday, Henry Maxwell, deeply moved by the events of the past week, presents a challenge to his congregation: “Do not do anything without first asking, ‘What would Jesus do? ’” This challenge is the theme of the novel and is the driving force of the plot.
From this point on, the rest of the novel consists of certain episodes that focus on individual characters as their lives are transformed by the challenge.
Jesus is Here[edit] Sheldon wrote a sequel to In His Steps titled Jesus is Here, where Christ actually shows up and visits the characters of In His Steps, supposedly a few years later. The book is written in much the same language / style of In His Steps, with many of the same characters (and some added ones). The plot is still formulaic in places but feels less forced, especially given its omission of the now much-parodied sentence, “What Would Jesus Do? ” This book’s recurring phrase, used in description of Jesus, is: “Like an average man.
Only different. ” Plot[edit] Jesus appears quietly at first, to one person and then to an expanding group of people in the small town of Raymond. He gradually draws more and more attention, including crowds. Jesus goes from Raymond to New York City and then Washington D. C. , at points making a public splash, including media attention. The non-stereotypical character of Jesus seems fully capable of supernatural power (not showing up in pictures, for example), but chooses a nondescript mode of presenting himself.
He does not appear to do dramatic public acts such as healing, but instead speaks words of comfort or lends practical help. He has views but relays them with understatement. He wears ordinary business clothes, at times blends into a crowd, and is not memorable in appearance. He is humble, practical and personable. His impact upon lives is not through obvious miracles, but old-fashioned kindness, care, and encouragment. Literary Technique[edit] Sheldon creates a Jesus who is especially gentle on the modern church of his day, speaking generous words of grace and favor.
Sheldon offers a nice counterpoint through the skepticism of Raymond’s lead editor, a non-Christian and non-churchgoer, who sets the story line of the book. Sheldon also extends the mystery and realism of his fictional idea by effective omission—the use of third-person accounts, and the technique of delaying and limiting first-hand quotation for more than half of the book to onlookers’ descriptions of what they saw. There is also a demure and rapid love story between two characters, blessed by Jesus.
This sequel has a slightly more contemporary feel than In His Steps, in that this cast includes characters who openly declare opposing aims and a mean-spirited skepticism of Christ. By playing its own devil’s advocate, through voiced skepticism, and keeping the plot more uncertain, the book and its conflicts become more interesting. A Christian might read the story simply to find out how long the fiction of a fleshly Christ, even of the late 1800s / early 1900s, can be sustained.
Issues do gradually emerge through the book that date it, however; the book embodies strong Prohibitionist and Temperance views on tobacco, alcohol, college fraternities, and other axe-grinding issues on which the modern church has been long silenced. Controversy[edit] Sheldon’s sequel, Jesus is Here, was quite controversial in its day. The author’s own foreword to the book alludes to some of the controversy. Possible conflicts by fellow Christian believers might include:
In Jesus is Here, a question emerges for the reader: “Who is this man? ” and “Why wouldn’t he be a fraud? ” Cultural/historical niche[edit] One noticeable characteristic of the pre-World Wars’ Jesus is Here is its striking optimism, about the inevitability of the Body of Christ (the Church) to bring positive change to its own culture and the world. Certain positive conclusions that Sheldon indulges in toward the Church (even while noting the capacity of church people to act in less than godly ways) would likely not be drawn as confidently, more than a century later.
One senses that Sheldon’s contemporaries of turn-of-the-century 1900s were more willing to “count the cost”—that is, go public with their decisions to follow Christ in a more sacrificial way, and succeed in winning the preponderance of their culture to a biblical faith, than the present generation. The strongest epiphany of the book is the individual life change experienced by Raymond’s sarcastic editor, whose repulsion to the concept of a personnified Christ but increasing attraction to the actual Person he encounters, is magnificently and coherently, in the end, rewarded.
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