It also sounds like his books vary from pretty good to pretty bad, so it's pretty hit or miss I guess. It seems he's known for his Elric stories, and I'd be interested in reading them if they are different from Behold the Man.Įdit: It seems like the main consensus of those who read Behold the Man is that it's among his weakest works, and I should give other books a try, particularly the Champion at the End of Time and Elric books. So, are those two worth reading? And more broadly, is Michael Moorcock worth reading more of. The same book that contains Behold the Man also has Constant Fire (published elsewhere as The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming) and Breakfast in the Ruins. Honorable mention to Let's Go to Golgotha! by Garry Kilworth, it doesn't quite fit but is related it's also much better. If anyone does know other books or stories on these themes, I'd be interested. I'm pretty disappointed, because it's a super interesting idea, and there are glimmers of what the book could have been, but it certainly didn't live up to its potential. There's some interesting bits set during biblical times, but half the book is the main character in the 1900's being a weird asshole, and developing a fetish for crosses, and the 2nd half of sections in the past ends up being a summary of the New Testament, albeit with a few interesting thoughts on how a time traveller would deal with taking Jesus's place. Behold the Man came up as exactly that, so I ordered it, and I finally got around to reading it. Behold the Man was one of the finest stories ever published in New Worlds, winning a Nebula Award and later being expanded into a full-length novel, but it has never (in either of its versions). One of my students a few years ago pitched that Jesus was a time traveller, and that seemed like a super nifty ide, so I tried to see if anyone had written that story. If you don’t mind Moorcock playing with basics of Christianity, then you might well find it interesting.Some spoilers for Behold the Man. It’s an easy read, actually: I read it in about an hour.

Really, it toys with ideas of identity, predestination, time loops, etc. The time travel aspect isn’t very prominent, and I don’t think it was really written as science fiction - speculative fiction, yes, but I wouldn’t call it sci-fi.

In a way, it suggests the power of the Christian message: the pure message survives even through a human being’s selfishness and fallibility.

Still, I think it’s a very interesting way of looking at the story, even if I don’t like the way it portrays Christianity. Worse, the figure who becomes Jesus is not altruistic, but self-absorbed and narcissistic.

Certain people might find it offensive because it undermines the sanctity of Jesus Christ, and tangles that story up in a lot of sexual and mental health hangups. Moorcock’s Behold the Man is entirely different to his Elric books, or Gloriana, or anything else of his I’ve come across so far.

Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock