Opening paragraphs..............................

In those days, I was the one who came down from Nazareth to be baptized by John in the River Jordan.  And the Gospel of Mark would declare that on my immersion, the heavens opened and I saw "a spirit like a dove descending."  A mighty voice said:  "You are My beloved son in whom I am well pleased.   Then the Spirit drove me into the wilderness, and I was there for forty days and was tempted by Satan.
     While I would not say the Mark's gospel is false, it has much exaggeration.  And I would offer less for Matthew, and for Luke and John, who gave me words I never uttered and described me as gentle when I was pale with rage.  Their words were written many years after I was gone and only repeat what old men told them.  Very old men.  Such tales are to leaned upon no more than a bush that tears free from its roots and blows about in the wind.
     So I will give my own account.
-Norman Mailer,  The Gospel According To The Son