The Historical Jesus - (Spectrum Multiview Book) by James K Beilby & Paul R Eddy (Paperback)

About the Book

Beginning with a historical introduction by the editors, prominent figures in the Jesus quest set forth their views and respond to their fellow scholars. Designed for both the classroom and personal study, this is a book that fascinates, probes, and engages.

Book Synopsis

Christianity Today Book Award winner

The scholarly quest for the historical Jesus has a distinguished pedigree in modern Western religious and historical scholarship, with names such as Strauss, Schweitzer and Bultmann highlighting the story. Since the early 1990s, when the Jesus quest was reawakened for a third run, numerous significant books have emerged. And the public's attention has been regularly arrested by media coverage, with the Jesus Seminar or the James ossuary headlining the marquee.

This Spectrum Multiview volume provides a venue for readers to sit in on a virtual seminar on the historical Jesus. Beginning with a scene-setting historical introduction by the editors, prominent figures in the Jesus quest set forth their views and respond to their fellow scholars.

On the one end Robert M. Price lucidly maintains that the probability of Jesus' existence has reached the "vanishing point," and on the other Darrell Bock ably argues that while critical method yields only a "gist" of Jesus, it takes us in the direction of the Gospel portraits. In between there are numerous avenues to explore, questions to be asked and "assured results" to be weighed. And John Dominic Crossan, Luke Timothy Johnson and James D. G. Dunn probe these issues with formidable knowledge and honed insight, filling out a further range of options.

The Historical Jesus: Five Views offers a unique entry into the Jesus quest. For both the classroom and personal study, this is a book that fascinates, probes and engages.

Spectrum Multiview Books offer a range of viewpoints on contested topics within Christianity, giving contributors the opportunity to present their position and also respond to others in this dynamic publishing format.

Review Quotes

"The Historical Jesus is a worthwhile addition to your library if you are a scholar, pastor, or layperson with particular interest in the intersection of the Jesus of history with the Christ of Christian faith."

--Tawa J. Anderson, Calvin Theological Journal, November 2011

"Beilby and Eddy have compiled a fascinating 'virtual seminar' on the quest for the historical Jesus in their release, The Historical Jesus."

--CBA Retailers + Resources, November/December 2009

"Beilby and Eddy, along with their authors, are to be commended for a job well done. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book."

--Robert B. Stewart, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, March 2011

"Certain to spark sharp debate."

--Bryce Christensen, Booklist, November 15, 2009

"James K. Beilby and Paul Rhodes Eddy succeed not only in identifying the major trends but also in bringing to the surface some of the assumptions in current historical Jesus research. They offer a sympathetic review of some of the major exponents of Jesus research from Reimarus up to the present day."

--Pieter F. Craffert, Review of Biblical Literature, May 2011

"The quest to construct a historically credible presentation of Jesus is now in its third iteration, and herein five top-ranked scholars set forth their cases and critique one another, resulting in a lively give-and-take. The resultant debate is evenhanded and illuminating, setting clear, stark alternatives before the reader. Highly recommended."

--S. Young, Choice, May 2010

About the Author

John Dominic Crossan is professor emeritus in the department of teligious studies at DePaul University in Chicago. He has lectured to lay and scholarly audiences across the United States as well as in Ireland and England, Scandinavia and Finland, Australia and New Zealand, Brazil, Japan, and South Africa. He has been interviewed on 200 radio stations, including four times on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

[combined]James K. Beilby is professor of systematic and philosophical theology, and Paul Rhodes Eddy is professor of biblical and theological studies at Bethel University, St. Paul, Minnesota. Together they have also edited Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views and The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views.

Paul R. Eddy (Ph.D., Marquette University) is Professor of Theology at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. His books include John Hick's Pluralist Philosophy of World Religions (Ashgate), Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology (with G. A. Boyd, Baker) and Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views (with James Beilby IVP).

Darrell L. Bock (Ph.D., Aberdeen) is research professor of New Testament studies and professor of spiritual development and culture at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He has written the monograph Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus and volumes on Luke in both the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament and the IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Bock is a past president of the Evangelical Theological Society. He serves as a corresponding editor for Christianity Today, and he has published articles in Los Angeles Times and the Dallas Morning News.

James D. G. Dunn was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at the University of Durham. Since his retirement he has been made Emeritus Lightfoot Professor. He is credited with coining the phrase "New Perspective on Paul" during his 1982 Manson Memorial Lecture.

Luke Timothy Johnson is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. His well known New Testament studies include The Writings of the New Testament (1986), The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels (1996) and Religious Experience in Earliest Christianity: A Missing Dimension of New Testament Studies (1998). He often lectures at universities and seminaries worldwide. He is a noted critic of the Jesus Seminar, often taking stances against Burton Mack, Robert Funk and John Dominic Crossan in discussions of the "historical Jesus."

Robert M. Price is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute as well as the editor of The Journal of Higher Criticism.