By N.T. Wright
SPCK. 741 pages. £30.00
ISBN 0 281 04717 0
This is the second volume of a multi-volume project, Christian origins and the question of God, by the highly distinguished NT scholar, Dr. Tom Wright, Dean of Lichfield. Those who read his first volume, The New Testament and the people of God, will have been eagerly expecting this second one. They will not be disappointed!
Here is a breathtaking survey and evaluation of the major scholarly contributions to the so-called 'quest' for the historical Jesus. It is a compelling development by a true historian of his own view of Jesus' mission, a view which sets Jesus firmly in his first century Jewish context (from which both evangelicals and liberals have too readily lifted him) and yet distinguishes him from it (as a true subversive); a view which links Jesus with the early church and yet sets him apart from it. Double similarity and double dissimilarity - indicators of historical authenticity - is the motif which runs through this treatise.
