Product Description

This Companion takes as its starting point the realization that Jesus of Nazareth cannot be studied purely as a subject of ancient history, ‘a man like any other man’. History, literature, theology and the dynamic of a living, worldwide religious reality, all appropriately impinge on the study of Jesus. The two parts of the book roughly correspond to the interdependent tasks of historical description and critical and theological reflection. It incorporates the most up-to-date historical work on Jesus the Jew with the ‘bigger issues’ of critical method, the story of Christian faith and study, and Jesus in a global church and in the encounter with Judaism and Islam. Written by seventeen leading international scholars, the book encourages students of the historical Jesus to discover the vital contribution of theology, and students of doctrine to engage the Christ of faith as Jesus the first-century Jew.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #247123 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 330 pages

Review
‘… this book does not offer any startlingly new interpretations of Jesus, and is a far more reliable guide than many that do.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘… for readers with a sufficient depth of interest … it will be an introduction to a very wide range of sources and ideas. Its essays go far beyond the scope of even the fullest ‘reference books’, in the usual sense of the term …’. Contemporary Review

‘… the contributors … aim responsibly to inform non-specialists. Students will also benefit from perusing them. Theological libraries at all levels will want this work … This Companion will give pleasure to many …’. Theological Book Review

‘The audacious claim of a ‘Companion to Jesus’ is tantalizingly realized by this volume.' Henry Wansbrough, Religion and Theology

‘Speaking personally, this collection will draw me back time and again to wrestle with the issues raised. It can be read with profit by students and interested lay people alike and I commend it warmly.’ Howard C. Bigg, Biblical Studies

‘Here is a … consistent attempt to take the historicality of Jesus seriously and to integrate it with orthodox Christian tradition.’ The Heythrop Journal

About the Author
Markus Bockmuehl is Reader in New Testament Studies at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College. He is the author of Revelation and Mystery in Ancient Judaism and Pauline Christianity (1990), This Jesus: Martyr, Lord, Messiah (1994), The Epistle to the Philippians (1997), and Jewish Law in Gentile Churches: Halakhah and the Beginning of Christian Public Ethics (2000).

Customer Reviews

Worth sticking with
I already have several books from this series, so I started reading this with high expectations - and nearly quit early on. Luckily I kept on going. The first few chapters are repeatative and not clear as to what reader they are aimed at. There was too much background for someone familiar with theology, but suddenly the opinions of N.N. would be refered to, without explaining who N.N. is.

Luckily the second half of the book was on better defined subjects, and the essays there were excellent.

The book is also less useful than some others in the series as there is a Bibliography for the entire book rather than the Suggestions for Future Reading at the end of each chapter that are usually so helpful.

Don't make this the first book you read about how recent Theology looks at Jesus, but for those with some previous knowledge of the subject it contains many good things to think about.

Rich, rewarding and scholarly
This volume, another in the excellent Cambridge Companion series, seeks to combine an account of recent descriptive work on the historical Jesus with critical/theological reflection about him. Each, of course, is rooted in the other: the meaning of Jesus now is inescapably tied up with the Jewish figure he was during his earthly life. Part 1 has highly informative chapters on Jesus' cultural and religious setting; the kind of Jew he was; how he understood God; his ministry and personal fate; and his trial, death and resurrection. Part 2 focuses initially on critical methods - establishing the reliability of sources and the history of critical study - before moving on to consider the relationship of all that to theology, in particular to the fourfold gospel and how the NT interprets the OT/Hebrew Bible; debates through the ages about Christology; and what it has meant, and means now, to have faith in Jesus in different parts of the world. The final chapter is a reflection on Jesus' continuing significance. It suggests that we are likely to see in the future a renewed focus on the coming Christ that was such a feature of early Christianity, but which has been largely absent from theology in the modern era. A book to savour and dip into again at intervals in order to (re)discover its many layers. Rich, rewarding and scholarly.