Abstract
This small book provides a useful introduction to many critical issues related to studying Jesus. The “Introduction” sets out some major issues regarding the reconstruction of Jesus, including the selectivity of writing the life of a person, the “angle” from which such stories are written, and that the sources are “gospels” meant to convince readers of Jesus' significance rather than straightforward accounts. Jesus' popularity (the multitude of interpretations), the fact that there was only one historical person about whom we have such interpretations, the conflicting scholarly and popular profiles of Jesus, and the various methods for assessing the gospels make a completely convincing reconstruction nearly impossible.
Chapters two through five describe the four canonical Gospels. Chapter seven examines non-canonical gospels. Mark's Jesus is miracle worker, teacher, purveyor of the end of the present age, and in conflict with religious authorities and Satan's demons. At the heart of Mark is a paradox: Jesus is a strong and powerful exorcist/healer and a successful teacher whose disciples misunderstand him and who is unable to convince either crowds or opponents of his message. Chapter three describes the ways in which Matthew changes Mark's story despite incorporating most it. The addition of the infancy narrative, the collection (and addition) of teaching materials into five blocks, the resurrection appearances, and other differences throughout the text all show Matthean emphases which include: Jesus as founder of the church, as son of God (in a different way than Mark emphasizes), king of Israel, and critic of his compatriot “Jews.” The authors note the anti-Semitic legacy of the Matthean interpretation but argue that Jesus appears like the prophets Amos and Jeremiah in his critique. Luke's story of Jesus highlights resurrection appearances in Jerusalem, the different infancy narrative, and the travel narrative, which present him as prophet, friend of outcasts and sinners, and savior of the world. Finally, the Gospel of John, different from the Synoptics (e.g. it lacks parables and exorcisms), depicts Jesus as divine, the Messiah, bringer of eternal life, but also subordinate to the Father.
Chapter six discusses the apocryphal gospels of Thomas, Peter, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Pseudo-Matthew, and the Protoevangelium of James. The Gospel of Thomas should be seen as a source which provides potentially early forms of Jesus' teaching material. The section on the Gospel of Peter is very strange compared to the description of the other apocryphal gospels. A brief paragraph introduces this text, and it is followed by four long block quotations of text from the gospel without explanation or discussion. Of the three infancy gospels, M. and M. conclude that, while adding nothing to our picture of the historical Jesus, they have value as sources for the development of Jesus traditions in the second and third centuries.
Chapter seven addresses questions about historical Jesus research. It introduces source and form criticisms, the two-source theory and Goulder's and Goodacre's alternatives, and the use of and problems with some of the traditional criteria for reconstructing the historical Jesus. Chapters eight and nine describe two significant reconstructions of the historical Jesus: as an apocalyptic prophet (largely described using Weiss's, Schweitzer's, and Sanders' work) and as a wisdom teacher (largely focusing upon the work of Crossan, Borg, Wrede, and Dodd). Each chapter raises critical questions about both approaches, concluding with the idea that these two broadly sketched portraits might not be enough.
Chapter ten focuses on Political and Ethical Interpretations of Jesus. The authors describe Sobrino's and Schüssler Fiorenza's reconstructions of a “political Jesus/movement,” the ethical reading of the German novelist Heinrich Böll and the musician Nick Cave, and the “canonical Jesus” (with Kähler's work being their point of departure). They use these approaches to argue that many Christians are not interested in an historical Jesus; rather they are looking for a Jesus whom they can follow.
Chapter eleven focuses on artistic presentations of Jesus in art, music, and film. Of the first two, M. and M. note that such representations often focus on Jesus' infancy or death, while film often shows a much wider narration of Jesus' life. The authors discuss the ways in which these images and depictions influence the preconceptions readers bring to the Gospels and the ways in which these representations themselves are part of an interpretive process of Jesus' significance that begins in the Gospels. Chapter twelve discusses how interpreters' own locations and questions help determine the conclusions that they draw when considering Jesus and the Gospels. Except for chapter twelve, each chapter, including the introduction, offers suggestions for further reading. After the introduction, each chapter except for twelve ends with questions for students. These suggestions and questions are useful, and that fact makes them a notable omission for such important topics as those covered in chapter twelve, especially considering they bring up the ideological critical approaches of Shawn Kelly, Halvor Moxnes, and James Crossely only in the penultimate paragraph of the chapter.
The book concludes with a “Reflective Postscript” which reflects on the changes and expansions to the study of Jesus and the Gospels in the sixteen years since the first edition of Jesus and the Gospels appeared. There is also an Appendix that contains information from Eusebius and other early Christian authors regarding the authorship of the Gospels, and two indices, one containing biblical passages and the other a general index.
This book, while many might quibble with particular elements of it, serves as a nice introduction to the study of Jesus and the Gospels and would make a good textbook for a course for undergraduates. The writing is straightforward and easily comprehensible for those with little to no background in biblical studies or theology. Each chapter would need significant augmentation for classroom use, but the authors surface a number of issues and resources that would provide guidance for teachers using this book for their classes.