What Are They Saying About the Historical Jesus?

David B. Gowler's book introduces, as succinctly as possible, the current scholarly thinking about Jesus of Nazareth. This book summarizes, analyzes, and critiques current influential portraits of Jesus. It answers questions such as: What type of Jew was Jesus? How much of a role, if any, did apocalyptic/eschatological elements play in the teaching of Jesus? How can we best integrate Jesus’ words and deeds to reconstruct a more complete portrait? It concludes that any portrait of the historical Jesus must come to terms with Jesus as both an apocalyptic prophet and a prophet of social and economic justice for an oppressed people. It seeks to go beyond today’s “domesticated Jesus” and to rediscover the Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet of an oppressed people, who lived his life as a poor peasant artisan suffering under Roman and Herodian oppression in first-century Galilee, and who proclaimed and inaugurated the kingdom of God. Recommended for: • students of the Bible • college classes • private enrichment †

Dr. David B. Gowler is Pierce Professor of Religion, Oxford College of Emory University; Senior Faculty Fellow at the Center for Ethics, Emory University; and Co-Editor of Emory Studies in Early Christianity. He is the author of Host, Guest, Enemy, and Friend: Portraits of the Pharisees in Luke and Acts; What Are They Saying about the Parables?: What Are They Saying about the Historical Jesus?; James through the Centuries; and The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia. His books have been translated into French, Korean, and Japanese. He has also published dozens of articles, book chapters, and book reviews, and is the editor or coeditor of over thirty books. His blog about his most recent book can be found at: parablesreception.blogspot.com