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Jesus
"Who do you say that I am?" It's an old question, and it keeps on being asked and answered in bewildering variety.

Jaroslav Pelikan
Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture
Yale University Press, 1985.

The rabbi, the turning point of history, the light of the Gentiles, the King of Kings. And on it goes through 18 chapters. Pelikan describes historical eras and various images or views of Jesus that have characterized them in this tour of two millennia of Christian history. I like anything Pelikan writes, just about, and I like this for being both learned and accessible to those without background in the field.

Ben Witherington III
The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth
Intervarsity Press, 1995.

More views of Jesus: Jesus the talking head of the Jesus Seminar, Jesus the Itinerant Cynic Philosopher of John Dominic Christen and others, Jesus the wisdom of God of Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza. Witherington dissects the overenthusiastic projects of the modern, "third quest" in evenhanded but devastating style. His assessment of limitations of both the Jesus Seminar and Fiorenza are particularly compelling.



Last changed 7/12/99