Jesus: A Very Short Introduction

Jesus: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Baukman

TITLE: Jesus: A Very Short Introduction

AUTHOR: Richard Bauckman

PUBLISHED: 2011

PAGES: 125

AMAZON

CLASS: Friends in Faith (Spring 2012)

LEADER: Sherard Edington

AMAZON DESCRIPTION: Award-winning religious scholar Richard Bauckham here explores the historical figure of Jesus, evaluating the sources and showing that they provide us with good historical evidence for his life and teaching. To place Jesus in his proper historical context, as a Jew from Galilee in the early first century of our era, Bauckham looks at Jewish religion and society in the land of Israel under Roman rule. He explores Jesus' symbolic practices as well as his teachings, looks at his public career and emphasizes how his actions, such as healing and his association with notorious sinners, were just as important as his words. Bauckham writes that Jesus was devoted to the God of Israel, with a special focus on God's fatherly love and compassion, and like every Jewish teacher he expounded the Torah, but did so in his own distinctive way. After a discussion about the way Jesus understood himself and what finally led to his death on a Roman cross, Bauckham concludes by considering the significance Jesus has come to have for Christian faith worldwide.

CLASS LEADER'S COMMENTS: This is a scholarly work which challenges the work of the Form Critics and views the gospels as eyewitness accounts of Jesus of Nazareth. The scholarship is sound. This was a tough book to teach because the information is extremely dense and the reading was a bit dry. Also, the print is VERY SMALL--almost too small. The book should come with reading glasses.
--Sherard