Reviews for The Historical Jesus of the Gospels: Jesus in Historical Context

The average rating for The Historical Jesus of the Gospels: Jesus in Historical Context based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-09-14 00:00:00 Rafael Galera Vast and epic in scope, keener has produced a superb and weighty trawl through the specifically historical questions that surround every detail of Jesus's life as the gospels present it. He very usefully accounts for all the major schools of thought in the so called 'quests' for the historical Jesus and then methodically works through the individual events. Though it won't convince every sceptic by any means, not least because after everything he takes a maximalist approach (ie the accounts are predominantly reliable). But it will always challenge and provoke the reader to see the evidence is invariably stronger than often credited. In particular, it will force an examination of underlying worldviews and assumptions because he shows how these can alter conclusions quite radically. Superb and thorough.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-03-16 00:00:00 Matthew Bradstock A detailed look at the issues surrounding the historical Jesus. Keener is characteristically strong with his early sources in this text. If you want to study Jesus in light of ancient writers and Jewish ideas this is a great place to start. Don't let the page numbers intimidate you. The book is really only 400 pages long (including 9 appendixes) with literally 400 pages of footnotes and indexes. Keener is examining the historical Jesus with a mostly minimalist perspective. He wants to examine what we can infer about the Gospel text from the best sources. Keener is a conservative scholar and it will be illustrated in his conclusions, but he is by no means uncritical of the text. He sees where the narrative has possibly been altered and will consider what that means in light of ancient biographical writers and the conventions they held. Overall, this is a great read for someone familiar with historically Jesus research and could be a great starting point for those who want a little more of a challenge as they enter into historical Jesus research.