Jesus as Teacher (Understanding Jesus Today) [Paperback]

Pheme Perkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 1990 | Series: Understanding Jesus Today

Professor Perkins compares Jesus with other types of teachers of his day: philosophers, interpreters of the law, prophets, and visionaries. Jesus is characterized as a charismatic teacher and prophet who addressed his message to all people, as opposed to the elite groups taught in formal schools in ancient times. Readers are shown how Jesus used parables, proverbs, legal and prophetic sayings to challenge the imagination and to allow his listeners to discover his message. The book contains detailed analyses of many gospel passages and covers themes of particular prominence in Jesus' teaching, including justice, wealth, forgiveness, and love.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It was a happy day for the common reader when Cambridge launched its series on 'Understanding Jesus Today.' If the first four titles are a true indication it is time to cheer. These handy 5 1/8" x 7 1/8", neatly, securely, and colorfully bound books are an invitation to 'take up and read.'...All who seek to know more about the Way, the Truth, and the Light in Jesus will applaud this series of handy and handsome little books on a big subject." Congregational Journal

"Written for the layperson, these short works are packed with useful and illuminating background for understanding the life and times of Jesus. Readers will have their horizons broadened by evidence provided through extrabiblical sources such as Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi Library, the Jewish Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the Jewish historian Josephus, and Roman historians such as Suetonius and Dio Cassius to mention but a few...a valuable resource...stimulating and helpful." James D. Hernando, Advance

"...this series has the extraordinary value of bringing to the layperson the critical and contemporary issues of the study of Jesus. Understandable and inviting, the volumes contain excellent study questions, charts, indices and notes." Duncan Ferguson, Presbyterian Survey

Book Description

This depiction of Jesus as a charismatic teacher and prophet compares him with other philosophers and visionaries of his time and analyzes his usage of parables and proverbs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 27, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052136695X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521366953
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,648,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FROM THE EXCELLENT CAMBRIDGE U. SERIES UNDERSTANDING JESUS TODAY, EXAMINES THE PEDAGOGY OF CHRIST: TEACHING STRATEGIES, SUBJECTS, May 21, 2007

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C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jesus as Teacher (Understanding Jesus Today) (Hardcover)

The great Dr. Pheme Perkins, professor of Theology at the renowned Jesuit Boston College, has written here a wonderful summation of the role of Jesus as teacher, the methods and means of conveying his message of God's Love, including parables, similes, puns and metaphor, and a syllabus of his subject matter, including the coming of God's Reign, justice and solidarity, wealth and earthly riches, forgiveness and the love of enemies as the essential love, and the words of our essential prayer.

This concise, well written, scholarly, popular yet comprehensive slim volume serves for anyone: neophyte, pastor, parishioner, teacher, student, Catholic, to discover the true meaning and message of Jesus Christ, and generously includes suggestions for further study. It helpfully asks questions for consideration whether in private study or as part of a discussion group, a phenomenom of prayer once found useful in a variety of settings, most famously in Solentiname, but which now appears less widely employed in our increasingly individuated and alienated society in which a rich variety of thoughts, experiences, reflections and perspectives creates controversy and conflict rather than provoking deeper reflection on the eternal and infinite mysteries of our Faith in God's Love as embodied in Jesus Christ and alive in the Holy Spirit amongst us. We intolerantly and to our own peril no longer hear the voice of the Other with compassion and respect and love and learning and expansion, but cut it off in solipsistic annihilation which only leaves our own selves the smaller and the poorer. Let us here at least hear Pheme.

All of Professor Pheme's writings have become standard works, including her Reading the New Testament: An Introduction and Love Commands in the New Testament and are well recommended for their scholarly approach to Holy Scripture and their clear, concise presentation.