Customer Reviews

The Method and Message of Jesus' Teachings, Revised Edition

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This is one of the best books I have ever read. It motivated me to read hundreds of other scholarly Christian books--and of course all of Dr. Stein's other books. Before I read this book, Jesus' words seemed sort of dry and dull; this book helped me to appreciate the real genius of Jesus, and why so many people flocked to listen to his teaching.

Robert H. Stein gives the Bible student a brief overview of Jesus' use of language in the Gospels. How I wish Christians would take the time to read this book. Many have no clue as to when a statement is to be interpreted literally or when it is overstatement or hyperbole. If you are wrestling with the "hard-sayings" of Jesus... get this book. It will help you better interpret the Scriptures.

This is an extremely good book. I would like to recommend it to anyone that would like to know how Jesus taught, and what He taught. I read another good book that referred to this book several times, it's called Reading The Bible for all It Worth. I would recommend these 2 books to every Christian as required reading.

This book is a classic. If you want to apply the words of Jesus to your own life, you need to understand them firstly in their literary and gramatical context, then in the context of times Jesus lived.
This is what Robert Stein attempts to do, and I think he does a good job.

He brings to light certain parables and sayings of Jesus and classifies them according to the figure of speech used, e.g. Hyperbole, Overstatement, exageration etc.

I really enjoyed the chapter on the Parables since he went through the history of interpretation and offered his own thoughts. I also enjoyed the section on Kingdom. Very good chapters.

This book was reccomended in Fee & Douglas' "How to read the Bible for all its worth" and I can see why.

Stop reading this review and buy the book already !!

A central teaching of Jesus is the coming "Kingdom of God". This book was recommended to me for its insights into what Jesus intended us to understand in His teaching about the Kingdom of God. The author provide an excellent review and analysis of the main schools of interpetation on the Kingdom as Jesus taught it..
With biblical references the author take us from the Politcal school identified with the "Zeolots" among Jesus diciples to the "All ready but not yet" aspects of the Kingdom of many modern day schools of thought. I recommend this text to all who seek a deeper perspective on this critical taching of Jesus.

For those who want to enhance their reading and study of the four gospels, this exceptional book by Robert Stein presents a basic study in the methods, message and literary techniques Jesus used in his teachings during his three-year ministry. This is the kind of book that you will keep around and consult again and again. If you are a student and are building your library, this book is a must have edition.

When reading a book by Robert Stein, you will want to read all of the introductory and preface information before jumping into the main content. Becoming acquainted with the abbreviations he uses are not absolutely essential, but they will give the reader a fuller appreciation of the sources of some of the material in the gospels, especially the synoptic gospels. Stein's writing style is clear and easy to grasp, yet it is also a treasury of profound biblical insight. The book is nicely arranged into seven sections covering the form and literary devices Jesus used, as well as his parables, and the content on Jesus' teachings on the Kingdom of God, Christology and a number of other subjects. The parables in scripture are terribly misunderstood, so I thought his section on parables was exceptional.

This is not the first book by Robert Stein I have read. In each book Stein has a way of drawing me into his writing, slowly and methodically capturing my attention to every detail, even the end notes at the back of the book, which, by the way, are a tremendous resource for more reading on specific subjects from other authors who could also find their way into your library.

Whether you read Stein's book from cover to cover or choose to study it a subject at a time, you will not be disappointed by the wealth of content found in this volume. Highly recommended.