Who Was Jesus? (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Think of a Victorian drawing-room, hung with faded portraits..." (more)
Key Phrases: virginal conception, Israel's God, Mary Magdalene, New Testament (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This is a penetrating sketch and critique of recent controversial books on the historical Jesus. Showing that much can be gained from a rigorous historical assessment of what the Gospels say about Jesus, this is a book to engage skeptics and believers alike.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (March 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802806945
• ISBN-13: 978-0802806949
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #304,312 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A damning critique of some media darlings, April 30, 2000

By	Wayne Symes (Gawler, SA Australia) - See all my reviews

At the beginning of the 1990's a media bandwagon around `new' outlooks on the life of Jesus was in full swing. In particular the works of Bishop John Spong (USA), A.N Wilson (UK) and Barbara Thiering (Australia) were given popular acclaim. Wright (a well credentialled New Testament scholar) takes each of these `writers' and shows how flawed their accounts are. He is strong, concise and rightly critical of poor scholarship. While the times that occasioned the book may have passed, the issues remain and Wright's discussion of what we can say about Jesus is very helpful.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lemonaide from lemons., February 22, 2004

By	David Marshall (Seattle area) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At first glance, this seems a rather odd book. What is a first-class historian like N. T. Wright doing, refuting the likes of Spong and Thiering? Does one need a bulldozer to squash ants? (Wilson, I personally find more intelligent, and thus perhaps rising to the dignity of being run over.) Yet Wright gives their arguments a fair hearing, then a fair and gentle hanging.

But there seems to be method to Wright's mildness. As an alternative to the fumbling and bumbling of his protagonists, he offers a simple and readable description of who he has found the historical Jesus to be. Their errors prove a useful foil for explaining the methods and conclusions of legitimate New Testament scholarship. Wright's critiques of those with whom he disagrees are always a delight -- he shows a sincere appreciation for what is worthwhile, then refutes errors with wit and the gentle precision that comes of great intellectual power matched to thorough knowledge of the subject.

The subject here is Jesus, a fox in pursuit of whom academic hounds have banged their heads on many trees. Wright rightly follows him to the cross. "The Christian doctrine is all about a different kind of God -- a God who was so different to normal expectations that he could, completely appropriately, become human . . . To say that Jesus is in some sense God is of course to make a startling statement about Jesus. It is also to make a stupendous claim about God."

I think Wright over-emphasizes the genius of Biblical scholarship. He tends to give the impression that nobody knew anything worth knowing about Jesus, until the question was brought to the attention of modern academics. Having read many "Jesus Seminar" books, I think credentialed scholars like Crossan, Borg, Mack, and Pagels, are often as foolish as Wilson -- and less truly knowledgeable about the historical Jesus than the average Pentacostal grandmother.

Wright also knocks C. S. Lewis for his "odd" criticism of the "quest for Jesus" as "the work of the devil," in the Screwtape Letters. Aside from the unfairness of ignoring the humor in a satire, I think the substance of Lewis' arguments, made more seriously in Fernseed and Elephants, is entirely sound, and makes an excellent critique of many recent historical Jesus reconstructions. I think Wright's historical reconstruction, and Lewis' literary critique of shoddy skeptical arguments, complement one another nicely.

In sum, I recommend this book both for people who have been bamboozled by the particular works it refutes, and also as an antidote to recent works of a similar nature, like the Da Vinci Code, Jesus Mysteries, The Jesus Puzzle, or perhaps Elaine Pagel's new book, Beyond Belief. I am working on a book that will combine Wright and Lewis' approaches, to answer recent attacks on the Gospels.

author, Jesus and the Religions of Man /

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Relevant Expose of Bogus Scholars, August 4, 2005

By	Oswald Sobrino "CatholicAnalysis.blogspot.com" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let's be clear that in this book evangelical Anglican theologian N.T. Wright exposes the absurd concocted fantasies of three writers who in 1992 published works on Jesus. The common thread in all three writers is their willingness to invent fantastical portraits of Jesus with no basis in history or Scripture. In the process of his devastating critique of these bogus writers, Wright gives us telling theological insights, especially concerning the relation of first century Jewish monotheism and the emerging Christian belief in the divinity of Jesus and concerning the proper perspective with which to approach the question of the virginal conception of Jesus. In addition, Wright provides an initial chapter that gives the general reader an historical overview of Jesus scholarship and a final chapter that ties Wright's insights together. Reading this small book is like being treated to lunch or dinner with an insightful and witty professor who is generously willing to share his best insights.