Jesus Then and Now: Images of Jesus in History and Christology

by Marvin W. Meyer (Editor), Charles Hughes (Editor)

In this engaging collection of essays conservative and liberal theologians and scholars engage each other in a dialogue about the place of faith, the nature of history, the character of literary texts, and the purpose of theology. While some essays focus on the historical context of Jesus' life and work, others focus on the ways in which the later Christian church established belief in the life and work of Jesus as a proof of faith. Included here are voices that question the value and meaning of Christology in a post-Holocaust world, voices that converse about Jewish and Islamic understandings of Jesus, and others that "save Jesus from those who are right." These moving essays offer a survey of the best in historical Jesus scholarship and contemporary Christology.

Contributors to the volume include: James M. Robinson (Claremont Graduate University); Colin Brown (Fuller Theological Seminary); N. T. Wright (Westminster Abbey); John Dominic Crossan (Emeritus, DePaul University); Robert Funk (Jesus Seminar, Westar Institute); Jonathan Reed (University of LaVerne); John Hick (University of Birmingham); Charles Hughes (Chapman University); Richard Swinburne (Oxford University); Karen Torjesen (Claremont Graduate University); Ronald Farmer (Chapman University); Carter Heyward (Episcopal Divinity School); Didier Pollefeyt Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium); David Sperling (New York University); F. E. Peters (New York University); and Lloyd Geering (Victoria University, New Zealand).

Marvin Meyer is Professor of Religious Studies at Chapman College and is the author of The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, The Unknown Sayings of Jesus and other books. Charles Hughes is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Chapman College and is the author of studies on philosophy of religion and theology.

For: General audiences; undergraduates; graduate students; professors

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

Marvin Meyer is a scholar of religion and a tenured professor at Chapman University, in Orange, California.

He is the Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University and Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute. He is also Director of the Coptic Magical Texts Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity. Dr. Meyer is the author of numerous books and articles on Greco-Roman and Christian religions in antiquity and late antiquity, and on Albert Schweitzer's ethic of reverence for life. He has been interviewed on television programs that have aired on ABC, BBC, CNN, PBS, A&E, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and the National Geographic Channel.

Professor Meyer is best known for his translations of the texts of documents associated with the ancient mystery religions, early Christian magic, and Gnostic texts, of which the most notable have been the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Judas. He is regarded as an authority on Gnosticism and has published many books on the subject.

Meyer died of melanoma on August 16, 2012.