The Historical Jesus in Context

by Amy-Jill Levine (editor), Dale C. Allison Jr. (Editor), John Dominic Crossan (Editor)

The Historical Jesus in Context is a landmark collection that places the gospel narratives in their full literary, social, and archaeological context. More than twenty-five internationally recognized experts offer new translations and descriptions of a broad range of texts that shed new light on the Jesus of history, including pagan prayers and private inscriptions, miracle tales and martyrdoms, parables and fables, divorce decrees and imperial propaganda.


The translated materials--from Christian, Coptic, and Jewish as well as Greek, Roman, and Egyptian texts--extend beyond single phrases to encompass the full context, thus allowing readers to locate Jesus in a broader cultural setting than is usually made available. This book demonstrates that only by knowing the world in which Jesus lived and taught can we fully understand him, his message, and the spread of the Gospel.


Gathering in one place material that was previously available only in disparate sources, this formidable book provides innovative insight into matters no less grand than first-century Jewish and Gentile life, the composition of the Gospels, and Jesus himself.

Genres: Theology, Religion, History, Nonfiction, Christianity, Biblical Studies, Spirituality

456 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Amy-Jill Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and Department of Jewish Studies. Her books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus; Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi; four children's books (with Sandy Sasso); The Gospel of Luke (with Ben Witherington III); and The Jewish Annotated New Testament (co-edited with Marc Z. Brettler). Her most recent books are The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (co-authored with Marc Z. Brettler), Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner's Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven; and The Kingdom of Heaven: 40 Devotionals. In 2019 she became the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome's Pontifical Biblical Institute. Professor Levine, who has done over 300 programs for churches, clergy groups, and seminaries, has been awarded grants from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. Institutions granting her honorary degrees include Christian Theological Seminary and the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest.

Reviews

[David Usharauli · Rating 2 out of 5]

One reason I decided to read this particular book was the fact that I thought it would have "explanations" and "interpretations" of the numerous archaeological and historical facts about 1st century Jewish state and environment where Jesus grew up.

In fact 1st chapter of the book where one of the authors summarizes the whole topic is truly excellent and I was very excited to continue reading.

However, after first chapter, the rest of the book was a total disappointment. Basically, other chapters are about translations of newly found ancient texts that could have influenced Jewish people thinking about world or religion in 1st century AD.

These chapters contained none or very limited "interpretations", so their value was lost to someone like myself.

posted by David Usharauli

http://bookidealist.blogspot.com/2016...

[Luzzo77 · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main issue is just how wrong the title for this book is, but there is basically nothing about "Historical Jesus" in here. The other "problem" is that it's probably aimed to scholars and therefore I found its writing terribly boring.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is a fairly literal description of this collection of essays, which aren't about Jesus at all, but rather, about his worldly "context" i.e. the (Jewish) world of which he was a product.