And Yet What About Jesus?
How can one explain the presence of Jesus in the early church, a man who denied His Jewish heritage? Why did certain Christians embrace Hebraic language and customs, practices that were condemned by the Jewish leaders of the day? Why do we find Jesus described in first-century documents as the “Messiah,” the “Christ” or the “Son of God”? Why is Jesus referred to as the “ son of David” (Luke 1:30). And why do we find that John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus never heard the word of the God of Israel?
These and many other questions have been posed without end. Not surprisingly, the “theologian” or “theologian of Jesus” or the “theologian of Jesus” has become a popular term in our time. As a result, a number of books have been written over the past two decades on just about everything under the sun about the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and its implications for the Bible and the church. (See the following list for a partial list of such writings.) Many of the books in this growing genre are, at best, loosely based upon one another in their presentation, ranging from “How Did Jesus Live” by Bruce Chilton, to “Theology of the Cross” by Philip Schaff, to “Theology of the Messiah” by Karl Elliff, to various compilations by various authors. (And by the way, if there is anyone in your congregation or community who is not on the list of “theologian of Jesus” authors, please know that I am always interested in hearing from you!)
While most of the books listed in the preceding paragraph are in the “Jesus in History” or “Jesus in Literature” or “Jesus in Art” or “Jesus in Fiction” or “Jesus in Philosophy” or “Jesus in Music” or “Jesus in Literature of the Middle Ages”
