Jesus Matters: 150 Years of Research

he quest for Jesus as he really was seems to be an abiding human preoccupation, and all warnings about the danger of making Jesus in our own image or the sparseness of the sources seem to go unheard in many quarters. The result has been a constant flow of books, which has increased rather than abated during the last ten years. This quest for Jesus has been documented on a number of occasions in the past, but as new discoveries are made relating to the world in which he lived, and sometimes give rise to sensational claims, there is always need for an up-to-date progress report. This is what Professor den Heyer offers us here. Beginning with a basic description of the problems of investigating the life of Jesus he traces modern research into it from the beginning, initially with fairly broad brush-strokes, but going into more detail as he reaches the present day. Full account is taken of the findings of Qumran and Nag Hammadi, and not only scholarly accounts are discussed but also those given in more popular best sellers. Particular attention is paid to works which have recently appeared in the United States and Britain.
Here is a readable, reliable and up-to-date guide to the present state of research into Jesus, with wise and perceptive comments and abundant information and pointers towards further reading and exploration.