The problem of the historical Jesus remains one of the most important themes in New Testament scholarship. Closely related to this problem is the question, How far can the impact made by the earthly Jesus and his own self-understanding sustain the weight of the Christological construction put upon them by the early church? In the past two decades some scholars have taken an increasingly gloomy attitude toward the possibility of knowing anything of substance about Jesus from the Gospels or, at the opposite extreme, have sometimes made outlandish claims about him. Others, like the contributors to this volume, have begun moving the discussion into fresh areas of creative, responsible inquiry.

Peter Stuhlmacher" exegete and theologian, scholar and pastor" offers three outstanding essays on Jesus Christ, his death, and the Lord s Supper. Ever concerned with the relationship of history and theology and recognizing that the New Testament is concerned with both what happened in Jesus and what Jesus person and work mean, Stuhlmacher sketches the dynamic trajectory from the concrete to the confessional.

Focusing on the person and work of Jesus, Donald G. Bloesch goes beyond current reconstructions to probe issues of theological method, models of salvation, the plausibility of miracles, the language of faith and the doctrine of sin.

“This book is . . . my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’” –Benedict XVI In this bold, momentous work, the Pope––in his first book written as Benedict XVI––seeks to salvage the person of Jesus from recent “popular” depictions and to restore Jesus’ true identity as discovered in the Gospels. Through his brilliance as a theologian and his personal conviction as a believer, the Pope shares a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of Jesus and incites us to encounter, face-to-face, the central figure of the Christian faith. From Jesus of Nazareth: “. . . the great question that will be with us throughout this entire book: But what has Jesus really brought, then, if he has not brought world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God! He has brought the God who once gradually unveiled his countenance first to Abraham, then to Moses and the prophets, and then in the wisdom literature–the God who showed his face only in Israel, even though he was also honored among the pagans in various shadowy guises. It is this God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the true God, whom he has brought to the peoples of the earth. He has brought God, and now we know his face, now we can call upon him. Now we know the path that we human beings have to take in this world. Jesus has brought God and with God the truth about where we are going and where we come from: faith, hope, and love.”

Charles Dickens's other Christmas classic, with a new introduction by Dickens's great-great-grandson, Gerald Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens wrote The Life of Our Lord during the years 1846-1849, just about the time he was completing David Copperfield. In this charming, simple retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, adapted from the Gospel of St. Luke, Dickens hoped to teach his young children about religion and faith. Since he wrote it exclusively for his children, Dickens refused to allow publication. For eighty-five years the manuscript was guarded as a precious family secret, and it was handed down from one relative to the next. When Dickens died in 1870, it was left to his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth. From there it fell to Dickens's son, Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, with the admonition that it should not be published while any child of Dickens lived. Just before the 1933 holidays, Sir Henry, then the only living child of Dickens, died, leaving his father's manuscript to his wife and children. He also bequeathed to them the right to make the decision to publish The Life of Our Lord. By majority vote, Sir Henry's widow and children decided to publish the book in London. In 1934, Simon & Schuster published the first American edition, which became one of the year's biggest bestsellers.

"All of us need to return to Nazareth." — Pope Benedict XVI, from his visit to Nazareth, 2009 After the best-selling archaeological biography Mary of Nazareth, Michael Hesemann sets out once again for the Holy Land, this time seeking traces of perhaps the most mysterious figure in human history: Jesus of Nazareth, whom Christians believe to be the Son of God, the Messiah. In this unique book, Hesemann walks the streets of Israel in order to put historical, archaeological, geographical, and scriptural research on Jesus to the test. Bible in hand, he takes readers on a stunning tour through the places Jesus lived, worked, and suffered—Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jerusalem—to give a concrete and colorful sense of the historical Jesus and the world he knew. Along the way, archaeologists reveal to Hesemann a host of little-known discoveries, from the apostles' boat to Herod's palace to what might be the sites of Jesus' miracles. This book brings readers face-to-face with the mystery of the Incarnation—a God who, if Scripture is right, became man and lived among us. Pack your bag and follow closely as Michael Hesemann retraces the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth.

Profound reflections on the cross that help you to meditate on and marvel at the sacrificial love of Jesus. This book can be used as a devotional, especially during Lent and Easter. These profound reflections on the cross from David Mathis, author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect, will help you to meditate on and marvel at Jesus’ life, sacrificial death, and spectacular resurrection-enabling you to treasure anew who Jesus is and what he has done. Many of us are so familiar with the Easter story that it becomes easy to miss subtle details and difficult to really enjoy its meaning. This book will help you to pause and marvel at Jesus, whose now-glorified wounds are a sign of his unfailing love and the decisive victory that he has won: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) This book can be used as a devotional. The chapters on Holy Week make it especially helpful during the Lent season and at Easter.

Donald G. Bloesch's seven-volume series is a comprehensive, systematic theology for the twenty-first century. Bloesch contributes significantly to late modern evangelical theology, exploring what an ancient faith has to say to perplexing new times. Christian Foundations will be of great help to all who want to hold to orthodoxy and honestly engage contemporary thought.

Paula Fredriksen, renowned historian and author of From Christ to Jesus, begins this inquiry into the historic Jesus with a fact that may be the only undisputed thing we know about him: his crucifixion. Rome reserved this means of execution particularly for political insurrectionists; and the Roman charge posted at the head of the cross indicted Jesus for claiming to be King of the Jews. To reconstruct the Jesus who provoked this punishment, Fredriksen takes us into the religious worlds, Jewish and pagan, of Mediterranean antiquity, through the labyrinth of Galilean and Judean politics, and on into the ancient narratives of Paul's letters, the gospels, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Josephus' histories. The result is a profound contribution both to our understanding of the social and religious contexts within which Jesus of Nazareth moved, and to our appreciation of the mission and message that ended in the proclamation of Jesus as Messiah.

Nothing is more important than what a person believes about Jesus Christ. To understand Christ correctly is to understand the very heart of God, Scripture, and the gospel. To get to the core of this belief, this latest volume in the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series lays out a systematic summary of Christology from philosophical, biblical, and historical perspectives—concluding that Jesus Christ is God the Son incarnate, both fully divine and fully human. Readers will learn to better know, love, trust, and obey Christ—unashamed to proclaim him as the only Lord and Savior. Part of the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series.