A Couple Reviews from my Summer Reading

The Historical Jesus of the Gospels by Craig Keener

While this volume is over 800 pages from cover to cover, half of it is notes and works cited. Like Keener's other works (I’ve also read his commentary on Matthew) this volume on the “Historical Jesus” is filled with extra-biblical citations and observations. Keener’s expertise in socio-contextual study makes him a force to be reckoned with (even if this is his first work devoted to the topic). What I appreciate most is Keener’s firm grasp on “Historical Jesus” methods and paradigms, and his ability to use them responsibly (Keener's book could be used as a guide in my opinion). Keener levels serious critiques of some of scholarships earlier works (Crossan, Mack, the Jesus Seminar, etc.), while building upon the works of some influential scholars (Sanders, Davies, Hurtado, etc.). All-in-all I think Keener’s volume is indispensable, especially when read alongside other works on the same topic.

The Historical Jesus: 5 Views (Price, Crossan, Johnson, Dunn, and Bock) edited by Paul Rhodes Eddy

I can’t recommend this book highly enough as a foundational primer for contemporary Jesus studies. In one volume the reader gets 5 views, each with 4 critiques (from the other authors). By the time the reader finishes the book, he or she will have a basic grasp of the discussion and its primary points of argument. What is likely the most helpful contribution of a book of this nature is that each opinion is balanced by its critiques. While not perfectly, it forces the representative scholars to wear a rhetorical seat belt. If you want to know what people are saying about the Historical Jesus, than this is the place to start.

D. Bock: An Example of the Conceptual Fallacy

"This entry critiques a remark made by a very prominent European at the European Forum, who shall remain nameless but whose ministry has been an wonderful beacon to many. The remark illustrates a tendency in some European contexts, especially in the United Kingdom, to downplay certain core Christian ideas.
The remark was that many Christians spend so much time discussing being born again, when the expression is only used once by Jesus. Jesus, he went on, talked about knowing God, following him, and taking the message of the knowing God to the world. Now the second half of this remark is correct."


Read the rest here...
http://blogs.bible.org/bock/darrell_l._bock/an_example_of_the_conceptual_fallacy

Darrel Bock Reviews Bart Ehrman's "Forged"

 A helpful review from a solid NT evangelical scholar. Bock tackles each chapter individually, considers the textual and external evidence, and leads the reader to a more academically honest  conclusion. 

"...what is crucial to note is that the case is weakest where it is the most important, in the canonical books. Here Ehrman has “framed” the biblical materials. He sets up the biblical materials for a fall by saying look how often this was done later and by many both orthodox and not so orthodox, so it was a common practice. To get here in the canonical books, Ehrman dismisses external tradition, contradicts his own arguments about imminent expectation and the church’s self understanding about being in the last days, minimizes the influence of hymnic or traditional materials in these sources as well as any role for a secretary, constructs a portrait of conflict and diversity in the early church that the early sources do not support, and ignores evidence of the church having more structure early to set up supposed contradictions between biblical authors. This list of problematic factors is so long and Ehrman makes these moves so effortlessly that it is easy to see why an unsuspecting reader might think Ehrman has made a good case. My hope is that this review in multiple installments has caused one to pause and see that the case for forgery in the Bible is not at all as likely as Ehrman has contended. Contrary to Ehrman’s opinion, case, and hyped book cover, it is quite likely that after all the Bible’s authors actually are who we think they are. "

Read all the installments here...

http://blogs.bible.org/bock/darrell_l._bock/and_a_look_at_forged_by_bart_ehrman_and_another_nt_blog_recommendation_ben_witheringtons_site