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Of late, Jesus has been in the media and news outlets repeatedly. But who is this Jesus everyone is buzzing about? Sensational claims about Jesus have been made, yet there is little or no hard evidence to support such outrageous claims. Pop-culture has tried to reinvent Jesus. Biblical scholar Ben Witherington masterfully refutes the recent claims and implications of Bart Ehrman, the Gospel of Judas, "lost Christianities", and secret first-century "Gnostic" teachings. Dr. Witherington focuses on the impact of Jesus upon his earliest followers, the so-called inner circle from a historical point of view: Mary, James, Jude, Peter, the Beloved Disciple, Mary Magdalene, Junia (Joanna)and Paul, those who knew him, (or in Paul's case knew other eyewitnesses) and his character best to reveal the truth and reliability of the biblical accounts.
Format: Hardcover
Number of Pages: 256
Vendor: HarperOne
Publication Date: 2006
| Dimensions: 9.00 X 6.00 (inches)
ISBN: 0061120014
ISBN-13: 9780061120015
Availability: In Stock
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Strange theories about Jesus seem to ooze from our culture with increasing regularity. Ben Witherington, one of the top Jesus scholars, will have none of it. There were no secret Gnostic teachings in the first century. With leading scholars and popular purveyors of bad history in his crosshairs, Witherington reveals what we can—and cannot—claim to know about the real Jesus. The Bible, not outside sources, is still the most trustworthy historical record we have today. Utilizing a fresh "personality profile" approach, Witherington highlights core Christian claims by investigating the major figures in Jesus’s inner circle of followers: Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Thomas, Peter, James the brother of Jesus, Paul, and the mysterious "beloved disciple." In each chapter Witherington satisfies our curiosities and answers the full range of questions about these key figures and what each of them can teach us about the historical Jesus. What Have They Done with Jesus? is a vigorous defense of traditional Christianity that offers a compelling portrait of Jesus’s core message according to those who knew him best.
Ben Witherington III is professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. The author of more than thirty books, including The Brother of Jesus, he has twice won the Christianity Today award for one of the best biblical studies books of the year, and he has presented seminars for churches, colleges, and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Witherington writes for many church and scholarly publications, is a regular contributor to Christianity Today and Beliefnet.com, and has been featured widely in the national media.
Witherington (New Testament Interpretation) defends traditional Christianity
against revisionist theories by focusing on eight figures among the "inner
circle" of Jesus' disciples: Joanna, Mary Magdalene, Peter, the Virgin Mary,
the "beloved disciple," James, Jude, and Paul. His procedure is to piece
together from the New Testament a curriculum vitae for each character, aided
occasionally by early sources like Josephus, and to conclude that these
careers make sense only if the Jesus of history converges with the Christ of
faith. The huge assumption underlying this approach the general accuracy of
the New Testament documents would be contested by some of Witherington's
interlocutors (e.g., Bart Ehrman), and Witherington makes no case for it here.
He does, however, argue that Gnostic literature, on which many proponents of
alternate Christianities depend, is of unreliably late provenance and, in a
rhetorically deft maneuver, suggests that it contains patriarchal, elitist,
and anti-Semitic tendencies that should offend the sensibilities of those
whose egalitarian concerns incline them to prefer it to the canonical
scriptures. Recommended for public libraries looking for a balanced collection
on the topic. Charles Seymour, Wayland Baptist Univ., Plainview, TX
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
With all the talk these days about a diversity of Christian beliefs in the
first century, here's a book designed to smack some sense into the dialogue.
Traditional sense, that is. Witherington, professor of New Testament
interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary, creates well-researched
profiles of people in Jesus' inner circle-profiles that stand up to the most
rigorous biblical criticism. No flights of fancy-just the historical
understandings as they can be agreed upon by the best and brightest
evangelical biblical scholars. At times, there is a strong whiff of
defensiveness about the orthodoxy of the canon as Witherington skewers views
on early Christian beliefs made popular by Gnosticism scholars Elaine Pagels
and Karen King (they being among the purveyors of the "strange theories and
bad history" in the title). Readers seeking a uniform and conservative view
of early Christianity will find a wealth of information about Jesus and his
early followers, which offers an ardent corrective to recent popular works by
Bart Ehrman and others. Others, however, may be so put off by Witherington's
polemical tones that they miss the meat of his research. (Oct.) Copyright
2006 Reed Business Information.
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