Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Review: "40 Questions About the Historical Jesus"



40 Questions About the Historical Jesus by C. Marvin Pat is the third volume I have read in this series, and it was, for me, the most consistent in its presentation.
Pate begins by looking at what is meant by “the quest for the historical Jesus” and shows among the various forms this takes, which is the most historical approach.
He then goes on to look at what we know about Jesus’ birth and early life.  The question of what the star was comes up in discussion, as does the Gnostic writings which purport to tell about the missing years of Jesus’’ life not mentioned in the Bible.
From there, he looks at the events of Jesus’ life, putting them in historical context, so they can be better understood.  And then he addresses the existence of four authorized Gospels and the differences among them.
Finally, he looks at the end of Jesus’ life on earth, including his crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension.
This is a wonderful, biblical book, which does not cave to modern speculation, but gives reasons and arguments for the views the author finds most likely – and most compelling.  This would be a helpful resource – possibly for high school students – and certainly for college and seminary students as they are taught theories about Jesus and the Gospels that contradict the clear teaching of the Scripture.
This is a book to buy to be able to “show these things to be true.”
I continue to be very pleased about the content and usefulness of the volumes in this series.
#40QuestionsAbouttheHistoricalJesus
[This review appears on my blog and Amazon.com.  I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.]

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