This is an engaging introduction to the so-called study of the Historical Jesus. With only 152 pages of main text, it is brief enough to be appropriate for undergraduates beginning their studies. What makes it particularly useful is its balanced and irenic treatment of issues; until near the end we are introduced to surprisingly little of the author’s own position, and even at the end he has still not told us what his view is on some major issues, such as whether Jesus was actually raised from the dead. The work engages in a friendly manner with a whole array of authors, ranging from American and German radicals to conservative evangelicals, and gently closes off some of the less plausible positions taken by scholars. The generally non-committed stance of this book is surely deliberate, and, though for some purposes it is a weakness, for others it is a strength, especially since few authors are prepared to focus on the strengths of such a range of literature.
After a brief introductory chapter, ‘Jesus: A Thumbnail Portrait’, outlining points on which all agree, the following chapter, ‘Piles of Books: A Short History of Jesus Research’, tries to give orientation in the secondary literature. The focus of most of the subsequent chapters is self-explanatory: ‘Sources and Methods: What Can We Know? How Can We Know It?’; The Palestinian Context: Geography, Politics, Economy, and Religion’; ‘The Forerunner: John the Baptist’; ‘The Central Message: The Kingdom of God’; ‘The Man of Power: Healings, Exorcisms, and Other Works of Wonder’; The Teacher: Sayings and Parables’; ‘The Public Figure: Career and Controversies’; ‘Approaching the End: The Final Week’; ‘A New Beginning: The Resurrection’. The penultimate chapter, ‘Wisdom, Apocalypse, and the Identity of Jesus Some Historical Reflections’, considers the contrasting portrayals of Jesus as a sage, or as a prophet of the end of the world. The final chapter, ‘Thinking Outside the Boxes: A Critique of Contemporary Images of Jesus’, is McClymond’s most sermonic section. Defending the positions that (a) Jesus was a homewrecker, (b) Jesus sided with the poor, (c) Jesus preached fire-and-brimstone, and (d) Jesus was totalitarian, the author critiques the selectivity of many current portraits of Jesus and sets up a radical agenda that leaves people across the political and religious spectra rather uncomfortable with Jesus’ identity and demands. Even for those who cannot agree with all of his emphases here it is at least refreshing to see some attempt to avoid domestication of Jesus.
The book is not without its weaknesses and, though the author has mastered a commendable amount of bibliography, signs of unfamiliarity with discussion do creep in. One is surprised to find that the endnotes contain quite so many occurrences of the phrase ‘cited in’, or that the author was unaware of the preterist interpretation of Jesus’ apocalyptic discourse until informed by a correspondent (178). Elementary mistakes include the identification of Matthean priority with the Griesbach hypothesis (36). But the lack of familiarity with some points of NT scholarship does not diminish the usefulness the book might have as a point of contact between groups that end up with radically diverging conclusions.
