Do I believe them when they introduced the book and said that it was not for scholars? Not a chance. This is a stellar, massive, well-thought-out project. I am so lucky to have landed a free copy from booksneeze.com.
So here’s the skinny on the book. It IS written in a way that would not scare away laypeople — and that is NOT to take away from the amount of work and obvious prayer that has gone into its pages. The authors provide much of their discussion as a launching point, allowing their readers to dig into the endnotes (yeah, we are talking over 80 pages of endnotes – they’ve done their homework). The work admits that Scripture is Christocentric through and through, and I believe the authors admit that in their introduction (correct me if I am wrong). Also, when I requested the book I was assuming it would be a biblical “theography” (not theology, of course, but a BIBLICAL THEOGRAPHY in that it would show how different events of the Old Testament point forward in time to the Cross event) on Christ. Fortunately, Sweet & Viola shy away from saying how different psalms and Old Testament events depict the ministry of Christ. They spend the first three chapters discussing the Old Testament and the remaining of the sixteen chapters talking about the Gospels onward. In a nutshell, Sweet & Viola’s text is a biblical theography of the eternal Jesus; their book expounds on Scriptures cry for readers to understand God’s Son as always been in union with the Father.
It’s a powerhouse read. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to know Christ’s role in the Trinity and his office throughout history. JESUS: A THEOGRAPHY walks chronologically through what we know of Jesus and unfolds the different events as best we understand. There are some tough words and debatable topics, but I believe those are healthy conversations to have as a follower of Christ.
Pick up your own copy at Amazon.com or Thomasnelson.com.
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Author’s notes:
Jesus says, “The Scriptures point to me!” (John 5:39 NLT). But what does that mean exactly?
The twenty-seven books of the New Testament are largely a commentary on the Old Testament, and each part of the Bible is a signpost to Jesus. Once this is properly understood, everything changes, including our own identities. In this magisterial work you will discover a Jesus who is larger, more glorious, and more challenging than most of us have ever imagined.
Biographies of Jesus generally have been written by those trying to investigate the historical Jesus with little attention given to the grand narrative of Scripture. On the flip side, those interested in tracing the theology of Scripture are typically disinterested in historical Jesus studies. These two approaches have yet to converge…until now.
Jesus is written for the average reader as well as scholars. Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola (authors of Jesus Manifesto) unfold the greatest story ever told in a fresh and invigorating way. So whether you are a seasoned Christian, a new believer, or someone who is intrigued by Jesus, this book unveils the discoveries of a lifetime, transforming the tired and familiar way we have read the Bible into an electrifying journey of rediscovering Christ.
Introducing a new kind of Jesus biography.
In this compelling work, authors Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola reclaim the entire Bible as a gripping narrative about Jesus Christ.
Virtually every other “Jesus biography” begins with the nativity account in Bethlehem. In this groundbreaking book, Sweet and Viola begin before time, in the Triune God, and tell the complete interconnected story of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation.
Jesus: A Theography is the first book ever written to combine historical Jesus studies with biblical theology, crafting together one breathtaking saga that tells the Jesus story in both Old and New Testaments. This flagship book demonstrates clearly that every bit of Scripture is part of the same stunning drama, what the authors refer to as the theography of Jesus Christ.
- Print Length: 409 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0849947022
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 2, 2012)
**This book was provided free from Thomas Nelson with my promise to post an unbiased review.
