Review: Baker Academic Jesus Studies Logos Baker Academic

It is innovative to ask historical questions about Jesus and the Gospels without getting caught up in the quagmire of the authenticity criteria, and this book is innovative because different authors bring different methods to the texts. And what better topic—asking what Jesus’ friends and enemies thought of him! Time and time again we are taken to the Gospels themselves to see how the narratives shape our understanding of Jesus. It is the breadth of the testimony of these narratives that makes this book sparkle. —Scot McKnight, New Testament Professor at Northern Seminary.

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A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Jesus is a wonderful travel guide for pilgrims perplexed by the multiple maps hawked by recent scholarship. But it is also an invitation for homebound believers to join a journey of discovery to the mysterious places where history meets hope. Bruce Fisk is a wise and imaginative tour guide, and this book will open new angles of vision for readers seeking to investigate the path of Jesus. —Richard B. Hays, George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament and Dean of the Divinity School, Duke University Divinity School.

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In Constructing Jesus, Dale Allison’s erudite historical acumen is matched by the simple elegance of his compelling case. Rarely has reasoned judgment sounded so commonsensical. This book deserves to be one of the few to set the course for the next generation of historical-Jesus scholarship. —Bruce W. Longenecker, W. W. Melton Chair of Religion, Baylor University.

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With clarity and insight, Warrington takes the reader on a whirlwind journey through the multifaceted—yet complementary—presentations of Jesus found in the New Testament writings. Very few introductions to Christology can claim the balance of comprehensiveness, simplicity, and lucidity found in this volume. —Mark L. Strauss, professor of New Testament, Bethel Seminary San Diego

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Ask most any serious New Testament scholar whether Jesus knew he was the Messiah or if he knew specific what his mission entailed and you’ll no doubt receive your answer with much hesitation. Such a difficult discussion to have an Michael Bird has faced the issue head on in his text entitled, Are You the One Who Is to Come?: The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Question.

Michael Bird tackles a question central to historical Jesus research and to understanding the development of the Christian confession: Who did Jesus say that he was? Thoroughly conversant with the extensive history of scholarship, Bird applies a rigorous critique to the dominant arguments used against attributing a messianic self-understanding to Jesus. He builds a substantial case for Jesus’ messianic self-understanding by analyzing the words explicitly spoken on this topic by or about Jesus during his earthly ministry and by examining the deeds Jesus chose to enact and the roles he would have been understood-—and would have understood himself—to embody by these deeds. Bird brings a fresh perspective and keen mind to this debate, painting a historically plausible picture of a Judean well versed in current messianic paradigms who crafted a ministry that reflected both an awareness of acting as God’s end-time agent and a particular understanding of what that agent was to accomplish. —David A. deSilva, Trustees’ Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Greek, Ashland Theological Seminary

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The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition, by Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd, reevaluates the evidence that we have for the historical Jesus and compares it to what has arisen in the last 200 years.
This is one of the most important books on methodological issues in the study of Jesus and the Gospels to have appeared for a long time. It deserves to be widely read. —Richard Bauckham, emeritus professor of New Testament studies, University of St. Andrews

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Jesus According to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospels, by Darrell Bock, is a wonderful addition to this collection for reasons beyond what you think. You’d expect a great resource on account of all that Bock has contributed to the academy thus far but Bock takes an in depth look at the Gospels, surveying their structure, setting, date and so forth. By looking at the context and setting of Christ, the portrait of Christ is restored from the Gospels.

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The final piece to this master collection on Jesus is entitled Recovering Jesus: The Witness of the New Testament, by Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld. Neufeld, a professor through and through, admits outright that his text is dominated by pedagogy and not methodology. “Those wishing for a carefully argued historical reconstruction of the Jesus of history or for a literary critical study of the gospels may be frustrated. And those wishing for an explicitly faith-centered Bible study may be equally frustrated.” (9) What Recovering Jesus contributes to the discussion on the historical Jesus is that it is pluralistic – while the text walks through all of the accounts in the Gospel story, it does so comprehensively and coherently (a variety of approaches emphasized at different points).

Thomas Yoder Neufeld has provided readers with ‘the raw material and some of the skill with which to jump into the fray’ of the debates about Jesus. This highly readable book has been carefully honed through years of undergraduate teaching by a scholar who often preaches and teaches in church settings. Well informed and with enviable clarity, Neufeld presents the fruit of the best critical Jesus scholarship—hospitable for students in the pluralistic context of the university classroom. Anyone interested in the Jesus we encounter in the New Testament will turn these pages with great interest and profit.—Graham H. Twelftree, distinguished professor of New Testament, Regent University School of Divinity

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What are the benefits of electronic, Logos Bible Software version?

• The absolute best aspect in going digital instead of with the tradition printed version is a point not unfamiliar to any Logos product — all of the passages of Scripture are linked up with whatever translation of Scripture you have prioritized (for me, its the ESV). I just hover over a referenced passage and there it is! The same goes for dates and subject matter that is referenced – Logos has done the hard work of linking those points to a timeline or to your favorite dictionaries.
• I’ll let you do the math and see how large that savings is if you go electronic instead of print …. !!!! 🙂
• Lastly, and I will provide a screenshot below for this, is that these resources are completely searchable. Whether you want to explore the Baker Academic Jesus Collection authors on the birth of Jesus, the crucifixion, or the messianic secret, you can do so with only a couple of clicks!

Within Logos Bible Software, I went ahead and created a “COLLECTION” that includes these eight titles. I titled it Baker Academic Jesus Collection. You’ll see the collection below in the right pane. To the left, I went ahead and did a search for “Birth Narrative” across these eight resources. I’ve done similar searches for Messianic Secret and we have the ability to be even more specific but with the screen shot alone you can see the benefit of a searchable database on both present and past discussions concerning our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I hope you enjoy the resource – let me know if you have made use of it or if you have got any questions whatsoever!