One could expect that editors of the Very Short Introduction series would have chosen an objective, dispassionate scholar for this particular work, one capable of evaluating evidence and exploring alternative points of view. If so, one would be sorely disappointed. Author Richard Bauckman is not only a theologian of Anglican Christianity, but one who holds iconoclastic views within that most dubious of disciplines. Thus, his “introduction” is to a Jesus of his own making, one that would be unrecognizable to non-theists as well as to theistic scholars who have spent their careers in debate and study.

This work lacks critical depth, and entirely fails to provide evidence for its many claims and assertions. As one of many points of concern, the author disputes over a century of historical scholarship in his assumption that the “gospels” of the Christian Bible report eyewitness testimony (this despite his admission that they were written between 60 and 90 years after the alleged birth of the Jesus figure). He ignores the many major contradictions between the books known as Mark, Matthew, and Luke with regard to alleged historical events, and dismissed the Documentary Hypothesis derived from careful comparison between these books. Among many breaks with scholarly consensus, he doesn't even consider the widespread belief that the “long ending” of Mark was fabricated in the 2nd century. In this ending, an angel at the tomb informs women that the crucified Jesus is no longer dead, rendering Mark compatible with the beliefs of the early Christians. The original version of Mark, as revealed in the earliest copies, ends on a bleak note, with no mention of resurrection. Such inconvenient facts are ignored because they are incompatible with the author's particular religious views.

Throughout this work, Bauckman builds a theological edifice based on speculation and conjecture. Sentences that begin “it is quite plausible”, and “it is entirely plausible” abound, and the word “probably” appears every few pages, and sometimes multiple times on a single page. The problem for the author’s many claims is that plausibility lies in the mind of the beholder, and the author’s own judgements are based on a host of preconceptions and assumptions with his own religion at their core. True, if one assumes at the outset that the figure under consideration is divine, born by a virgin inseminated by an invisible deity, able to perform miracles, and able to cheat death, then other inferences may follow. But the author’s theological edifice has little to no basis in empirical, verifiable fact.

How much better this work could have been if written by a scholar who didn’t have an ideological axe to grind – one able to explore what (little) is actually known about the figure called Jesus (if he existed at all); how beliefs about that alleged figure have differed historically and culturally; and what belief in that figure has meant to peoples with various belief systems over the past 2000 years. For such a perspective, the open-minded individual will have to seek elsewhere. Works by Bart Ehrman would be a good place to start. Those who consider this book to be “good” may have found justification for things they already wanted to believe, but they will likely never know just how shaky a foundation on which they have built their belief system, if not their entire lives. ( )

Two billion people today identify as Christians, with the implication that Jesus is the focus of their relationship with God, and their way of living in the world. Such followers of Jesus are now more numerous and make up a greater proportion of the world's population than ever before. Despite its decline in the West, Christianity is rapidly increasing in areas such as Africa and China.

Richard Bauckham explores the historical figure of Jesus, evaluating the sources and concluding that they provide us with good historical evidence for his life and teaching. In order to place Jesus in his proper historical context, as a Jew from Galilee in the early first century of our era, Bauckham looks at Jewish religion and society in the land of Israel under Roman rule. He explores Jesus' symbolic practices as well as his teachings, looks at his public career and emphasises how his
actions, such as healing and his association with notorious sinners, were just as important as his words.

Bauckham shows that Jesus was devoted to the God of Israel, with a special focus on God's fatherly love and compassion, and like every Jewish teacher he expounded the Torah, but did so in his own distinctive way. With a discussion about the way Jesus understood himself and what finally led to his death as a criminal on a Roman cross, he concludes by considering the significance Jesus has come to have for Christian faith worldwide.

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The book is a good description of the historical Jesus as reconstructed by Richard Bauckham. There's nothing wrong per se with this, but this kind of book is read above all by people who lack deep (or any at all) knowledge about the subtleties of historical and biblical research. While Bauckham's research of the New Testament is very deep and should be taken seriously, it is so far a minority opinion, it has failed to convince most historians to date.

An introductory book like this one should present the majority opinion where it is available, or, at the very least, make it explicit that what it describes has not (yet?) gained a widespread support in the Jesus academic community. ( )

Excellent approach and remarkably thorough considering its only 120 small format pages. ( )