In our day scholars are no longer attempting to write a full-length life of Christ. They recognize that the Gospels are not biographies in the traditional sense of the word, nor were they intended to be. These accounts are rather what the titles indicate--they are Gospels. To use Mark's phrase, they are accounts of the beginning of the gospel. Their authors had no intention of providing the necessary ingredients for a "scientific" history of Jesus of Nazareth. At the same time, they do provide historical records; gospel and history cannot be separated. Less exhaustive than Edersheim's classic Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Everett Harrison's Shrot Life of Christ responds to the contemporary awareness of the scriptural record as both historical and evangelistic, and is written out of the conviction that the Christ encountered today by believing individuals, and by Christian society, is identical with the Christ who confronts us in history. Here, then, is a life of Christ for both layman and preacher, student and specialist. Bibliographies at the end of each chapter will be useful in further study. The general purpose of this book is to provide a broad understanding of the background and message of the New Testament. It opens with chapters on the time between the Old and New Testaments, giving information on history, institutions, and literature, and goes on to discuss the language of the New Testament, the text and its transmission, the canon, and the individual books of the New Testament. For each of the New Testament books Dr. Harrison provides a helpful outline and introduces the reader to a greater understanding of the text by a discussion of such matters as purpose, background, date, authorship, characteristics or principal concepts, taking into full account the most significant findings and interpretations of recent scholars. The author also provides general essays on the Gospels and on the Epistles. Special bibliographies are given for each chapter, and a selected bibliography on New Testament Introduction for the book as a whole. Written by one who has taught the New Testament for many years, who has a thorough understanding of the field, and who writes with ease and clarity, this basic and comprehensive Introduction is a valuable aid to the study of the Scriptures, both in school and in church. -Publisher

A survey of Christ's life in an evangelical perspective—concise and thorough at once. Well-known New Testament scholar and theologian Donald Guthrie seeks to give an up-to-date account of the background, sources, and historical outline of the life of Jesus. Any quest for the historical Jesus is faced with immediate challenges, and in some places this quest has fallen out of favor entirely—but the Christian faith is an historic faith, and it necessarily attaches great importance to its historic beginnings. A Shorter Life of Christ discusses the background and historical sources as an important prelude to attempting an outline of the life of Christ. Guthrie recognizes that there are problems surrounding the history of Jesus and these must not be minimized. The most important of them are discussed in the following pages. . . Chapters are organized in such a way as to make this a welcoming read for the student and anyone looking for an overall introduction to the life of Our Lord and Savior: The Background to the Life of Jesus Various Approaches to the Life of Jesus Literary Sources for the Life of Jesus The Early Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ The Galilean Ministry The Closing Period The Teaching of Jesus The Miracles of Jesus Jesus Christ in Early Christian Thought

This is a concise but comprehensive survey of Christ's life. Chapters include: The Background to the Life of Jesus, Various approaches to the Life of Jesus, Literary Sources for the Life of Jesus, The Early Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ, The Galilean Ministry, The Closing Period, The Teaching of Jesus, The Miracles of Jesus, and Jesus Christ in Early Christian Thought. The outstanding value of this work rests in its easy-to-read style and its completely inclusive content. Also of importance is the analysis of the problems surrounding the historicity of Jesus the man. This is a helpful overview of the God-man for all students.

McNamer offers a critical edition of The Meditations on the Life of Christ, the most popular and influential devotional work of the later Middle Ages, including a new English translation, commentary, and previously unpublished Italian text.