"Luke's Jesus is a personal and faith-oriented exploration of Jesus as we find him in Luke's Gospel, with plenty of attention to historical questions that situate Jesus in his time and place. When a scholar of Joseph Blenkinsopp's renown writes a short book on Jesus, we know immediately to find a comfortable chair and an hour or two to read it from cover to cover."
Luke's Jesus: Between Incarnation and Crucifixion
The third evangelist tells the story of Jesus in clear, dramatically compelling, and humanly moving terms. His Jesus is a man of great power, a deep sense of mission, and profound compassion for those on the outskirts of society. And Luke's Gospel has the best stories--that is, parables--including a number that are unique to him. Luke's story fills in the gap between "born of the virgin Mary" and "suffered under Pontius Pilate" in the Apostles' Creed. While it is usually important for those who write biography to report how the lives of their subjects began and ended, Luke's story of Jesus's birth differs from Matthew's version, and the conclusion to Luke's account of Jesus's life ends neither with his death nor with his resurrection but with his being taken up from the earth to the heavens. The Gospel of Luke is historical in its approach, for which there are no apologies: a historical reading follows necessarily from the Christian doctrine of the incarnation, which teaches that God has entered the history of humanity through Jesus. At the same time, Luke's approach is theological: together with the other evangelists, Luke intends to show his readers that in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God has drawn near to humanity in an inexpressible and unique way.
- Publisher Fortress Press
- Format Paperback
- ISBN 9781506471839
- eBook ISBN 9781506471846
- Dimensions 5.5 x 8.5
- Pages 114
- Publication Date October 12, 2021
Endorsements
Joel B. Green, Fuller Theological Seminary
"Sometimes short books are the best, and Joseph Blenkinsopp's study of Luke's Gospel is one of those sorts of books--well written, clear and to the point, reflecting a lifetime of laboring in the vineyard of Holy Scripture, and bringing to bear his previous scholarly work on the Old Testament Prophets and the Pentateuch in ways that helpfully illuminate Luke's Gospel. Especially helpful is Blenkinsopp's treatment of the Lukan form of Jesus's teachings on wealth and poverty and on those six narrative parables that are unique to Luke's Gospel. This little book does what C. H. Dodd said about the parables themselves: it 'teases the mind into active thought.'"
Ben Witherington III, Asbury Theological Seminary
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 The Author: Luke
2 The Subject: Jesus
3 Family, Social Status, Wealth; the Families of Jesus
4 John and Jesus: Preparation in the Wilderness
5 Jesus the Galilean
6 Jesus the Miracle Worker
7 Jesus the Teacher
8 Jesus the Storyteller: four parables