Seventeen leading international scholars collaborate in forming an emerging new consensus at the dawn of the millenium that Luke is the interpreter of Israel.

As a sequel to the hugely successful Jesus and the Heritage of Israel, this book brings together fourteen internationally acclaimed scholars in antiquities studies and experts on Paul and Luke. The contributors provoke new approaches to the troubled relation of the Lukan Paul by re-configuring the figure and impact of Paul upon nascent Christianity, with the two leading questions as a driving force. First, 'Who is "Israel" and the "church" for Luke and Luke's Paul' and secondly 'Who is Jesus of Nazareth and who is Paul in relation to both?' The contributors provide challenging new perspectives on approaches to the figure of Paul in recent scholarship as well as in the scholarship of previous generations, 're-figuring' Paul by examining both how he is portrayed in Acts, and how the Pauline figure of Acts may be envisioned within Paul's own writings. Paul and the Heritage of Israel thus accomplishes what no other single volume has done: combining both the 'Paul of Paul' and the 'Paul of Luke' in one seminal volume.

Jesus Christ is arguably the most famous man who ever lived. His image adorns countless churches, icons, and paintings. He is the subject of millions of statues, sculptures, devotional objects and works of art. Everyone can conjure an image of Jesus: usually as a handsome, white man with flowing locks and pristine linen robes. But what did Jesus really look like? Is our popular image of Jesus overly westernized and untrue to historical reality? This question continues to fascinate. Leading Christian Origins scholar Joan E. Taylor surveys the historical evidence, and the prevalent image of Jesus in art and culture, to suggest an entirely different vision of this most famous of men. He may even have had short hair.

"In the first volume of this long-anticipated collection by Moessner and Tiede, seventeen leading scholars of antiquity present an amazing "sea change" of opinion that Luke is indeed the interpreter of Israel. The book represents an unprecedented international consensus that the Hellenistic author Luke composed a carefully crafted narrative in two parts to claim Jesus of Nazareth as Israel's true heritage and enduring legacy to the world. Part One explores the nature of Luke's prologues and his intention to write a narrative of "events brought to fruition," using the narrative conventions and audience expectations of the Greco-Roman milieu. Part Two illuminates the relation of Luke's second "volume" to the first by inquiring about the consistency and coherence of his narrative-thematic strategies in retelling the story of Israel's legacy of "the Christ." Whether Luke completed Acts, the larger role of Paul and, most significantly, the meaning of Israel by the end of Acts are approached from new perspectives and charged with provocative insights"--

The most important development in recent historical Jesus studies is the attempt to understand the ministry of Jesus in "political" terms. In calling the nation of Israel to repentance, Jesus served as a national prophet concerned with the salvation of Israel. Scot McKnight furthers this line of inquiry by showing how Jesus' teachings are to be understood in relation to his role as a political figure. McKnight looks closely at Jesus' teachings on God, the kingdom, and ethics, demonstrating in each case how Jesus' mission to restore Israel brings his teachings into a bold new light.

For more than a century, Bible scholars and university researchers have been systematically debunking what ordinary Christians believed about Jesus of Nazareth. But what if the most recent Biblical scholarship actually affirmed the New Testament? What if Jesus was not a Zealot revolutionary, or a Greek Cynic philosopher, or a proto-feminist Gnostic, but precisely what he claimed to be: the divine Son of Man prophesied in the Book of Daniel who gave his life as a ransom for many? What if everything the Gospels say about Jesus of Nazareth—his words, his deeds, his plans—turned out to be true? Searching for Jesus changes “what if?” to “what is,” debunking the debunkers and showing how the latest scholarship supports orthodox Christian belief.