A Three-Dimensional Jesus: An Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels - Softcover

Black, C. Clifton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0664265529 ISBN 13: 9780664265526

Publisher: Westminster/John Knox Press,U.S., 2023

Synopsis

In A Three-Dimensional Jesus, Clifton Black offers a fresh, critically sympathetic reading of the New Testament’s first three Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Intelligent and accessible, conversational and whimsical, this volume helps readers consider the questions that are basic to the Synoptic Gospels’ interpretation. Black addresses their literary genre and origins; portrayals of the figure of Jesus and other central characters; the relationships among these three books; and the social, political, and religious worlds from which they emerged and to which they were addressed. Individual chapters on each Gospel highlight their likely audiences, literary structures, and primary theological themes. Throughout, Black’s presentation is clear and engaging, making use of topical sidebars, charts, and illustrations as well as wit and good humor to draw readers into these Gospels’ interpretations. The volume also includes such original features as conversations with other well-established scholars, which help the reader appreciate a range of perspectives on topics like the historical Jesus and the Gospels’ depiction of women, and interviews of experts on these Gospels’ afterlife in the history of Christian thought, sacred music, fine art, and preaching.

 

A Three-Dimensional Jesus is a concise, approachable study of the New Testament’s first three Gospels viewed from multiple angles―historical, sociological, literary, theological―with attention paid to their history of interpretation. In as much, Black invites readers to better understand and appreciate the Synoptics, while guiding them to learn even more.

About this title

About the Author

Clifton Black is Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary. He is a renowned New Testament scholar with more than thirty years of teaching experience, shaping theological education and ecclesial leaders in mainline denominations. He is an ordained elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. He has authored or edited twenty books and more than two hundred essays, articles, and reviews, including The Lord’s Prayer in the Interpretation series and The Rhetoric of the Gospel: Theological Artistry in the Gospels and Acts, Second edition. He was elected to the presidency of the American Theological Society (2022–2023).

Edition details

• Publisher: Westminster/John Knox Press,U.S.
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0664265529
• ISBN 13: 9780664265526
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 175