{"id":1331,"date":"2025-09-10T22:09:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T22:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/?p=1331"},"modified":"2025-10-09T15:04:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T15:04:44","slug":"the-historical-figure-of-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/the-historical-figure-of-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Historical Figure of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by E. P. Sanders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

–<\/p>\n\n\n

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Buy Book<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

E. P. Sanders gives a careful historian\u2019s explanation of the context in which Jesus lived. He leans more into the actions than the words of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a chapter titled \u201cExternal Sources,\u201d Sanders gives examples on the life of Jesus from non-Christian literature and the use of astronomy. Readers will gain more clarity on the world of the Near East in the Roman world, along with the nature of Judaism of that era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More directly, the chapter on \u201cThe Setting and Method of Jesus\u2019 Ministry\u201d reveals the immediate environments of Capernaum, Galilee, itinerancy and companions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next chapter expands on the beginnings of Jesus\u2019 ministry and ends with, \u201cWe are now ready to take up the most substantive aspects of Jesus\u2019 ministry: miracles and his message about the kingdom of God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cmiracles\u201d chapter is especially revealing in regard to the culture of the day and the effect on Jesus\u2019 followers. The extensive treatment of the \u201ckingdom\u201d grapples significantly with Jesus\u2019 worldview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t a particularly theological work but there are obvious theological implications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Collins of the University of Chicago deemed this 1993 book \u201can excellent textbook for undergraduates\u201d that is also \u201cuseful for graduate students and scholars as a convenient synthesis of the views of a major New Testament scholar.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serious followers of Jesus will find it sheds light for their pilgrimages. Bible study teachers might find it enhances and, perhaps, updates their commentaries for their lessons on the Gospels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the chapter titled \u201cThe Kingdom:  Reversal of Values and Ethical Perfectionism\u201d Sanders writes: \u201cJesus\u2019 particular kind of perfectionism goes very well with his view that in the kingdom many human values would be reversed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe kind of perfection Jesus had in mind was suitable for the poor and the poor in spit: the perfection of mercy and humility,\u201d Sanders continues. \u201cJesus also, of course, wanted his hearers to be moral in the normal sense of the word (honest and upright), but the main aspect of God-like perfection was mercy he displayed by being gentle and loving toward others, including sinners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review by Tom Prevost, retired minister and mission administrator in Chattanooga, Tenn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by E. P. Sanders – E. P. Sanders gives a careful historian\u2019s explanation of the context in which Jesus lived. He leans more into the actions than the words of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookschallenging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1331"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1579,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1331\/revisions\/1579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jesusworldview.org\/resource-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}