Interpreting Jesus

by Dale C. Allison Jr.

Overview

Timely new essays from a renowned scholar of historical Jesus studies
 
Dale Allison, Jr. has long been recognized as a leading scholar in historical Jesus studies. In Interpreting Jesus, he continues to advance the discussion with the expertise and insight for which he is renowned. Within these highly original essays, Allison explores questions related to Jesus and women, Jesus and miracles, Jesus and Moses, Jesus and the last things, and method in Jesus scholarship. His sound analysis is particularly timely as scholars reconsider the historical figure of Jesus and the relationships among the canonical gospels. Allison's keen interest in developing fresh perspectives make this book an important contribution to the field; readers can be grateful that, as he puts it, "enduring curiosity has kept me pondering the historical Jesus."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467460972
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	04/10/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	516
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Dale C. Allison Jr. is the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. His academic research focuses on the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, Second Temple Judaism, and the history of the interpretation and application of biblical texts. His numerous books include Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History, The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus, and Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age.
Dale C. Allison Jr. is the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. His academic research focuses on the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, Second Temple Judaism, and the history of the interpretation and application of biblical texts. His numerous books include Interpreting Jesus, His numerous books include Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History, The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus,  Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age, and Interpreting Jesus.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Preface
List of Abbreviations
1. Contingent Eschatology
          Imminence and Delay
          Excursus: Joachim Jeremias and Eschatological Error
2. Enacting Moses
          Jesus and Simeon Stylites
3. Everywhere a Miracle
          The Metanormal Jesus
          Excursus: Theological Musings
4. Behaving
          Women with Men with Jesus
          Excursus: The Issue of Scandal
5. I Remember It Well, or Not
          A Thought Experiment
          Excursus: Miracles and Eyewitness
6. Cogitations on Method
          Multiple versus Recurrent Attestation
Acknowledgments
Works Cited
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Sources

Editorial Reviews

Dale Allison has the originality and courage to challenge the scholarly status quo, and the knowledge of ancient sources to do it seriously. This is a fresh and refreshing take on the historical Jesus.”
—John J. Collins, Yale Divinity School
 
“Stunning essays from arguably the most important—and unarguably the most prolific— contemporary scholar of the historical Jesus. To borrow from Star Trek, Dale Allison boldly goes where few critical scholars have gone before—parapsychology, miracles, Jesus’s knowledge (or lack thereof) of the future, his relations with women—and he does it so logically, and with such a mountain of evidence, that he drags you along with him!”
—Joel Marcus, Duke Divinity School
 
“Happily, Dale Allison has not left Jesus behind. Allison’s well-known attention to detail continues in Interpreting Jesus as he updates his thinking on topics where he has had a profound influence on modern historical Jesus and Gospel scholarship (e.g., eschatology, Moses typologies, the miraculous, memory). He has also continued to produce equally important detailed work on the history of Jesus scholarship and its broader reception, areas overlooked by many peers. Allison’s thinking is not easily pigeonholed, and his independence of mind shown in Interpreting Jesus means he will continue to influence scholarship for years to come.”  
—James Crossley, University of Cambridge and MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
 
“Dale Allison’s new book about Jesus not only enlivens old questions in the quests for the historical Jesus, but it also adds new life at important points: Jesus’s expectation of the world’s future, his understanding of the past by Moses typology, his metanormal activity, and his interactions with female followers. Most importantly, Allison questions the all-too-easy dichotomy between the historical and the fictional in the Jesus tradition. Allison, a leading Jesus researcher of our time, demonstrates that Jesus research is not yet over. There are always new perspectives and ideas.”
—Gerd Theissen, University of Heidelberg

From the Publisher