God's Final Envoy: Early Christology and Jesus' Own View of His Mission

by Marinus Dejonge

Overview

Many have claimed to be able to present a startling new picture of Jesus. Yet, in spite of loud claims to the contrary, practically all we can know about him comes from the first three New Testament Gospels or can be inferred from statements in Paul's letters. In this intriguing study, Marinus de Jonge canvasses these earliest Christian responses to Jesus in an attempt to discover Jesus' own understanding of himself and his mission. Steering a middle course between skepticism and absolute confidence regarding the reliability and the usefulness of what we know about Jesus from the early Christian sources, de Jonge carefully distinguishes between what seems certain, probable, and possible, and he argues that though we cannot fill in all the details, it is possible to present a picture of what was most characteristic of Jesus.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802844828
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	08/10/1998
Series:	Studying the Historical Jesus Series
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.41(d)

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Sources and Methods
2. Jesus' Mission and Death on the Cross
3. Jesus' Message about the Kingdom of God
4. Contemporary Ideas about the Kingdom of God
5. Jesus' Role in the Future Kingdom: Mark 14:25
6. Jesus' Parousia
7. The Exaltation of Jesus, the Son of Man
8. Jesus as Messiah and Son of God
9. Christology and Theology in the Context of Eschatology: From Jesus to John
10. The One God and Jesus

Summing up
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index of Names and Subjects
Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Sources

Editorial Reviews

Choice
"Offers a needed corrective to various views of the historical Jesus offered by the North American Jesus Seminar. Highly recommended for all religion libraries."

International Bulletin of Missionary Research
"Those committed to Christian mission have a stake in de Jonge's clearly written, scholarly study, the fruit of a lifetime's careful, judicious study of the New Testament in its historical setting."

Missiology
"De Jonge offers a clearly argued, non-technical proposal for approaching the canonical documents of the New Testament as a collection of early Christian faith statements which also contains nearly all that is reliably known about Jesus and his mission. . . De Jonge is a careful exegete, willing to employ all the historical critical tools at his disposal in a balanced and judicious fashion. It is remarkable that he does so while also plainly affirming a unique and definitive role for Jesus in the inauguration of God's final reign."

Morna D. Hooker in Theology
"In contrast to many recent sensational (and unlikely!) presentations of the ‘historical' Jesus, Professor de Jonge here offers a much more balanced and less radical interpretation of Jesus' aims. . . One can confidently recommend his book as a useful account not only of the problems, but also of a possible approach to their solution. Students and clergy, and indeed anyone who is concerned with the origins of Christian belief, would find it useful."

The Bible Today
"This is a succinct and serious study that brings important balance to this difficult topic."

Journal of Theological Studies
"This is an investigation that takes pains neither to go beyond the evidence nor to eschew probabilities because certainties are not to be had. It builds on and draws from much of the author's previous work, but is a substantially new study that is both persuasive and of considerable value."

From the Publisher

"In contrast to many recent sensational (and unlikely!) presentations of the "historical" Jesus, Professor de Jonge here offers a much more balanced and less radical interpretation of Jesus' aims.... One can confidently recommend his book as a useful account not only of the problems, but also of a possible approach to their solution. Students and clergy, and indeed anyone who is concerned with the origins of Christian belief, would find it useful."

Theology

Those committed to Christian mission have a stake in de Jonge's clearly written, scholarly study, the fruit of a lifetime's careful, judicious study of the New Testament in its historical setting.

International Bulletin of Missionary Research

This is a succinct and serious study that brings important balance to this difficult topic.

The Bible Today

"De Jonge offers a clearly argued, non-technical proposal for approaching the canonical documents of the New Testament as a collection of early Christian faith statements which also contains nearly all that is reliably known about Jesus and his mission.... De Jonge is a careful exegete, willing to employ all the historical critical tools at his disposal in a balanced and judicious fashion. It is remarkable that he does so while also plainly affirming a unique and definitive role for Jesus in the inauguration of God's final reign."

Missiology

Offers a needed corrective to various views of the historical Jesus offered by the North American Jesus Seminar. Highly recommended for all religion libraries.

Choice