My wife, Christina, and I stopped by the MCC Relief Sale in Upland, CA, today. We got to see some friends from college (one of my former roommates–we were each other’s groomsmen). We also got three books for a grand total of $2.50. Well, two for me, and one for us.
The first one I found is The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form (Fortress Press, 1987) by Gerd Theissen. The book just came out as a twentieth anniversary, with a new afterward by the author. Here is the description:
“Here, in narrative form, is an account of the activity of Jesus of Nazareth, scrupulously constructed so that it does not undercut the insights of New Testament scholarship. What makes it different from other such attempts is that Jesus never actually appears. What we find everywhere is his shadow, his effect.”
“Such an approach avoids the usual pitfalls of the genre and lends this story—attributed to a fictitious narrator—an attraction, freshness, and power all of its own. Tension and interest are maintained to the end, even for those sated with books about Jesus. Careful documentation in the footnotes shows how much of the narrative is based on ancient sources.”
The second book I found by a prominent New Testament scholar was The Bible in the Pulpit: The Renewal of Biblical Preaching (Abingdon, 1978) by Leander E. Keck, who was teaching at Emory’s Candler School of Theology at the time. From the description: “Dr. Keck provides honest, direct answers to many unanswered questions about the relationship to the pulpit of historical studies and biblical criticism, and illustrates various ways to deal with fundamental matters of interpretation. He also includes three of his own sermons as examples for developing more effective sermons using the Bible as a starting point.”
The one my wife found that’s for us is Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits. We need some silliness in the mix. We laugh whenever we read his stuff together.
