The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is - Softcover

"Wright has produced a work of frankly evangelical faith with strong historical integrity, because both are necessary for serious study, uncomfortable as that may be. . . . A refreshing and inspiring read for those who take both conservative faith and historical scholarship seriously. Recommended for academic and public libraries."--Library Journal, January 2000

"This superb addition to Wright's oeuvre will prove fruitful reading for neophytes as well as for those already familiar with his approach."--Publishers Weekly

Today a renewed and vigorous scholarly quest for the historical Jesus is underway. In the midst of well-publicized and controversial books on Jesus, N. T. Wright's lectures and writings have been widely recognized for providing a fresh, provocative and historically credible portrait. Now this paperback edition of Wright's classic work contains the same original content plus even more insight with an all-new introduction by the author.Out of his own commitment to both historical scholarship and Christian ministry, Wright challenges us to roll up our sleeves and take seriously the study of the historical Jesus. He writes, "Many Christians have been, frankly, sloppy in their thinking and talking about Jesus, and hence, sadly, in their praying and in their practice of discipleship. We cannot assume that by saying the word Jesus, still less the word Christ, we are automatically in touch with the real Jesus who walked and talked in first-century Palestine. . . . Only by hard, historical work can we move toward a fuller comprehension of what the Gospels themselves were trying to say."The Challenge of Jesus poses a double-edged challenge: to grow in our understanding of the historical Jesus within the Palestinian world of the first century, and to follow Jesus more faithfully into the postmodern world of the twenty-first century.