Familiar Stranger - An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth (Paperback)

The enormous effort by scholars to study the historical Jesus -- now an academic industry in itself -- has made Jesus both more accessible and more distant. Recent research into Jesus' social and cultural context has helped to illuminate his life, yet it also often sets him apart from modern life as well as from the portrait of Jesus affirmed by church tradition. In "Familiar Stranger Michael McClymond summarizes current scholarship on Jesus and offers a clear, comprehensive, and compelling report on our knowledge about him here at the start of the twenty-first century.

After introducing the history of Jesus research and reviewing the sources and methods used for study, McClymond examines the issues raised by present attempts to piece together the features of Jesus' life. He looks at the first-century Palestinian world and the place of John the Baptist as forerunner to Jesus' ministry. In the main body of the book, McClymond examines what we know with fair certainty about Jesus' teachings, his public ministry, and the events of his death. The book concludes with a chapter on theological themes and a critical reflection on contemporary images of Jesus.

Comprehensive yet concise, balanced and fairminded, and sensitive at once to the academic nature of Jesus studies and to the place of learning in genuine faith, McClymond's "Familiar Stranger will instruct and encourage reflection in settings as diverse as university classrooms, seminaries, and church-based study groups.