By their very nature, historical Jesus studies inevitably focus on the Gospel accounts, canonical and non-canonical alike. Scholarly portrayals so generated may vary, but the 'source material' tends to be restricted to Gospel texts, with the other NT testimony rendered secondary as result, and its 'value' limited by either genre or late dating. This book responds to this neglect by focusing specifically on non-Gospel material to see how the other texts of the NT contribute to the picture of Jesus. The book helpfully collates and reflects on the historical significance of key NT texts in relation to their presentation of Jesus, bringing them together in one place, and generating fresh perspectives on the early Jesus movement.

David Allen

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1. Introduction: locating Jesus outside the Gospels

2. ‘The witnessed one’: Jesus in Acts

3. ‘To know or not to know’: Jesus in Paul

4. ‘The ascended Christ’: Jesus in Deutero-Paul

5. ‘The sacrificial high priest’: Jesus in Hebrews

6. ‘The remembered teacher’: Jesus in James

7. ‘The model Christian’: Jesus in 1 and 2 Peter and Jude

8. ‘The apocalyptic Son of Man’: Jesus in the Johannine letters and Revelation

9. Conclusion: the canonical Jesus

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The first book to explore in detail what we can deduce about the historical Jesus from the later New Testament writings (i.e. everything after the Gospels).

David M. Allen is Tutor in New Testament and Director of Studies at the Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham, and European representative for the Anglican Communion's 'Bible in the Life of the Church' project.

The Good Book Stall

The four Gospels are full of detail about the life, character and personality of Jesus; the rest of the New Testament is far less so. Those books that do mention Jesus frequently often talk about Jesus Christ, the risen, ascended Lord. In this book David Allen focuses on "Jesusology" rather than Christology; he examines the non-Gospel canon of the New Testament looking for information, signposts and clues that might inform our understanding of the historical, earthly Jesus most easily found in the Gospels.

I found, perhaps unsurprisingly, there to be nothing ground breaking revealed about Jesus in David Allen's examination of the non-Gospel New Testament canon. However, his careful and thorough discussion of the ways in which information might be gleaned from writing that is far from explicit in its discussion of the "remembered Jesus" was informative, both in what could be said about Jesus and also the ways in which texts can be approached, studied and analysed.

Stepping outside the Gospel accounts with this book furthered my understanding that "the canonical Jesus is the historical Jesus remembered, followed and obeyed"; if you're looking to understand more about the "historical character of Jesus" then this book is definitely worth a read.

The Historical Character of Jesus

Historical Character of Jesus

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