Joel Marcus

Interpreting Jesus

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Stunning essays from arguably the most important—and unarguably the most prolific— contemporary scholar of the historical Jesus. To borrow from Star Trek, Dale Allison boldly goes where few critical scholars have gone before—parapsychology, miracles, Jesus’s knowledge (or lack thereof) of the future, his relations with women—and he does it so logically, and with such a mountain of evidence, that he drags you along with him!”

Jesus and His Promised Second Coming

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This work is sure to set the cat among the pigeons about a long-time consensus among students of the historical Jesus: Jesus did not expect his Second Coming; that expectation was, rather, an invention of the early church. Ferda argues to the contrary that an expectation of end-time return is in line with the rest of Jesus’s eschatology and that scholarly skepticism about it reflects post-Enlightenment prejudice rather than sound historical method. He makes his case well, both in analyzing scholars’ presuppositions and arguments and in mining ancient Jewish and Christian sources. Whether or not they end up agreeing, subsequent historians will not be able to ignore this challenging counter-thesis.”

Mark’s Gospel

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“These accessible yet profound essays are the distillation of a master scholar’s lifetime of studying the church’s first and most outrageous Gospel. With historical precision, literary elegance, and puckish wit, Clifton Black surveys the complex field of Markan studies, which he has done so much to shape, and offers trustworthy guidance as to where that field has been and where it may be going. I can think of no other volume that would be better placed in the hands of beginning students, who will find themselves returning to it year after year for insight, illumination, and inspiration. Not only will you learn a ton from this book, but it will probably make you laugh and it may make you cry.”