I have three concerns throughout the present work. The first is for historical integrity in talking about Jesus. 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, the Jesus who, according to the letter to the Hebrews, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Nor will it do to suggest that because we have the Gospels in our New Testaments, we know all we need to about Jesus. As the material presented here will show, traditions have often radically misunderstood the picture of Jesus in those Gospels, and only by hard, historical work can we move toward a fuller comprehension of what the Gospels themselves were trying to say.
And that was point one!
As someone who has chosen to be a learner of Jesus, after reading those words, how can I not read this book? Or possibly the question is... how can you not read this book?
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