The First Christian: Universal Truth in the Teachings of Jesus - Softcover

Zahl, Paul F. M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802821103 ISBN 13: 9780802821102

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source, 2003

Synopsis

In this book Paul Zahl seeks a broader understanding of the life and teachings of Jesus. What was it within his message that burst his first-century Jewish context? What was creative, fresh, and universal about his message? What did Jesus maintain, within his own setting and period, that is still true and applicable today? In pursuing these questions, Zahl swims against the current of modern scholarship, arguing that Jesus was more "Christian" than "Jewish." Jesus' teaching concerning the kingdom of God is replete with Christian perspectives on human nature and salvation, and his insights into original sin and grace are closer to core Christianity than much recent literature acknowledges. Drawing from both Jewish and Christian thinkers, Zahl shows Jesus to be a saving figure, a christological figure, even a radically Protestant figure. Zahl also brings his fresh perspective into present-day focus by showing how Jesus' dynamic teachings still have worldwide impact. Zahl writes both as a highly trained theologian and as a pastor who recognizes that scholarship stands in the service of discipleship. In The First Christian he renders the contemporary "quest for the historical Jesus" not only accessible but also relevant to the life of faith. Students of the Bible and general readers alike will be enriched by his compelling portrait of a Christian, universal Jesus.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul F. M. Zahl was recently appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Inter-Anglican Theology and Doctrine Commission and is dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent (Episcopal) in Birmingham, Alabama.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* Pastor and theologian Zahl wants to restart the quest for the historical Jesus. Not the one just winding down, typified by the ranking of Jesus' sayings for authenticity and the portrayal of Jesus as merely a "Mediterranean Jewish peasant." Zahl has in mind the 1950s' Jesus quest, whose leader Ernst Kasemann sought for the Christian Jesus, a rabbi whose teaching upheld many Jewish beliefs and practices yet was radically discontinuous with Judaism. Starting where the Messianic Jewish prophet John the Baptist did, by calling people to repent, Jesus then proclaimed the kingdom of God, thereby altering the religious conception of history and announcing the good news of salvation--moreover, announcing it principally and pointedly to poor sinners, which Zahl insists was and is the most distinctive and evangelically effective Christian pronouncement. Of course, along with the good news came some that was pretty hard to take: that of original sin, which entailed a person's utterly contingent relationship to God, who would save one only because He would, not because of anything one did. Basic stuff, this, but Zahl, drawing on some marvelous resources, including the appreciative Jewish scholar of Jesus, David Flusser, restates it all so cogently and concisely (144 pages!) that this is the book anyone befuddled about Christianity should read to get a clear idea of the distinctives of Christian belief. Ray Olson
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About this edition

• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0802821103
• ISBN 13: 9780802821102
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 148