Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth (The Bible in Its World)

by Michael J. McClymond

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2004

Overview

Familiar Stranger by Michael McClymond is a very readable introduction to that elusive figure known as “the historical Jesus” ― his life, his world, his sayings and doings, accounts of his death and resurrection, and his followers’ efforts to understand him.

Three features set Familiar Stranger apart from the many other available books on Jesus. First, it’s targeted to general readers but doesn’t dumb down in its attempt to inform them. Second, it’s ideologically balanced, exhibiting a refreshing lack of agenda or ulterior motive beyond the desire to genuinely present what we can and cannot know about Jesus today. Third, it brings together the two most fruitful models for understanding Jesus and his mission ― Jesus the “moral sage” and Jesus the “eschatological prophet.” The result is a truly well-rounded picture of Jesus.

Marked by concision, clarity, and thoroughness, McClymond’s Familiar Stranger is ideal for classrooms, study groups, and individuals in search of an up-to-date, trustworthy guide to the historical Jesus. Readers familiar with Jesus may well find him becoming stranger to them through these pages, and, conversely, those to whom Jesus is a stranger may well discover a growing familiarity with him.

Key Features

• Presents an ideologically balanced perspective of Jesus
• Offers a very readable introduction to that elusive figure known as “the historical Jesus”
• Brings together the two most fruitful models for understanding Jesus and his mission — Jesus the “moral sage” and Jesus the “eschatological prophet”

Contents

• Jesus: A Thumbnail Portrait
• Piles of Books: A Short History of Jesus Research
• Sources and Methods: What Can We Know? How Can We Know It?
• The Palestinian Context: Geography, Politics, Economy, and Religion
• The Forerunner: John the Baptist
• The Central Message: The Kingdom of God
• The Man of Power: Healings, Exorcisms, and Other Works of Wonder
• The Teacher: Sayings and Parables
• The Public Figure: Career and Controversies
• Approaching the End: The Final Week
• A New Beginning: The Resurrection
• Wisdom, Apocalypse, and the Identity of Jesus: Some Historical Reflections
• Thinking Outside the Boxes: A Critique of Contemporary Images of Jesus

Praise for Familiar Stranger

A very readable, even enjoyable account. . . A wonderful introduction to the subject for non-experts.

—Religious Studies Review

Michael McClymond’s Familiar Stranger offers an excellent introduction to the study of the historical Jesus. Written by an ‘outsider’ to Jesus research, this balanced, well-informed book is a pleasure to read and will make a great textbook. I highly recommend it.

—Craig A. Evans

For the past two hundred years or so, scholars, perceiving some differences between the New Testament portrayals of Jesus and Jesus as he was in ‘factual’ history, have tried to reach behind those portrayals to the Jesus a camcorder would have captured. These attempts have produced widely, sometimes wildly, different results. Michael McClymond’s Familiar Stranger provides nonscholars with a scholarly assessment of the past and present state of research on the historical Jesus, plus his own well-considered view. Recommended for a wide reading audience.

—Robert H. Gundry

Product Details

• Title: Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth
• Author: Michael J. McClymond
• Series: The Bible in Its World
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2004
• Logos Release Date: 2025
• Pages: 212
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subject: Jesus Christ › Person and offices
• Resource ID: LLS:FMLRSTRNGRNZRTH
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-02-06T21:30:22Z

About Michael J. McClymond

Michael J. McClymond (PhD, University of Chicago) is professor of modern Christianity at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. He previously held teaching or research appointments at Wheaton College, Westmont College, University of California-San Diego, and Emory University. He is the author of Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth (winner of a Christianity Today Book Award) and Encounters with God: An Approach to the Theology of Jonathan Edwards (winner of the Brewer Prize from the American Society of Church History). He also coedited and contributed to The Rivers of Paradise: Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, and Muhammad as Religious Founders and coauthored The Theology of Jonathan Edwards.