Jesus, Paul, and the Gospels

by James D. G. Dunn

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2011

Overview

Jesus, Paul, and the Gospels brings together texts from three sets of lectures James Dunn gave in 2009 to Catholic and Jewish audiences in Italy, Spain, and Israel. The resulting book uniquely presents the Gospels to a Jewish audience and Paul to a Catholic audience—all from a scholarly Protestant perspective. Written to introduce well-informed people to unfamiliar topics, this book is ideal for readers and students of various backgrounds both within and beyond the Christian community.

Key Features

• Presents the Gospels to a Jewish audience and Paul to a Catholic audience
• Introduces well-informed people to unfamiliar topics

Contents

• Fact or Fiction? How Reliable Are the Gospels?
• Between Jesus and the Gospels
• The Birth of a New Genre: Mark and the Synoptic Gospels
• A Very Different Version! John as a Source for the Historical Jesus
• From Jesus’ Proclamation to Paul’s Gospel
• Who Did Paul Think He Was?
• Apostle or Apostate?
• The Gospel — for All Who Believe
• The Church — Paul’s Trinitarian Ecclesiology

Top Highlights

“Without Paul this messianic sect might have remained a renewal movement within Second Temple Judaism and never become anything more than that. Almost certainly that is how James would have preferred the new movement to remain.” (Page 119)

“Should we then speak of a gulf between Jesus and Paul? No! Should we deduce that Paul departed from or corrupted the good news which Jesus brought? No! Should we conclude that Paul transformed Jesus’ message into something Jesus himself would not have recognised? No!” (Page 115)

“My third presupposition is that this Jesus was a figure of some influence, even if only among those who followed him. He made an impact, and, evidently, a lasting impact.” (Page 7)

“The first is that there was a historical person called Jesus who functioned in the land of Israel, probably in the late 20s or early 30s of the common era.” (Page 4)

“First, Jesus’ teaching was given orally; it began orally. And second, we can safely assume that the news about Jesus was initially passed around orally.” (Page 23)

Praise for the Print Edition

Jesus, Paul, and the Gospels forms both a capstone and an introduction to Jimmy Dunn’s groundbreaking works about the beginnings of Christianity. If I had only one volume to put in the hands of someone who asked, ‘Where do I begin to read Dunn?’ this would be the book.

—Scot McKnight, professor of New Testament, Northern Baptist Theological Seminary

In this clear and insightful book, James Dunn offers a concise yet panoramic view of the origins of the early Jesus movement—a subject in which he has long been a proven master.

—Bruce W. Longenecker, professor of religion and W. W. Melton Chair, Baylor University

Anyone seeking an introduction to Jesus, Paul, the Gospels, and their interconnections will find no better book than this. The fruit of a lifetime of research by a master scholar-teacher, it is vintage Dunn: clear, concise, creative, and credible.

—Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology, St. Mary’s Seminary and University

Product Details

• Title: Jesus, Paul, and the Gospels
• Editors: James D. G. Dunn
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2011
• Pages: 224
• Resource Type: Topical
• Topic: New Testament

About James D. G. Dunn

James D. G. Dunn (1939–) is emeritus Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at the University of Durham and is a leading British New Testament scholar. Dunn is a significant proponent of the New Perspective on Paul, and coined the term in a 1982 lecture. He received a PhD and DD from the University of Cambridge, and a MA and BD from the University of Glasgow. In 2002 he became only the third British scholar to be made the president of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas.

His recent works include Did the First Christians Worship Jesus? The New Testament Evidence, A New Perspective on Jesus: What the Quest for the Historical Jesus Missed, the volumes Romans 1–8 and Romans 9–16 of the Word Biblical Commentary, and The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon in The New International Greek Testament Commentary (12 vols.).