Martin Hengel's New Jesus Book Jan 31 08

Martin Hengel and Anna Maria Schwemer have published a new work on Jesus in German, Jesus und das Judentum (Mohr/Siebeck is the publisher in the WUNT series). Hengel is professor emeritus at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Schwemer has been his research assiatant for years. I am reading it right now. It is a solid look at Jesus in the Second Temple Jewish context. On page 175, as he overviews the basic messianic roots of  Jesus' ministry  through his choosing of the 12, he notes how so much German study of Jesus since Bultmann has been misdirected and has led New Testament study down the wrong path. This led to the misdirected second (or New) Quest for Jesus by paying far too little attention to the Jewish and Old Testament foundations of Jesus' work, while erroneously denying his messianic claims. If the rest of the book is as good as the start, this should be quite an interesting look at Jesus. The first two hundred pages cover the historical and religious context in Israel at the time, as well as overviewing the historical Jesus discussion. For those of you who know German, it is worth the read. For those who do not, I will try to summarize as I go through this excellent book.