Christianity's Unknown Gospel

By Paul G Bretscher

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0970514905
• ISBN13: 9780970514905
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Dove Group, Inc.
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Insightful Commentary

After years of searching for the meaning of many of the gospel stories, "Christianity's Unknown Gospel" was a major breakthrough for me. It is the most insightful commentary on Jesus' covenant-gospel I have ever read. I have read this book annually and always reap important insights I previously missed. The contrast between Jesus' covenant-gospel message and Christianity's dogma-tradition is enlightening. I am amazed that such a book was possible in the midst of a Christianity that is focused on its dogma-tradition.

Christianity's Unknown Gospel

This book is not an easy read, but the persistent reader will find an intriguing personal vision of the historical figure Jesus and a concommitant sketch of how the Gospel narrative reaches out to 21st century men and women. While not a mainstream covenant theology work because of its emphasis on individual experience rather than group response, the text draws heavily on Old Testament imagery as the root of Jesus's call to what the author terms "sonship." The title is itself an enigma: the Gospel which the author proclaims is in fact known to him by a claim of direct revelation. On the other hand, Christianity does not and perhaps cannot claim this Gospel as long as it is weighed down by human traditions and formulations. For this reader, the book's weakness lies in the ambiguous role given to the Holy Spirit. With the author's emphasis on the direct Word of God the Father to the listening believer, and on the parity of Jesus with all "sons of God," it is not clear what role a mediating Spirit can or does play.