Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times

By Paul Barnett

Book Overview

The pathway to understanding the New Testament leads through the vibrant landscape of the first-century Greco-Roman world. The New Testament is rooted in the concrete historical events of that world.In Jesus the Rise of Early Christianity Paul Barnett not only places the New Testament within that world of caesars and Herods, proconsuls and Pharisees, Sadducees and revolutionaries, but argues that the mainspring and driving force of early Christian history is the historical Jesus. We cannot understand the rise of Christianity apart from this Jesus, the messiah of Israel and the spiritual and intellectual impact he had on his immediate followers and those who succeeded them.From his intimate acquaintance with the sources, the evidence and the problems of New Testament history, Barnett offers fresh insights. His telling of the story skillfully avoids the encumbrance of extraneous details and side journeys. From the brith of Jesus to the founding of the messianic community, from the rise of Paul's mission to the Gentiles to the writing of the Gospels, Barnett offers a comprehensive account of the movement that would change the face of world history.Jesus the Rise of Early Christianity is a comprehensive survey of New Testament history that will meet the needs of students and teachers of the New Testament. In its engagment with contemporary scholarship and its emphasis on the propelling role of the historical and risen Jesus in the rise of Christianity, it provides a timely rejoinder to current revisionist exploration of Christian origins.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830826998
• ISBN13: 9780830826995
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Entertaining and Insightful

This review is actually a summary statement on the value of Barnett's three books on NT origins: Jesus & the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times The Birth of Christianity: The First Twenty Years (After Jesus, Vol. 1) Paul, Missionary of Jesus: After Jesus, Vol. 2 I've read a good number of books on the rise of Christianity, yet this book excels in blending interaction with critical/liberal scholarship, rigorous historical analysis and readability. The book is interesting enough that it keeps you reading it. Many books on the rise of Christianity, or "historical" Jesus studies will tend to get bogged down on debates that are meaningless to the overall themes of the gospels, or to the historical discussion of early Christianity. Barnett is able to deal quickly and adequately with some of the more minor critiques, while addressing the major critiques with gusto. If you are interested in an introduction to the earliest church history, then please read this trilogy. If you are already familiar with the material and are interested in how one can present this information in a way that is both entertaining and insightful, then please read these three fine books on the rise of Christianity.

Jesus & The Rise of Early Christianity

This book was in perfect condition, and I got it within two weeks. Very impressive!

a good introduction or refresher

This book does a good job of supplying basic background for a better understanding of the New Testament. NT history,social and cultural, is clearly set out. The genres (gospel,epistle etc.)are discussed and correctives are provided to balance the baleful influence of the 'Jesus Seminar' yahoos. Good, modern, conservative evaluations, not fundamentalist knee-jerk reactions.

About Time

Paul Barnett has written a timely book. There has been much written in recent times about how Jesus and history cannot be ever matched. Barnett who is faithful to the Bible and to history has brought the two together. It is a refreshing approach after the various ultra liberal writers publishings, which seem to just rubbish every aspect of faithful Biblical belief.this book is a must for every Biblical and theological scholar, and for the faithful Christian who feels that the ultra liberal writers are under-mining their faith.

An authoritative reference on the roots of Christianity

A valuable and comprehensive discussion of who Jesus Christ is -- from both historical and biblical points of view -- by a well-qualified author.The author's insights will help me again and again as I seek to read and understand the New Testament.