Thanks for doing this series. I saw the book and have been interested in reading it, and your summary of the opening seems to have peaked my interest. I am a bit disappointed that he doesn’t interact with the Third Questers, but the idea that he takes the same ideas as Meyer intrigues me.
Looking forward to the series!

Yes Scot, thanks for reviewing this book – not on the shelves of my local bookstores, yet – and increasing my anticipation.
Perhaps you might consider reviewing another book sadly not available locally: Mark Scandrette’s Soul Graffiti: Making a Life in the Way of Jesus which has been favourably compared to Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Don Miller. Tantalising!

Just got my copy and was going to blog it…so this will be fun to read along with you…especially since the reviews I have read so far in the press (eg Vermes, Ehrmann) seem to have totally missed the point given what he wrote in his preface.

I’m very interested. What I saw in Newsweek from the book looked very good. Thanks for reviewing this and thinking through it here, Scot!

Scot, thanks for the review. I agree that the lack of conversation with the 3Q is disappointing (especially when the pontif comes quite close on a few occasions to things being said from that area).
Regarding the ecclesiastical and christological emphases, I have seen this as a definite strength of the book: the work seems to have this focus, and although it does not intend to be a scholarly study per se he does well to build upon and interact with a solid, informed base. Many of the criticisms of the book are, I believe, unfounded because they try and make this a more intellectually-oriented study than was intended. If we understand this as thoughts which are based upon Ratzinger’s own personal journey to know Christ (see the Preface, esp. xi), then our expectations will allow us to see it as an engaging teaching on Jesus.
As one who studies the historical Jesus, there are many times in which I find the tone of this book to be refreshing in its personal passion and theologican inquiry rather than stopping short at the ‘historical data’ (a point at which I believe we share, based on your comments). Yes, I have been disappointed with particular areas in which I wanted more but its intention reminds me that it wants to play a particular role in the church – one that it achieves well.

Scot,
How timely! I just picked up a copy at Costco and started to read it.
Dan

Scott,
I am new to your blog and enjoy reading it each day. At the risk of sounding completely stupid, could someone help me understand what “Third Quest” scholarship represents?

I’m intrigued by dominant theme #4– “cruci-centric” because of comments I have read by N.T. Wright that in essence say that theology proper must begin at the Cross and work out from there. Is this what the Pope is saying?

Thanks for posting on this book, Scot. I saw it at Eighth Day and hoped you would do a series on it. My hope is materialized.
I too noticed the absence of 3Q authors and wondered about the reason. I surmised that the Pope surely knows the literature.
Now, to my question which betrays my ignorance. Is there really that much that is totally new in the 3Q which is not embryonically in the German theologians’ opus?

I think the Pope details his reasons and methodology in the preface/foreward and in a little note before the bibliography which I reproduce, in part, below:

As explained in the Foreword, this book presupposes historical-critical exegesis and makes use of its findings, but it seeks to transcend this method and to arrive at a genuinely theological interpretation of the scriptural texts. It is not the aim here to enter into the debates of historical-critical research. I have therefore made no attempt to compile a comprehensive Bibliography which would in any case be impossible….” p. 365

I for one, as an ordinary layperson who occasionally reads more academic literature, am certainly not going to quibble about a theological approach. Hoorah!
I am half way through this book and it is, simply, delightful. I can think of some of my (protestant) teachers and ministers smiling and saying, yes yes.
It is a pity that he left the infancy narratives until the second volume but even there he shows another approach: the pastoral. For while he says this is not an exercise in the Magisterium and his personal search for the face of the Lord, he postponed discussion “because it struck me as the most urgent priority to present the figure and the message of Jesus in his public ministry, and so to help foster the growth of a living relationship with him.” p. xxiv
And another note. The Pope taught and studied in the field of patristics and dogmatic theology, not New Testament or Biblical Studies – not that he isn’t widely read. Perhaps some are expecting too much from him?

#7 Jeff – this (rather misguided) review by Geza Vermes nevertheless has a good brief summary of the quests for the historical Jesus which may be of use to you.

soomah

[...] Wie es schon andere vor mir geschrieben haben, geht Ratzinger gut auf die aktuelle Literatur über Jesus ein, ignoriert aber einige wichtige Autoren wie Borg, Wright, Crossan oder dem Jesus-Seminar usw. Nach meiner Online-Suche in der Vatikanischen Bibliothek fehlen ihnen die Bücher von Wright. Na gut, kommt vielleicht noch. [...]

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