Intriguing Books about Jesus – Coming Soon! (Gupta)

Since it is the summer and I just sit around all day doing nothing (just kidding!), I did some browsing and discovered some forthcoming books on Jesus and the Gospels. I got very excited about the following:

Joel Green, Conversion in Luke-Acts: Divine Action, Human Cognition, and the People of God (Baker, Dec, 2015). Green is an expert on Luke-Acts and has also spent the last several years linking Scripture and theology to insights from neuroscience. This should be an interdisciplinary feast!

Marianne Meye Thompson. John: A Commentary. NTL (WJK, Nov 2015). There are few more qualified to write a commentary on John than Thompson. I have been waiting a long time for this (500+pages)

Stanley E. Porter. John, His Gospel, and Jesus: In Pursuit of the Johannine Voice. (Eerdmans, Oct 2015).

David E. Garland. A Theology of Mark’s Gospel (Zondervan, Oct, 2015). Garland is an exceptional commentary writer and interpreter of Scripture. This will cull his theological insights from many years of study of this gospel.

Justin J. Meggitt. The Madness of King Jesus: The Real Reasons for His Execution (Tauris, Sep 2015).Meggitt, notable historian of early Christian, deviates from the traditional theory that Jesus was killed because he was a dangerous political agitator. Rather, Meggitt argues that Jesus was killed because the empire thought he was a madman; Jesus, to them, was “an inconsequential and deluded lunatic.” (Meggitt is not arguing that Jesus was a lunatic, but simply that was how the empire saw him)

Matthew Skinner. Intrusive God, Disruptive Gospel: Encountering the Divine in the Book of Acts (Brazos, Sept 2015).Here is the description: “The book emphasizes the disruptive character of the Christian gospel and shows how Acts repeatedly describes God as upsetting the status quo by changing people’s lives, society’s conventions, and our basic expectations of what’s possible. Suited for individual and group study, this book by a New Testament scholar with a gift for popular communication asks serious questions and eschews pat answers, bringing Acts alive for contemporary reflection on the character of God, the challenges of faith, and the church.”

Jeffrey Siker. Jesus, Sin and Perfection in Early Christianity (Cambridge UP, Sept 2015). An historical treatment of how early Christians came to perceive Jesus as sinless.

Fleming Routledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus (Eerdmans, Sept 2015). I have never read anything by Routledge; but this might be my first.

Stephen I. Wright. Jesus the Storyteller (WJK Sept 2015). Wright is a noted expert on the parables. This book focuses on why he told stories and how this contributed to Jesus’ ministry.

Richard Bauckham. Gospel of Glory: Major Themes in Johannine Theology. (Baker, Aug 2015). This, combined with Thompson’s new commentary, makes for a big fall for Johannine studies!