New Book Notice: Boyarin, “The Jewish Gospels”

Daniel Boyarin, The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ, (New Press, 2012), $21.95 (Amazon price: $13.42)

The Book of Mormon is often criticized for its “pre-Christian” Christianity.  Daniel Boyarin, as part of the broader contemporary scholarly movement of conceptualizing Jesus in a first century Jewish context, examines early Jewish messianic beliefs, and how they illuminate the New Testament, and sees the Jesus’ messianic claims as entirely Jewish.

For a positive review, see here.

For a more negative perspective, see here.

For other books on Pre-Christian Messianism, see: 

Becker, J. Messianic Expectation in the Old Testament, (Fortress, 1980)

Charlesworth, J. (ed.), The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity, (1992)

Collins, A and J., King and Messiah as Son of God, (Eerdmans, 2008)

Collins, J. The Scepter and the Star, 2nd ed. (Eerdmans, 2010)

Fitzmyer, J. The One Who Is to Come, (Eerdmans, 2007)

Mowinckel, S. He That Cometh, 2nd ed. (Eerdmans, 1956/2005)

Neusner, J. (et.al.), Judaisms and Their Messiahs (Cambridge, 1987)