INTRODUCTION
Please feel free to comment on these discussion questions below:
Please feel free to comment on these discussion questions below:
John Bell suggests there are three ways the portrayal of
Jesus minimizes his humanity and his impact on us:
·
Jesus is seen as passive, where birth and cross
are the main focus, not life stories, we tend to neglect his actions, choices
and words;
·
The apostle Paul, the earliest Christian writer, understood
and experienced the symbolism of Jesus – the witness of his resurrection - but
did not have a sense of Jesus' life and teachings;
·
Modern scholarship tends to bring "a hermeneutic
of suspicion" to the stories of the gospels, dividing up what is possibly historical,
what is metaphor and myth.
In contrast, this book will look primarily at gospel stories
that emphasize Jesus’ action and choices, taking all the gospel witnesses into
account.
Bell describes his potential audience: the general reader (I read everything, why
not this?), the curious spectator (what are they saying about Jesus now?), the
enthusiast (I read everything I can about Jesus!) – which one are you?