A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesus: Reading the Gospels on the Ground
Studying the Historical Jesus on Location"A Hitchhiker's Guide to Jesusis a wonderful travel guide for pilgrims perplexed by the multiple maps hawked by recent scholarship. But it is also an invitation for homebound believers to join a journey of discovery to the mysterious places where history meets hope. Bruce Fisk is a wise and imaginative tour guide, and this book will open new angles of vision for readers seeking to investigate the path of Jesus."--Richard B. Hays, Duke University Divinity School"Bruce Fisk has possibly written the most creative, fascinating, and informed book on the Gospels in a generation. . . . 'Genius' could well describe many of the pages in the book. Fisk is a first-rate scholar as well as a brilliant communicator. Every New Testament teacher owes it to his or her students to consider this as a fresh new text on the Gospels."--Gary M. Burge, Wheaton College"With warmth, wit, and penetrating insight, Fisk writes for all who find themselves fascinated by the enigmatic prophet from Nazareth yet unwilling to settle either for the naive certainties of 'simple faith' or for the latest 'assured results' of biblical criticism."--Ross Wagner, Princeton Theological Seminary"This is really three books in one. It is a (very hip) college textbook written by an expert: an introduction to New Testament criticism, including the quest for the historical Jesus, the synoptic problem, and so on. It is also a kind of handbook to travel and politics in modern Israel. And finally, it is a novel with a protagonist named Norm on a personal quest for a faith that will hold up in the face of honest questions. . . . What a satisfying read!"--Bruce Hindmarsh, Regent College"Students often find the academic study of the Gospels disorienting as they discover a previously unexplored world of literary, historical, and theological questions opening up before them. . . . Fisk proves himself a reliable guide--knowledgeable, candid, steady, and witty--through this territory."--Marianne Meye Thompson, Fuller Theological Seminary"A lively romp that combines travelogue with quest narrative. . . . Along the way, we are introduced to the key issues that occupy modern scholars, and we discover why those issues would matter to people in the world today. . . . This is definitely a creative way of granting students access to modern and postmodern fields of New Testament study."--Mark Allan Powell, Trinity Lutheran Seminary"I've never seen (nor imagined!) anything like this book. . . . Readers traverse the territories of biblical scholarship, Judaism, Greco-Roman religion, and the Christian tradition in a journey of personal and spiritual reflection. . . . Fisk has inaugurated a new genre in biblical studies that deftly combines academic study with the human experience."--Kenton L. Sparks, Eastern University