There has been a varied range of studies on Jesus. Though now it seems there is a pause and perhaps opening to new orientation, with the aim not simply to cover old ground or repeat past mistakes. This is a study of Jesus and Christian origins with a primary focus on the Gospels. There have been comprehensive and important contributions, like N. T. Wright's The New Testament and the People of God. At the same time, more defined studies have appeared. The purpose here is not to develop particular New Testament themes as such. Rather, in this volume the writers take up Gospel related topics in the context of the early church in order to illuminate specific baselines for New Testament interpretation and to discern directions toward a new paradigm. There is much to do. The need to take account of reception history and so of the ""external evidence"" for the New Testament documents; also eyewitness and oral tradition as embodied in the Gospel accounts. The genre of the Gospels with reference to biography or history has its own importance. The reception and ""authority"" of the Gospels in the early church marks another baseline. Jesus in his Jewish context and in relation to emerging Christianity is also a critical baseline for interpretation. ""Ben Wiebe and the authors in this volume set out a new methodological paradigm for constructing the Jesus of history and the origins of Christianity. They declare that both the four Gospels and early exterior sources are to be probed in this reconstruction. Their focus is on historical and psychological methods, which from their perspective can establish substantial historical authenticity. This work should be on the book list of all pertinent courses and is a must read for those interested in contemporary, international, cutting edge perspectives on these matters."" --Thomas H. Olbricht, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Religion, Pepperdine University ""Jesus and Christian Origins penetrates deeply into how New Testament studies are done . . . This book is both an introduction to how history and Jesus fit into the New Testament while at the same contributing to each topic discussed. A remarkable achievement "" --Scot McKnight, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary Ben Wiebe served for over twenty years in ministry and taught courses for McMaster University and Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo, Ontario) over several years. From 1994 to 2015 he taught for short terms (fourteen times) in India at Union Biblical Seminary in Pune and at South Asia Institute for Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) in Bangalore. His writing includes the book, Messianic Ethics: Jesus' Proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the Church in Response; essays in journals, including Restoration Quarterly, Interpretation, Horizons for Biblical Theology, Indian Journal of Theology, Dharma Deepika and the Stone-Campbell Journal. He is married to Patti and they are the parents of three children and eight grandchildren. The Hamilton area in Ontario has been home for over three decades.
