Introduction

This is an introductory guide to the ways Jesus is depicted in the New Testament. Both college students and the general reader will find here a variety of New Testament understandings of Jesus that are rooted in critical reading of the four gospels and Pauline letters.

This new edition adds historical context to the portraits of Jesus as each document is somewhat shaped by historical factors. This work presumes neither religious faith nor lack of faith; its aim is to inform and to stimulate some fundamental questions as well as to give the readers portraits as synthetic balance to the vital work of analysis.