Windows on Jesus: Methods in Gospel Exegesis

Rating:
Summary: Impressive, scholarly, accessible, systematic introduction.
Review: In Windows On Jesus, Wim Weren (Professor of New Testament Exegesis in the Theological Faculty of the University of Tilburg, The Netherlands) provides a "reader friendly" and illuminating survey of the Gospels based on his many years of teaching university students. Professor Weren focuses on "synchronic" approaches which concentrate on the gospel texts. The literary aspects are in the foreground, including discussions of the limits of a text, structural analysis, narrative analysis, and meaning in context. Then he proceeds to examining "diachronic" approaches, examining the phenomenon that texts in the Gospels go back to early traditions, including discussion of historical criticism, form and redaction criticism, consideration of duplicate and triple texts, and the relation between John and the Synoptics. Professor Weren also examines relations between Gospel texts and other passages in the Bible, Jewish exegesis, and the apocryphal Gospels. Finally, he addresses the question of the historical Jesus. Brief theoretical introductions are followed by examples and illustrations which serve as an encouragement to a personal exploration of the Gospels. Windows On Jesus is an impressive, scholarly, and accessible introduction to a systematic, insightful, and informative contemplation of the New Testament Gospels.