Jesus and the Restoration of Israel

N. T. Wright’s Jesus and the Victory of God is widely heralded as one of the most significant and brilliantly argued works in the current "third quest" of the historical Jesus. In this second volume of his multivolume investigation entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God, Wright uncovers a Jesus that most historians and believers have never met.

Rooted and engaged in the soil of Israel’s history, its first-century plight, and its prophetic hope, this portrait of Jesus has set new terms of discourse and debate. Through Wright’s lens, familiar sayings and actions of Jesus that have long been taken to mean one thing now look totally different. Yet amidst all that is new in Wright’s portrait, there emerges a profile of Jesus that bears striking lines of continuity with the Jesus of Christian belief and worship. This resemblance has captured the attention of confessing Christian biblical scholars and theologians.

Jesus and the Restoration of Israel is a serious attempt to offer a multifaceted and critical appreciation and assessment of Wright’s work. Essays focus on Israel’s continuing exile, Jesus as prophet, his Christology, apocalyptic sayings, parables, and ethics. The entire portrait of Jesus is evaluated from the standpoint of philosophy and systematic theology. Wright then responds to the essayists, and Marcus Borg, a prominent Jesus scholar and Wright’s frequent dialogue partner, offers his critical appraisal of the discussion.