Eerdmans, 2005, 239 pp., $16.99,
www.eerdmans.com
Did you hear the one about the guy who did all his homework, then helped the teacher correct everyone else’s papers? He wrote this book. Thus, the skeptic who has also done his homework on the validity of New Testament claims, primarily Jesus’ claim to be the one Savior of the world, will find a book worth his time and intellect. A brief, sense-making history lesson on the Enlightenment sets the stage for Edwards’ look at numerous challenges to and questions about the Christian faith from the Jesus Seminar to Jesus’ self-consciousness to the Gospel and Postmodernism to Soteriological Pluralism. Edwards asks questions on behalf of intellectuals and skeptics with painstakingly detailed research-based information.
A labor of scholarly love, it’s laborious for the vocabulary-challenged but an invaluable education in New Testament, Christological, and worldview studies. Also, it has great footnotes for people who like a heavy side of reference minutiae with their cerebral meal.
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Danette Matty, freelance writer and 18-year youth ministry volunteer in Minnesota
