The Historical Jesus in Context, edited by Amy-Jill Levine, Dale C. Allison, Jr., and John Dominic Crossan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006. 440 pp. $22.95.
Most surveys on the Synoptic Jesus fall into four categories: those that are history-oriented and scholarly; those that focus on specific problems of history, literary composition, style, language, redaction, and/or combination thereof; those that are scholarly yet have a semi-popular appeal; and those that present a believers' Christ from Calvary to the Second Coming. This volume is definitely not of the fourth variety; it is, however, an amalgam of the first three categories. Contained herein are the efforts …