Who was Jesus?
JAMES D. G. DUNN

Jesus
ED KESSLER

The coincidence of and difference between these two small books, each aimed at the general reader, is in itself fascinating. Jesus by Ed Kessler is the latest in a series of short studies of selected “pocket giants” of history from Napoleon to George Best; Who was Jesus? by James Dunn is one of several “little books of guidance” from an enterprising Christian publisher.

Who was Jesus? is a masterly exposition by a well-known Christian expert: a firm, coherent account, never overstated, informed by a fully-digested grasp of the latest research. Dunn is not afraid to explain that some historical facts about Jesus are more certain than others: we can be more sure of the presence of the Holy Family in the obscure village of Nazareth than that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Some elements, while already present in Jesus’ message, were subsequently much developed in the early Christianity of the New Testament. Thus the fourth gospel is a free elaboration of the message of Jesus, writes Dunn, though “most of the dialogues are rooted in the sort of sayings which the Synoptic Evangelists recorded”.