A rainy day's book review: "Christ is the Question"

It has been raining almost constantly here in Cochabamba for the last 24 hours. Sometimes light, sometimes heavy. Given that my carpentry shop is the large front porch (now the refuge of the family cats and dogs) my work on the  bookshelves is on hold.

And speaking of books, here is another review of a book digested during our summer months here.  It is by Wayne A. Meeks and entitled "Christ is the Question" [Westminister John Knox-2006]  Meeks is now professor emeritus from Yale but still writes. I have some of his written work concerning the early Christian movement. Good reading and it would be great if he could live another life and incorporate more of the research into adding to a coherent view of what early Christianity was like.

In some ways this book is a summary of his thoughts on early Christianity after a productive life. Instead of firm statements that "Jesus' life means....." or "Jesus is the answer", we get "Jesus is the question." This book is somewhat in response to the ongoing quest for the "historical Jesus." There is no one view that will prevail of who the historical Jesus was. Paraphrasing Meeks, I would say that Jesus is not so much the "answer" but the prism through which we view life. The question of "who is Jesus to you?" is responded to differently from the family living (or trying to live) on $2 per day in rural Bolivia in contrast with a middle class citizen of a developed country. Is Jesus your 'personal savior' or is he the impulse to get off your duff and help fix the world?  This book is a welcome addition to the Bootman Library.

In the book are several good references to the theologian Hans Frei (summary at Wikipedia). Long on my quest....