MESSIAH
Jesus – the evidence of history
By Paul Barnett. IVP. 234 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978-1-84474-352-0
One of the great ironies of our secularist age is that its relentless attacks on the historical reliability of the gospel story — whether from the pen of Dan Brown or the reel of a Channel 4 documentary — only serve to fuel the excellent work of Christian scholars like Paul Barnett.
His latest response, Messiah: Jesus — the evidence of history argues that the ‘Christ of faith’ is none other than the ‘Jesus of history’. Walking through over a dozen aspects of the Messiah’s life and ministry, Barnett convincingly shows that the Jesus of the four canonical gospels is the climax of the Bible’s story of God’s plan to save. Far from eroding the Christian faith, in the hands of a trustworthy guide, history is used to shore up the gospel narrative.
