Book Review- The Jesus Scandals

How did someone who is widely regarded as teaching all about love, incite so much disagreement amongst his peers?

Broken into stand-alone chapters you can read in a coffee break, this is an easy to read and skilfully assembled account of scandals in Jesus' life and times, what they meant in Jewish and Roman society at the time, and what they can mean for people today.

Instone-Brewer says when disgraceful, embarrassing and shocking details about Jesus are recorded by his friends and supporters, it is much harder to disbelieve them.

A great sermon aid, this book is designed to also be incorporated as part of a talk or study. It is broken into three categories: scandals in Jesus’ life, including his parentage, singleness, approach to alcohol and shameful execution; scandals among Jesus’ friends (scholarship around Mary Magdalene and other ‘Marys’, Judas Iscariot, plus Jesus’ rag-tag group of disciples) and scandals in Jesus’ teaching: polygamy, divorce, and child slaves being treated as objects in Roman culture. All receive thorough and accessible coverage.

Christians and sceptics will find this book from this Senior Research Fellow in Rabbinics and the New Testament at Tyndale House in Cambridge both engaging and thought-provoking. Fans of Philip Yancey’s ‘The Jesus I Never Knew’ will also enjoy. Recommended.

By Emily Dimock