Best Contemporary Theology Meme

I’ve been tagged by Patrik Hagman to ‘name three (or more) theological works from the last 25 years (1981-2006) that you consider important and worthy to be included on a list of the most important works of theology of that last 25 years (in no particular order)’.

Instead of looking over my bookshelf and getting myself frustrated at the sheer choice, I thought I’d quickly jot down three books that I consider to be of major importance with a special emphasis on my own field, the New Testament.

1. Larry Hurtado’s Lord Jesus Christ: devotion to Jesus in earliest Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003). This is a massively important work in regard to the development of early Christology, a topic which is in my books, the king of all subjects.


2. Anthony Thiselton’s The First Epistle to the Corinthians: a commentary on the Greek text (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000). This commentary has raised the bar. It is a unique and brilliant blend of deep exegetical insight and theological and historical awareness.


3. Yep, you’ve guessed it: Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the eyewitnesses: the Gospels as eyewitness testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006). This one involves an incredible breadth of learning, and profound theological relevance. It may well be the biggest bomb to be dropped on the playground of historical Jesus research in the last 50 years.

I could name at least another fifteen that could be on this list if I were to sit down and think about it, but it’s getting late so I’ll leave it at just three.