You are the Christ; we are your church. Christ and Community: The Gospel Witness to Jesus casts new light on how Jesus's followers sought to faithfully live into the reign of God as recorded in the Gospels. Dr. Henderson traces the contours of Jesus's messiahship found in the four Gospels, but rather than taking each Gospel in turn, she works thematically, treating different aspects of Jesus's mission and identity found across the four accounts. Rather than assuming Jesus's exclusive status, the author exposes Gospel evidence for the clear communal implications of his messiahship. It turns out that the Gospels do more than simply affirm that Jesus is the Christ; they cast a vision of messianic community for those who would call him Lord, in the first century and beyond. This accessible introduction offers a case for Christ and community that answers perplexing questions that have long plagued NT study. Christ and Community: The Gospel Witness to Jesus, by Suzanne Watts Henderson. One approach to understanding the Gospels as scripture is to consider their functions--specifically, how these writings describe and reinforce essential connections between Jesus' followers and their Lord. Written as an introductory textbook, Christ and Community can help even seasoned exegetes grasp the means by which the Gospels' stories depict Jesus' work and identity in ways that equip Christian communities to make sense of their own work and identity. The Christian Century - Oct 07, 2015
