Putting Jesus in His Place - book review

Putting Jesus in His Place The Case for the Deity of Christ
Robert M. Bowman Jr and J. Ed Komoszewski
Kregel Publications 2007
ISBN 978-0-8254-2983-5
£11.99; pbk; 392 pp

What do we think of Jesus? That is perhaps the most important question ever asked. There have been a myriad of answers: a rebel Pharisee (Hyam Maccoby), a failed Jewish revolutionary (H S Reimarius), a magician (Morton Smith), a great moral teacher and example (E Renan), a social worker (Edward Norman), a man who never was (G A Wells), the husband of Mary Magdalene (Barbara Thiering), a myth for our time (Don Cupit) or divine but not human (Docetism), human but not divine (Ebionitism) and God incarnate, human and divine.

No historian denies the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth, what is more controversial is his divinity. As F F Bruce wrote: "The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar. It is not historians who propagate the 'Christ-myth' theories." The case for the deity of Christ is clearly presented in this book by Bowman and Komoszewski.

The authors use the acronym HANDS to examine the evidence for the deity of Christ:

Honours: Jesus shares the honours of God
Attributes: Jesus shares the attributes of God
Names: Jesus shares the names of God
Deeds: Jesus shares the deeds that God does
Seat: Jesus shares the seat of God's throne

The book is split into five parts, each part examines one of the aspects outlined above.

The honours shared by Jesus and God include: worship and prayer; the attributes shared include preexistence, being eternal, uncreated; the shared names include: I Am, first and last, alpha and omega, saviour, King of kings, Lord of lords; the deeds include: creating, speaking with divine authority, forgiving sins, ruling over the forces of nature; the seat includes: claiming to be equal with God, ruling over all things and ruling forever.

It provides an excellent overview of the divinity of Christ drawing upon biblical and non-biblical sources. It provides a powerful and compelling cumulative case for the deity of Christ.

There are 75 pages of notes, two pages of recommended resources and a 26-page Scripture index. There is also an accompanying website, here, with further resources.

The book is very accessible, in terms of reading, layout (lots of nice tables) and price!

Available in the UK from:
Amazon
Book depository
Wesley Owen