The Wisdom of Jesus

Charles W. Hedrick is Distinguished Emeritus Professor at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. He is the author of numerous books and articles relating to the study of Christian origins. His most recent book is Unlocking the Secrets of the Gospel According to Thomas (2010).

Hedrick distils a lifetime of learning as he invites and equips us to learn from the wisdom of Jesus in the only way one can learn wisdom: by thinking along with it. Those willing to benefit from Hedrick's expert guidance and ponder the historical Jesus's shrewd observations, dark humour, and paradoxical perspectives, run the real (and exhilarating) risk of changing their minds about what they thought they knew.

• PrefaceIntroduction1 The Problem of the Historical Study of Jesus2 Jesus and the Language of the Gospel3 Early Christian Wisdom4 Surveying the Sages of Ancient Israel5 The Sayings of Jesus: A Preface6 Vestiges of a Discourse7 Parables: Fictional Narratives about the Ordinary8 A Case Study of a Parable: The Fired Manager9 Jesus between the Wisdom Canons of Israel and the ChurchEpilogue: Pondering the Unreliability of the GospelsList of AbbreviationsBibliographyIndex of Ancient SourcesIndex of Modern Authors