Markus Bockmuehl teaches biblical and early Christian studies in the University of Oxford, UK, where he is Dean Ireland’s Professor and a Fellow of Keble College. His approach stresses the symbioses of history with theology, of Christianity alongside Judaism, and of exegesis in and as reception especially of the first three Christian centuries. Among his authored books are Seeing the Word: Refocusing New Testament Study (2006), Simon Peter in Scripture and Memory (2012), and Ancient Apocryphal Gospels (2017). Recent publications also include Creation ex Nihilo (2018, ed. with Gary A. Anderson), Austin Farrer (2020, ed. with Stephen Platten), and the English translation of Wolfram Kinzig’s Christian Persecution in Antiquity (2021).

Bockmuehl likens his book to a weekend trip to Switzerland. Can you see the main attractions, tour the important historical locations, visit some local shops and restaurants, all within the timeframe of a weekend excursion? Absolutely … Bockmuehl is intending to take the reader on a weekend trip through various historical considerations that exist within the ongoing discussion regarding Jesus and subsequent Christianity … This Jesus will not only serve as a primer to the discussion but will encourage the reader to continue with the task at hand.