Otto Betz - Böcker

Did the Vatican suppress the publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls? Why has there been such a delay in making them public? Do they radically call in question the Christian understanding of Jesus? These and many other questions have been asked in recent popular books, and there have been charges of fraud, deceit and cover-ups. In Jesus, Qumran and the Vatican, two distinguished German scholars examine these issues and more, producing a highly readable and reliable account of the present state of research on the Scrolls and their significance and implications for Christianity. The result is a scholarly mystery tale which readers will not be able to put down.`A courageous refutation of absurd assertations, half-truths and lies about the Qumran scrolls, the origins of Christianity and the Catholic Church' (Martin Hengel, University of Tubingen).`A telling refutation of the fantastic and extraordinary claims recently made about the Dead Sea Scrolls and their relation to Jesus of Nazareth, early Christianity and the Vatican' (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, SJ, Catholic University of America).`Critics claim the Dead Sea Scrolls prove that the church's portrait of Jesus is grotesquely inaccurate. Other contend that the Vatican has been "hiding" the Scrolls because they would damage the faith of Christians. In an informed and engaging way, Betz and Riesner now speak to these concerns and reveal who are the fools' (James H. Charlesworth, Princeton Theological Seminary).

What can we really know about Jesus ? Are there some basic facts which resist the criticism of even the most sceptical New Testament scholars? Despite the many problems of which modern study of the Gospels has made us aware, can we go beyond the picture of Christ drawn by the theologians of the Early Church to discover Jesus himself? Answers to these questions from Germany have been more often negative than positive since the failure of the 'Quest of the historical Jesus' and the rise of form criticism. In this book, however, a distinguished German New Testament scholar, who has also taught in the United States, argues that our knowledge of the historical Jesus is not as limited as it is sometimes made out to be. Although aware of the arguments of the sceptics, he is ready to set forward in clear and simple terms what we can claim to know of the work and message of Jesus and the way in which he came to be proclaimed as Christ by the Early Church. A notable feature of the book is the use made of the Qumran scrolls. The author points out in a valuable survey of the material just where it illuminates the New Testament record and where it is largely irrelevant.