“Garner and Parke have written an excellent book which should be in the hands of every Christian. It transcends denominationalism. Reclaiming the Real Jesus presupposes that modern Christianity has lost something of the doctrine of Christ because the wrong questions have been asked about the divinity and humanity of Jesus. In seeking to protect the divinity of Jesus from heretical formulations, sincere Christians have neglected the equally important doctrine of Jesus’ humanity. 

The authors have done a masterful job of opening the Scriptures to show us how Jesus lived His divinity through His humanity. Combining insights from the humanities, historical theology, and biblical theology, Garner and Parke take the reader through numerous passages, showing how Jesus actively obeyed His Father. On almost every page the reader is shown clearly how to apply insights learned from the life of Jesus. Although this is a book that the academician will enjoy, it is also a book that Sunday School teachers, youth group leaders, and the church choir will relish. May God use it to His glory, so that we all may follow in the Lord’s steps.”

 

—Oswald Barnes, PhD (University of Edinburgh) in Greek and New Testament; Secondary Teacher at Veritas in Jackson, MS; former pastor of Presbyterian churches in Alabama and Mississippi

 

“Interest in Jesus will never cease both in the readings by Christians and non-Christians. His life and ministry attract every generation. People desire to know more about Him in order to understand who He is and what He did for human beings.

Larry Garner and Ivan Parke worked together to give readers a portrait of the authentic Christ revealed in the New Testament. Their primary source was, of course, the New Testament, but they have also given prominent ideas written about Jesus throughout Christian history. They shared in Reclaiming the Real Jesus the fascination of the artists with Jesus. They evaluated interests in the twenty-first century about Jesus with such works as Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ and Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code.

Readers will be surprised to learn in this study that much of what they thought of Jesus belongs to traditions, not Scripture.  They will profit from an attempt to look at Jesus from the New Testament perspective.  Readers will find themselves discarding tradition and beliefs that have taken precedent over New Testament insights about Jesus.

    
Reclaiming the Real Jesus looks into technical issues and presents ideas in an easily readable fashion.  It covers a broad spectrum of Jesus’ life and ministry. It will profit those who have read many books about Jesus and those who have never read any books about Jesus.”

 

—Dr. Harold T. Bryson, Chairman, Department of Christian Studies and Philosophy at Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi