David Wenham (b.1945), scholar
David Wenham (b.1945) is a British theologian.
Biography
Works
Books
"Good news for the needy. Bad news for the power brokers. Jesus came into the world announcing a new order where Satan is overthrown and broken relationships are restored. Jesus' most vivid portraits of this new kingdom are found in the parables.David Wenham explores the splendor and subtleties of Jesus' world-changing message, offering a nontechnical but comprehensive look at dozens of Jesus' stories. Bringing them to life by explaining their first-century religious and social setting, Wenham never fails to illumine their significance for today."
- "This book provides a broad, popular look at the relationship between Paul and Jesus. Wenham studies the Gospels and Paul's letters, systematically compares the teachings of Jesus and Paul, and reveals the intriguing connections and differences between the two. His conclusions make this volume a ground-breaking work with exciting implications."
- "An account of the life and teaching of Paul, comparing the accounts in Acts with the accounts given by Paul himself in his earlier epistles. The author explores how much of the teaching of Jesus was known to Paul. He makes a strong case for the historical reliability of the gospel accounts and concludes that Paul was a faithful follower of Jesus (a view commonly disputed)."
- "Was St Paul a distorter of Jesus' original message, or a faithful follower? Over recent years some critics of Christianity have claimed that while Jesus was a gifted teacher and a man of unparalleled kindness, St Paul was the true founder of Christianity, which he based on a delusional mistake: the idea that Jesus was God. This theory has found its way into academia, churches, newspapers, and, most recently, novels. In Did St Paul Get Jesus Right? respected New Testament scholar David Wenham looks at the historical evidence for such claims. Comparing the life and message of Jesus with the writings of St Paul, he offers a thoughtful exploration of their relationship, concluding that far from imagining Christianity, Paul was the messenger of an inherited faith."
"Jesus changed our world forever. But who was he and what do we know about him? David Wenham's accessible volume is a concise and wide-ranging engagement with that enduring and elusive subject. Exploring the sources for Jesus and his scholarly reception, he surveys information from Roman, Jewish, and Christian texts, and also examines the origins of the gospels, as well as the evidence of Paul, who had access to the earliest oral traditions about Jesus. Wenham demonstrates that the Jesus of the New Testament makes sense within the first century CE context in which he lived and preached. He offers a contextualized portrait of Jesus and his teaching; his relationship with John the Baptist and the Qumran community (and the Dead Sea Scrolls); his ethics and the Sermon on the Mount, his successes and disappointments. Wenham also brings insights into Jesus' vision of the future and his understanding of his own death and calling."
