WHO IS JESUS?

Most people agree that a man named Jesus lived in the first century in the historical regions surrounding Jerusalem. But what about the Jesus many believe to be the actual Son of God, the Savior of the World? How can anyone know the concrete truth about the Christ of faith? The best way to crack the Jesus code, Dr. Darrell Bock says, is to follow the rules - rules set not by the Church but by historians.

Based on a 10-year study by an international group of historical and biblical scholars, Jesus by the Rules is an examination of key events in Jesus' life that offer sound reasoning for belief in the Christ of Faith based on evidence for the Historical Jesus. Over the last decade, historical and biblical scholars have met for one weekend each year to investigate whether the Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith held any common ground.

The twelve scholars who conducted this study are members of the IBR (Institute for Biblical Research) Jesus Group. Before they began their study, this group of scholars laid out some important rules that were consistently followed in their search and very significantly, these rules were not made by the church or for the church, but by qualified historians. Bock provides the most up-to-date material from this study about Jesus and his world to reconcile the Jesus of History with the Christ of Faith.

Darrell L. Bock is Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He also serves as Professor for Spiritual Development and Culture for the Seminary's Center for Christian Leadership.