Me, Me, Me

So, every now and then I complain about wanting a book. Here I am, once again, to complain about wanting another book. I know - how selfish am I with all my wants, right?

First and foremost, I am still after Darrell Bock's Jesus According to Scripture. The book is not in stock anywhere - but I have found it at Koorong for $18 with a 6-8 week shipping waiting period. However, the fact that the book is well over twice the price everywhere else (including another listing of it on Koorong) I am not sure if the price is right. I hope it is - but I do also hope the shipping time isn't that long!

To the reason of this post - I want another book. Michael F. Bird, an Aussie scholar teaching in Scotland, has written a historical Jesus book on Jesus' self-identification as the Messiah. The text, pictured, is titled Are You the One Who is to Come: The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Question. Personally, from a purely naturalistic historical perspective I see it more than reasonable that Jesus may very well have seen himself as the Messiah, ushering in a new Messianic age. C'mon, he wouldn't have been the only one. We learn of a number of Messianic claimants towards the end of the Second Temple Period. Just like with writing off the predictions of the destruction of the temple despite Jesus not being the only person doing such pre-fall, when it comes to Jesus and the gospels - we apparently cannot know anything. I guess this sort of double-standard is why I admire the work of the IBR on the historical Jesus.

Anyway - back to obtaining the book. The price (~$30 seems reasonable), however, out of stock. Apparently 10 are on order at Koorong whilst Word lists it as not yet being published.

I hope to soon evaluate the thesis myself.

PS. Just before I go, I should plug Michael Bird's blog.