God''s Final Envoy : Early Christology and Jesus' Own View of His Mission

Choice
"Offers a needed corrective to various views of the historical Jesus offered by the North American Jesus Seminar. Highly recommended for all religion libraries."

International Bulletin of Missionary Research
"Those committed to Christian mission have a stake in de Jonge's clearly written, scholarly study, the fruit of a lifetime's careful, judicious study of the New Testament in its historical setting."

Missiology
"De Jonge offers a clearly argued, non-technical proposal for approaching the canonical documents of the New Testament as a collection of early Christian faith statements which also contains nearly all that is reliably known about Jesus and his mission. . . De Jonge is a careful exegete, willing to employ all the historical critical tools at his disposal in a balanced and judicious fashion. It is remarkable that he does so while also plainly affirming a unique and definitive role for Jesus in the inauguration of God's final reign."

Morna D. Hooker in Theology
"In contrast to many recent sensational (and unlikely!) presentations of the ‘historical' Jesus, Professor de Jonge here offers a much more balanced and less radical interpretation of Jesus' aims. . . One can confidently recommend his book as a useful account not only of the problems, but also of a possible approach to their solution. Students and clergy, and indeed anyone who is concerned with the origins of Christian belief, would find it useful."

The Bible Today
"This is a succinct and serious study that brings important balance to this difficult topic."

Journal of Theological Studies
"This is an investigation that takes pains neither to go beyond the evidence nor to eschew probabilities because certainties are not to be had. It builds on and draws from much of the author's previous work, but is a substantially new study that is both persuasive and of considerable value."