The age of the Third Quest for the Historical Jesus might also end up being called the age of Big Thick Books About Jesus. Add to that pile by Meier and Brown this first of five volumes by N. T. Wright --- and pray for the sake of your bookshelves that the volumes do not keep growing as they progress!

Then again, for the sake of your information, you may wish to pray the opposite. Wright is a writer of admirable erudition, long and careful on detail. This first volume lays the groundwork for the rest of the series, and like James Michener, this writer goes back to the amoebas before he gets the story going. He begins by suggesting a study method of "critical realism" for consideration of historical knowledge --- a well-studied backhanded slap at the radical elements of the critical school who propose the wildest Jesus you ever imagined. And then we are in for our own wild ride, a genuine treat. Wright explores in detail the diversity of first century Judaism, with focus on worldviews, eschatology, and messianic expectations. He closes with a similar and summary sketch of early Christianity.