1. The Search for the Historical Jesus

2. New Testament Portraits of Jesus

3. History of Christology: From Nicaea to Chalcedon

4. History of Christology: Developments After Chalcedon

5. Contemporary Christologies

• John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (New York: Doubleday, 1991-1994), 2 volumes to date, hardcover, $35-40 per volume. This is an extraordinary achievement: the most thorough and well-balanced study of historical Jesus in decades. It is massive (volume 2 is nearly 1000 pages). But Meier writes with great clarity, and relegates technical issues to the (very lengthy) endnotes. Basically for more advanced students. Probably 2 more volumes will be forthcoming.

• E.P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus (New York: Allan Lane / Penguin Books, 1993) NEW in paperback, $13. A very good and balanced account from a leading Protestant scholar.

• Luke Timothy Johnson, The Real Jesus: the Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1995), NEW in paperback, $12. The Jesus Seminar (John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, & Burton Mack) made headlines last Easter in Time, Newsweek, and U.S. New & World Report with their extravagant claims about the historical Jesus. Johnson brilliantly demolishes their claims, and sets out an excellent mainstream response.

• John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: the Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992). Crossan is flamboyant, outspoken, and one of the leaders of the so-called Jesus Seminar. This is his most thorough and careful study. Crossan thinks of Jesus as a social revolutionary. He also tends to treat apocryphal gospels like the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Peter on par with the 4 canonical gospels. His most radical interpretations come out most clearly in his more recent books: Jesus: A Radical Biography (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994) and Who Killed Jesus? (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1996), in which he argues that Jesus’ body was never buried, but was eaten by dogs and birds and dumped by the Romans in a trash heap. Be alert to Crossan’s biases.

• Marcus J. Borg, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: the Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith, (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1994). One of the leading figures of the Jesus Seminar.
• Marcus J. Borg, Jesus: a New Vision: Spirit, Culture, and the Life of Discipleship (San Francisco: HarperSan Francisco, 1991).
• Gunther Bornkamm, Jesus of Nazareth (New York: Harper, 1960). A classic.
• James H. Charlesworth, ed., Jesus' Jewishness: Exploring the Place of Jesus within Early Judaism (New York: Crossroad, 1991).
• James H. Charlesworth, Jesus Within Judaism: New Light from Exciting Archeological Discoveries, Anchor Bible Reference (New York: Doubleday, 1988).
• James H. Charlesworth, Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Anchor Bible Reference (New York: Doubleday, 1992), NEW in paperback, $18.
• C.H. Dodd, The Founder of Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1970). A classic.
• Joseph A. Fitzmyer, A Christological Catechism: New Testament Answers, revised edition (New York: Paulist Press, 1991) paperback, $15. A brilliant, dense summary of what contemporary scholars are saying about the historical Jesus.
• Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology I: The Proclamation of Jesus (London: SCM Press, 1971). A superb, but technical study of distinctive features of the preaching of the historical Jesus.
• Albert Nolan, Jesus Before Christianity, rev. ed. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992). A fine presentation from a South African liberation theologian. Readable.
• E.P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985).
• Donald Senior, Jesus: A Gospel Portrait, revised edition (New York: Paulist Press, 1992) paperback, $10. For beginners.
• Gerald Sloyan, Jesus in Focus: A Life in its Setting (Mystic, CN: Twenty-Third Publications, 1983).
• Geza Vermes, The Religion of Jesus the Jew (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993).
• Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew: a Historian's Reading of the Gospels (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981). A very influential interpretation.
• N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, Vol 2 of Christian Origins and the Question of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997). A well-argued (and often humorous) challenge to the Jesus Seminar.

• Graham N. Stanton, The Gospels and Jesus, Oxford Bible Series (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989) NEW in paperback, $16. A good balanced introduction to the New Testament and the historical Jesus. Good for newcomers.

• Paula Fredriksen, From Jesus to Christ: the Origin of the New Testament Images of Jesus (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988) paperback, $18. A very good summary of the different christologies of the New Testament. See especially chapter 3. She also offers a good treatment on the cultural world of Jesus.

• Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to New Testament Christology (New York: Paulist Press, 1994) paperback, $10.
• Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives of Matthew and Luke (New York: Doubleday, 1977), paperback.
• Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Passian Narratives of the Four Gospels (New York: Doubleday, 1994). A masterful study.
• Oscar Cullman, The Christology of the New Testament, rev. ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster / John Knox, 1963) paperback, $15.
• Victor Paul Furnish, Jesus According to Paul, Understanding Jesus Today (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) paperback, $10.
• Robert M. Grant, Jesus After the Gospels: the Christ of the Second Century (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1990), hardcover, $15.
• Howard Clark Kee, Jesus in History: an Approach to the Study of the Gospels (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1996), paperback, $12. An able survey.
• Jack Dean Kingsbury, Jesus Christ in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Proclamation Commentaries (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 19__).
• Jack Dean Kingsburg, The Christology of Mark's Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989).
• Robert A. Krieg, Story-Shaped Christology: The Role of Narratives in Identifying Jesus Christ (New York: Paulist Press, 19__).
• John P. Meier, The Mission of Christ and His Church: Essays on Christology and Ecclesiology (Wilmington, DL: Michael Glazier, 1990).
• John Painter, The Quest for the Messiah: the History, Literature, and Theology of the Johannine Community (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993).
• Vernon K. Robbins, Jesus the Teacher: A Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation of Mark (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992).
• John J. Rousseau & Rami Arav, Jesus and His World: an Archeological and Cultural Dictionary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995).
• Rudolph Schnackenburg, Jesus in the Gospels: a Biblical Christology, trans. O.C. Dean, Jr. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995).

• Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1983) paperback, $18. A good place to start. It treats the politics surrounding the councils and has good summaries of the major theological debates. Some of his interpretations (especially on the Council of Nicaea) seem dated and would be challenged by some recent scholars.

• R.P.C. Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: the Arian Controversy, 318-381 AD (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1988), hardback, $60. A massive 900-page study of Nicaea, Athanasius, and the Cappadocians by one of the deans of patristic studies. This is the finest and the most exhaustive treatment of the theology of the trinitarian controversy.

• John A. McGuckin, St. Cyril of Alexandria: the Christological Controversy: Its History, Theology and Texts, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae XXIII (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), hardcover, $150. A superb and unusually thorough analysis of the clash between Cyril and Nestorius and the eventual resolution at the Council of Ephesus. It also includes a valuable new translation of the key documents.

• Aloys Grillmeier, Christ in the Christian Tradition, Vol. 1: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon, revised ed., trans. John Bowden (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1975), hardcover, $50. Widely regarded as the most comprehensive treatment of patristic christology; rather technical.

• Angelo DiBerardino and Basil Studer, ed., History of Theology I: The Patristic Period, trans., Matthew J. O’Connell (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1996) hardcover, $100.
• Charles Kannengiesser, Athanase d'Alexandre, Évêque et Écrivain: Une lecture des traités Contre les Ariens, Theologie historique 70 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1983).
• Charles Kannengiesser, Arius and Athanasius: Two Alexandrian Theologians (London: Variorum Reprints, 1991), hardcover.
• J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, 5th edition (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1978) paperback, $12.
• J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 3rd edition (London: Longman, 1972) paperback, $18. Superb!
• Rebecca Lyman, Christology and Cosmology: Models of Divine Activity in Origen, Eusebius, and Athanasius, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Clarendon Press / Oxford U. Press, 1993), hardcover $40.
• John A. McGuckin, trans., St. Cyril of Alexandria: On the Unity of Christ (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995) paperback, $7.
• Frederick W. Norris, Faith Gives Fullness to Reasoning: the Five Theological Orations of Gregory of Nazianzus, trans., Lionel Wickham and Frederick Williams, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae Volume XIII (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991), hardcover, $130. Superb translation & commentary.
• Richard A. Norris, ed., The Christological Controversy, Sources of Early Christian Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), paperback, $13. A fine collection of the major sources.
• Richard A. Norris, Manhood and Christ: A Study in the Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963) out of print.
• Jaroslav Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600), volume 1 of The Christian Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971) paperback, $12. Superb, but very distilled; presumes you know the facts.
• Alvyn Pettersen, Athanasius (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1995), paperback, $18. NEW.
• G.L. Prestige, Fathers and Heretics: Six Studies in Dogmatic Faith (London: SPCK, 1940). A classic; dated, but excellent.
• Manlio Simonetti, La crisi ariana nel iv secolo, Studia Ephemerides (Rome: Augustianum, 1975).
• Basil Studer, Trinity and Incarnation: The Faith of the Early Church, ed. Andrew Louth (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1994), paperback, $20.
• Lionel R. Wickham, ed., Cyril of Alexandria: Selected Letters (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983). Excellent translations with Greek text. See the fine introduction by Wickham.
• Peter Widdicombe, The Fatherhood of God from Origen to Athanasius, Oxford Theological Monographs (New York: Clarendon Press / Oxford U. Press, 1994) hardcover, $55.
• Frances Young, The Making of the Creeds (Philadelphia: Trinity Press, 1991) paperback, $14.
• Frances Young, From Nicaea to Chalcedon (London: SCM, 1983) paperback, $14. Excellent bibliography.

• Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985) paperback $10. Pelikan traces how each age drew on images from its culture to shape its unique portrait of Jesus. It is especially enlightening in the way it treats important episodes too often neglected. Not always an easy book—but it treats a complex history with good care.

• John Meyendorff, Christ in Eastern Christian Thought (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1987) paperback, $9. The classic treatment of Christology in the Orthodox East (something most Latin Christians know almost nothing about). Greeks wrestled with issues on the divinity and humanity of Christ with great sensitivity—something we Western Christians could learn much from.

• Bernard McGinn, "The God Beyond God: Theology and Mysticism in the Thought of Meister Eckhart," Journal of Religion 61 (1981): 1-19.
• Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982) paperback, $16. Essays on Cistercian spirituality.
• Brian Davies, The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (New York: Clarendon Press / Oxford University Press, 1992) NEW in paperback, $20.
• G.R. Evans, Anselm, Outstanding Christian Thinker Series (Wilton, CT: Morehouse Publishing, 1989) paperback, $8.
• Andrew Louth, Maximus the Confessor (London: Routledge, 1996), paperback $20.
• Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: the Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) paperback, $22.
• R.W. Southern, St. Anselm: A Portrait in a Landscape (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990) NEW in paperback, $20. This has a brilliant chapter on the influential Cur Deus Homo.

• Karl Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity, trans. William V. Dych (New York: Crossroad, 1985). Rahner is probably the greatest Catholic theologian of the twentieth century. This is a mini-summa of his theology and includes over 150 pages on his christology.

• Jon Sobrino, Christology at the Crossroads: A Latin American Approach (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1978). Sobrino is a Spanish Jesuit who has spent his career working among the poor of El Salvador and was one of the survivors of the murder of the Jesuits at the UCA. This is one of the classic works of liberation theology.

• Walter Kasper, Jesus the Christ (New York: Paulist, 1976) paperback, $12. One of the most balanced and careful of modern studies—often used a textbook for graduate students. While thorough, it is also very Germanic and can make for dense reading.

• Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale: The Mystery of Easter, trans. Aidan Nichols (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmanns, 1993).
• Franz Josef van Beeck, Christ Proclaimed: Christology as Rhetoric, Theological Inquiries (New York: Paulist Press, 1979).
• Leonardo Boff, Jesus Christ Liberator (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1978).
• Raymond E. Brown, Jesus: God and Man: Modern Biblical Reflections (New York: Paulist Press, 1967).
• Michael Cook, The Jesus of Faith: a Study of Christology (New York: Paulist Press, 1980).
• Jon Sobrino, Jesus the Liberator: a Historical-Theological Reading of Jesus of Nazareth (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993).
• Elizabeth A. Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Discourse (New York: Crossroad, 1992). A path-breaking feminist view.
• Elizabeth A. Johnson, Consider Jesus: Waves of Renewal in Christology (New York: Crossroad, 1990). A good survey of recent approaches.
• Abraham Malherbe and Wayne Meeks, ed., The Future of Christology: Essays in Honor of Leander E. Keck (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993)
• Gerald O’Collins, Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Christ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) paperback, $18. NEW.
• Gerald O’Collins, Interpreting Jesus (New York: Paulist Press, 1983).
• Wolfgang Pannenberg, Jesus God and Man (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977).
• Lucien Richard, Christ, the Self-Emptying of God (New York: Paulist Press, 1997). NEW.
• Edward Schillebeeckx, Jesus: An Experiment in Christology (New York: Seabury Press, 1979).
• Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ: The Experience of Jesus as Lord (New York: Crossroad, 1980).