Daniel Kirk – A Man Attested by God

Episode: Matt L. and J. Daniel Kirk discuss the humanity of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, and the idea that Jesus’ humanity meant much more than the fact that he could eat, sleep, and become exhausted. Daniel argues that an unintended consequence of the studies that proffer a divine Christology is an underdeveloped human Christology. Matt and Daniel discuss ‘idealized human figures’ in early Judaism, several possible objections to Daniel’s thesis that the Gospels don’t offer a divine Christology, and much more that can be found in the 600 and some odd pages of A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels (Eerdmans, 2016).

Guest: Daniel is the author of Unlocking Romans: Resurrection and the Justification of God (Eerdmans, 2008), Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? A Narrative Approach to the Problem of Pauline Christianity (Baker, 2012), and now A Man Attested by God: The Human Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels (Eerdmans, 2016). He is also an avid blogger at Storied Theology, and hosts his own podcast called The Lectiocast, which follows the common lectionary to help ministers prepare for their upcoming sermons. Daniel is also the Newbigin Fellowship Pastoral Director at the Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco.

Book: In A Man Attested by God J. R. Daniel Kirk presents a comprehensive defense of the thesis that the Synoptic Gospels present Jesus not as divine but as an idealized human figure. Counterbalancing the recent trend toward early high Christology in such scholars as Richard Bauckham, Simon Gathercole, and Richard Hays, Kirk here thoroughly unpacks the humanity of Jesus as understood by Gospel writers whose language is rooted in the religious and literary context of early Judaism. Without dismissing divine Christologies out of hand, Kirk argues that idealized human Christology is the best way to read the Synoptic Gospels, and he explores Jesus as exorcist and miracle worker within the framework of his humanity. (from the eerdmans.com website).