Jesus, the Voice, and the Text

Jesus, the Voice, and the Text is enlightening and easily accessible to scholars of religion and the casual reader alike.

~Martin S. Jaffee, Samuel and Althea Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies, Comparative Religion, & International Studies, University of Washington

Werner Kelber is one of the most influential Biblical scholars of our time. His work on the media dynamics of early Christianity has given us a new paradigm of research and changed our approach to the Gospels and the Gospel tradition as well as other New Testament writings and areas of ancient communication. In this book some prominent scholars use his insights to discuss a vast range of issues related to the hermeneutics of speaking and writing, illustrating the immense influence of Kelber’s thinking. In addition, Kelber himself responds to challenges of his own research and indicates in an admirably upright way the development and great potentials of the new perspective that he has inaugurated.

~Samuel Byrskog, Professor of New Testament Studies, Lund University

For anyone looking for a concise introduction to media studies and Christian origins, or for those of us already engeaged in such studies, this volume provides helpful and accessible discussions of many of the significant issues.

~SCJ

The perspectives presented in this volume challenge some of the most deeply rooted assumptions that shape contemporary biblical studies, especially in the areas of text, form, and literary criticism. The payoff... is a more culturally sensitive and historically rooted appreciation of the origins and use of the biblical texts in the past, as well as the potential to reclaim them in new and creative ways for the present, free from literalistic verse-by-verse exegesis.

~Biblical Theology Bulletin

[Kelber's] comment that others have taken interprertative control of OWG leaves us in no doubt that his work has advanced understanding, evident in this fine collection.

~Diana Woodcock, Journal for the Study of the New Testament