Jesus in History, Legend, Scripture, and Tradition: A World Encyclopedia. Edited by Leslie Houlden and Antone Minard. Santa Barbara, CA; ABC-CLIO, 2015. 2 vols. Acid free $189 (ISBN 978-1-61069-803-0). Ebook available (978-1-61069-804-7) call for pricing.
This encyclopedia is a revision of Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia, edited by Leslie Houlden and published in 2003. The 2003 introduction, included and written by Houlden (then emeritus, Kings College, London), notes an intended focus on “as many aspects as possible of the phenomenon of Jesus” (xxv). The 2015 introduction, written by Minard (Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia) notes intent to respond to “curiosity that comes from the intersection of religion with other avenues of enquiry: science; other religions; or interests in anthropology, comparative religion, folklore, history, literature, and the social sciences.” He also points to a shift in focus towards “interests of a more general American and international audience” (xxxv–xxxvi). The editors observe that “fascination” with Jesus “continues to keep him relevant even as the overall religiosity of the West declines” (xxxvi). There clearly is ongoing interest in Jesus, and there are similar reference resources. Among others, Evan’s four-volume edited work The Historical Jesus (Routledge 2004) seeks to show “how study of the historical Jesus took shape, how it has evolved, and where we are today” (2). More recently, another very large four-volume work, Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus, edited by Holmen and Porter (Brill 2011), states its aim to serve “not only as a historical encapsulation of the topics” of the past, but as a “worthy expression of the range of viable thought currently available in historical studies” (xvii).
The current volumes have a total of 170 topical entries. The alphabetically arranged content runs from Adoptianism, Alexandrian Theology, and Anabaptists in volume 1 to Wittgenstein, Work, and World War I in volume 2. Topics more specific to Jesus in volume 1 include his death, family, miracles, parables, and teaching; an essay on his resurrection is in volume 2. About sixty entries were dropped from the previous edition, and thirty new were added. Many of those dropped discussed scholars such as Auden, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Harnack, Macquarrie, Meier, Pannenberg, Tillich, and Wright. Others dropped covered Irish, German, French, English, and Chinese Christianity. Buddhism and Hinduism are not included this time, though Islam and Judaism remain. New entries include “Charismatic Christianity, Deism, Ecumenical Councils, Material Culture, Religion in Television, Saints, Slavery, and Utilitarianism” (vii–xi). Another new feature is a set of “primary documents”; these include “Sayings of Jesus from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri Collection (Fifth-Sixth Centuries CE),” “Pliny the Younger Requests Instructions from Emperor Trajan on How to Deal with Followers of Christ,” and an “Excerpt from Cardinal John Henry Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864)” (v).
An alphabetical table of contents is at the beginning of each volume, as is a “Topical list of entries.” The topical listing has sixteen useful categories for grouping entries. A key category is “Jesus: Life and Times” which contains thirty-nine entries (xv). Others categories include “Christianity: Major Forms and Styles,” “Culture,” and “Ethical Topics,” as well as a broader themes such as “Power,” “Sexuality,” and “Wealth.” There is a large category “Schools of Thoughts, Thinkers, Movements, and Events” with subsections based on time periods. Another helpful section found at the opening of each volume is entitled “How to use this book.”
The encyclopedia’s entries, which vary in length from two pages to more than fifteen, are academic but also easy to read. This approachable writing is a strong point. The five-page entry for “Resurrection” cites New Testament writings in a general account of the resurrection, then it comments on the event as a continuation and vindication of Jesus’s career, the resurrection in the New Testament world, and interpreting the resurrection. As with all, this entry includes a list for further reading, along with cross references. In comparison, the entry for “The Resurrection of Jesus” in Brill (2011) is twenty-three pages, has footnotes that cite and discuss points from New Testament and non-Biblical sources, but has no cross references.
In addition to the editors, a list of eighty-eight other contributors is included at the back of volume 2, although, unlike the first edition, the titles of contributions for each are not found with the author names in this list. Volume 2 has a nine-page glossary and a fifteen-page index. A fifteen-page general bibliography is also provided, though only two items were more recently published than 2003.
This resource could be valuable for public libraries and for undergraduate collections. Also, those who have the 2003 edition (cloth or ebook) might want the ebook for the new content and for the expanded flexible access possible. Even libraries supporting advanced work may find this a valuable tool for contributions made to dialogues on topics related to the study of Jesus.—Paul Fehrmann, Subject Librarian for Philosophy, Religion, and the Social Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio