Sinners

A welcome and innovative contribution to New Testament Studies! Greg Carey sets forth an excellent and innovative example of how to read the character of Jesus from a literary, historical, and theological perspective, with an emphasis on ethics of interpretation for the postmodern world. This bold study is not afraid to take on the topic of Jesus and examine Jesus’ responses to those considered “sinners” in the New Testament. Carey engages traditional topics such as the social and theological concept of sin, sinners and the impure, and the sinlessness of Jesus but he does so with an interpretative twist that brings fresh insight to the New Testament. Carey also examines more postmodern topics such as the masculinity of Jesus, the representation of how early Christians interacted with their neighbors, and with what it means for contemporary Christians take on a sinner consciousness, and its effects upon ecclesial communities and the world at large. In the wake of much conflict throughout the world and the quick casting of the Other as “sinner,” Carey’s work serves as an creative and important study on how to use the New Testament to promote peace rather than intolerance.