Review of John Dickson's "Life of Jesus"

Phil Long at Reading Acts recently posted a review of Dickson's Life of Jesus. You can read and excerpt below and find the rest here.

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"Part Five concerns the death of Jesus.  This is by far the best section of the book.  He begins with a brief overview of crucifixion in the Roman and Jewish world (chapter 14) and then offers a nice synopsis the reasons for Jesus’ crucifixion (chapter 15) and then Jesus’ own view of why he had to die (chapter 16).  He emphasizes the meaning of Passover and how Jesus’ death was foreshadowed in the Exodus events.

Part Six is deals with the resurrection and the application of Jesus’ resurrection to the atonement. Chapter 17 contains several of the typical arguments for a historical resurrection (the empty tomb and eye-witnesses).  Chapter 18 and 19 are perhaps the main point of the book – why does the death and resurrection of Jesus matter?  First, it is the basis of forgiveness of sin. In the atonement, humans can be right with God. Second, the Jesus is the basis of living a new life of forgiveness."