It is never easy for me to select textbooks for a class that I am teaching. No book ever seems to be perfect for the task at hand. Unless one has written the text oneself the forensic orientation always seems a bit skewed from the manner in which class presentations are planned and organized. Among the less than perfect matches there are usually a plethora of texts that are a pretty good fit. But, how does one select from the field of contenders? I have several qualifiers that I use to narrow the field of possible texts.

FIRST, I want a text that has enduring value for the student. I want the text that is used in class to be something that the student can add to his personal library and use as a resource for decades to come.

SECOND, the text must be interesting. Academics are disposed to a trained incapacity that makes them forget what makes a book a good book. It seems that the more years one spends within one’s academic community the more one is prone to forgetting the importance of rhetorical presentation. Agricola described rhetoric as “the utility of truth.” I believe that a good textbook by definition must organize and present the material so that it interests the reader in its contents and encourages a person to learn, discover, and understand.

Using the above criteria I selected Roy Zuck’s Teaching as Jesus Taught and the single volume Hard Sayings of the Bible as textbooks for my New Testament focused study course on the Words of Jesus of Nazareth.

Teaching as Jesus Taught is the most well-written non-fiction book I have read in quite some time. Zuck blends the findings of his significant research with a ton of Scripture, organizes the material in a heuristically challenging manner, and still produce a book that is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I used Teaching as Jesus Taught as an introduction to our study of the words of Jesus of Nazareth. Zuck places proper emphasis upon Jesus as Teacher (Teacher is the fourth most frequently used title for Jesus in the gospels). And, to flesh out just what the Great Teacher taught, Zuck uses questions to organize his material into chapters. His chapter titles provide an effective brief survey of the material so I share them with you here:

• Is It Possible to Teach as Jesus Taught?
• Who Considered Jesus a Master Teacher?
• How Was Jesus Recognized as a Teacher?
• What Made Jesus an Authoritative Teacher?
• What Qualities Marked Jesus as an Outstanding Teacher?
• What Other Qualities Marked Jesus as an Outstanding Teacher?
• What Goals did Jesus Have in His Teaching?
• Were Jesus’ Teaching Goals Limited to Knowing the Truth?
• What Impact Did Jesus Have on the Crowds and on His Disciples?
• What Impact Did Jesus Have on His Opponents?
• How Did Jesus Interest Students in Learning?
• How Did Jesus Use Picturesque Expressions in His Teaching?
• How Did Jesus Use Other Rhetorical Devices in His Teaching?
• How did Jesus Use Questions in His Teaching?
• How Did Jesus Respond to Questions Asked of Him?
• How Did Jesus Use Stories in His Teaching?
• Appendix: Jesus’ 481 Commands

I heartily recommend Teaching as Jesus Taught. As you read this book you will be blessed by the words of Jesus and will learn much about sharing them with others.

After reading Teaching as Jesus Taught, the class read each of the Gospels and we examined major themes of Jesus’ teaching (truth and righteousness, evangelism and missions, parables, apologetic method, etc.). Then, to stimulate discussion during the following class sessions which were organized around a colloquium model, we read and discussed the appropriate portions of Hard Sayings of the Bible.

Hard Sayings of the Bible was I think the best book available for the purpose we had in mind. However, I give it a much less enthusiastic recommendation that Teaching as Jesus Taught. There are a few places where one of the author’s theory of inspiration intrudes to warp the attempted harmonization. It is a good book, but needs to be read critically.

Hard Sayings of the Bible was originally published as five separate books; Hard Sayings of Jesus by F.F. Bruce, Hard Sayings of the Old Testament and More Hard Sayings of the Old Testament by Walter Kaiser Jr., and Hard Sayings of Paul and More Hard Sayings of the New Testament by Manfred T. Brauch and Peter H . Davids. This single volume includes more than 500 verses of the Bible that are either hard to understand or hard to accept and apply.

If I were teaching this class again I would definitely use Zuck’s book but I think I would drop Hard Sayings of the Bible and replace it with Bruce’s Hard Sayings of Jesus and Robert Stein’s The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings.

Check these books out. I think you will find that they (1) have enduring value, and (2) are very interesting.

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You can find Kevin Stilley blogging daily at Encyclopedia Kevinannica.