Basically this book argues - generally very well - that there is no discontinuity between the historical Jesus and the faith of the early church. As Bockmuehl is a very respected New Testament scholar, rather than (in the first place) a theologian, this makes it a very refreshing read. The book is quite short (the main text is well under 200 pages) and very readable, relegating the more detailed discussion to footnotes, so that those who want can follow the argument, and those who just want the main lines don't get bogged down in the detail.

Occasionally I found the argumentation a bit sketchy, but for the most part his methodology is clear and consistently followed. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the relationship between historical Jesus research and Christology, and also to anyone who is disturbed by some aspects of modern historical Jesus research. ( )