A Three-Dimensional Jesus: An Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels by C. Clifton Black (review)

Reviewed by: A Three-Dimensional Jesus: An Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels by C. Clifton Black Linda M. Maloney c. clifton black, A Three-Dimensional Jesus: An Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2023). Pp. xix + 205. 30. Professor C. Clifton Black, as he prepares to retire from teaching, dedicates this book to the students he has taught over the last forty years at five distinguished institutions— "with gratitude for teaching me how to teach. " They certainly did an excellent job! A Three-Dimensional Jesus is the work of a deft, witty, and skilled teacher, and it should be welcomed with joy by teachers and students in undergraduate courses on the Gospels and by study groups and curious individuals as well. This is definitely college-level material, and could well serve as a refresher for students about to embark on a graduate course in the Synoptics. This short and snappy work contains an amazing amount of information within its four chapters: "The Gospels: A Curtain-Raiser" is a nuts-and-bolts presentation of such topics as the who, what, when, where, and why of the writing in general. Each of the other three chapters, "Jesus according to Mark: A Veiled Unveiling, " "Jesus according to Matthew: Torah Incarnate, " and "Jesus according to Luke: Joyous Boundary Breaker, " begins with a section entitled "What to Look For" and includes conversations on the particular Gospel with at least two other scholars. In fact, there are eight such colloquies interspersed End Page 391 throughout, and the scholars interviewed include Dale C. Allison Jr. ; John R. Thompson; Elizabeth Shively; Alan Culpepper; Markus Rathey; Marianne Blickenstaff; Barbara E. Reid, OP; William Willimon; and Anna Marley, this last about the works of Henry Ossawa Tanner depicting scenes from the Gospels. Figures and illustrations abound; many scenes from the lands of the Bible were photographed by the author himself on a recent sabbatical. The reproductions of works by Tanner are most welcome; they are in black and white in the book, but links to the original paintings in the photo captions make up for the monochrome foretaste. Wit and wisdom dance a lively waltz throughout A Three-Dimensional Jesus, from wordplays ("Gospel" = a "good spiel") to not-so-gentle essays such as "A Horde of Herods" to a rare rant that uncovers Black's Southern roots, for example: "Lay your ear on a page of Mark's Gospel and you may hear a wail of lament for the steep price paid for following Jesus. What you won't hear is the yammering of prosperity televangelists who prostitute the Bible with bogus assurances of health and wealth if you'll mail them a check every week" (p. 59). Or, on Matthew: "As long as 'the kingdom of heaven' is misidentified with the sweet by-and-by or a political clique of the pinched like-minded, the church's business can be consigned to the ash heap of empty relics. Matthew will have none of it. . . . Whether Flannery O'Connor or someone else said it, the point is thoroughly Matthean: 'You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd'" (pp. 102–3). A warning from E. Stanley Jones is cited: "We are inoculating the world with a mild form of Christianity, so that it is now all but immune against the real thing" (p. 100). The chapter on Luke contains a section entitled "The Case of the Woebegone Wealthy, " and the book's appendix delightedly rips standardized templates for course syllabi with a sample of one to be taught by Jesus (which, of course, is rejected by the dean as unacceptable). There are also many seeds for preaching here; if the reader takes time to let them sprout and grow they may well yield a hundredfold. Presumably the somewhat tight format and small print are commanded by the price, though even so it is fairly high, but the book is well worth it. Linda M. Maloney Enosburg Falls, Vermont Copyright © 2024 The Catholic Biblical Association of America