Old book

In my continuing quest to learn more, I've been going back and picking up older books that are referred to frequently in newer stuff. For some reason, there are huge gaps in my reading! What a surprise—not. With so much stuff being published, it's impossible to keep up. Anyway, one of the books that I've been meaning to read for decades now, is Martin Hengel's The Atonement. But, seeing the current debates, it's pretty obvious lots of people have overlooked it...here's a nice little snippet to add spice to your day:

That the man Jesus died meant little, for many men were crucified in Jewish Palestine at that time; incomparably more astonishing was the confession that this man Jesus, executed as a criminal, was raised by God. To say that the Messiah had died was a complete reversal of this. It was taken for granted that God would grant victory to the Messiah; the message of his death on the cross, however, was a scandal.— The Atonement, 40