This week I’m offering Jesus the Priest, by Nicholas Perrin. Here are the catalog description and table of contents:

Following his critically acclaimed book Jesus the Temple, Nicholas Perrin offers a fresh paradigm for understanding the historical Jesus. Perrin challenges the “standard reading” of classic texts (including the Parable of the Sower, the Beatitudes, and the Lord’s Prayer) to argue that the historical Jesus primarily identified himself not as sage or prophet but as Israel’s eschatological high priest. As priest, Jesus claims to reveal God’s unchanging character through his own person and he announces the impending climax of God’s eschatological purpose, constituted by the arrival of the heavenly temple on earth. Jesus the Priest identifies Jesus’s priesthood as a mediating understanding that sheds crucial light on the kingdom of God.

Perrin’s insightful theological contribution synthesizes the best in traditional/conservative and liberal reconstructions of Jesus’s life and teaching. It will be of interest to professors and students in New Testament and Jesus courses, scholars, and anyone interested in theologically engaged historical-Jesus study.

Contents
Introduction
1. The Prayer of Jesus
2. The Baptism of Jesus
3. The Kingdom of Jesus
4. Jesus Son of David
5. The Identity of the Son of Man
6. A Re-envisioned Priesthood
7. Final Confrontations
Conclusion

Leave your name in the comments section no later than Saturday, May 25th. I’ll draw the winner’s name by 4:00 PM EST that day. If I don’t hear back from the winner within seven days the book will go to another entry. Entries are limited to U.S. residents.