Daniel R. Harrington and Christopher R. Matthews have gathered in this volume fourteen essays by some of the preeminent names in biblical studies. The book seeks to make accessible some of the best modern scholarship on encountering Jesus in the Scriptures. Its focus is wider than the historians' quest. These essays try to explain not only who Jesus was in the first century but also what he might mean in the twenty-first century. Most of the contributors are Catholic scholars who have proved their ability to undertake serious technical research and to communicate the results of modern scholarship to nonspecialists. In addition to the editors' contributions, the essays include those by: Barbara Bowe, John R. Donahue, Eugene Hensell, John Dart, Carolyn Osiek, Amy-Jill Levine, Eugene J. Fisher, Barbara E. Reid, Gerald O'Collins, John Belmonte, and William A. Barry.