On the tracks of Jesus without prejudice and fears

Adriano Virgili, Sulle tracce del Nazareno, Introduzione al Gesù storico [On the Traces of the Nazarene, Introduction to the Historical Jesus], Phronesis Edictions

I like to delve into the origins and when a book like this comes along that succeeds in summarizing the current debate on the historical Jesus, I give thanks for such providence. The favorable introduction by Gabriele Boccaccino, one of the foremost experts on Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins, encouraged me to tackle a text that has a popularizing purpose, but at the same time focuses on rigour and seriousness of analysis. After the historical person of Jesus had disappeared in the face of the Bultmanian Christ of faith, for the past 50 years there has been a return to investigating the Jesus embedded in His history as a first-century Jew in Palestine, with all the complexity that this entails. I am not a specialist and I know that all this is not necessary to have faith, but neither do I like that a life spent in the search for the Face of God does not find the minimum time to delve into God’s intersection with history, which was realised in its fullness in the person of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene. I will never cease to investigate, as far as I can, the Person who is the origin but also the end of my search for meaning and happiness.