The Testament of Jesus

Book excerpt: From the Foreword by Paul N. Anderson: “Among the most provocative New Testament scholars of the tweitieth century, Ernst Käsemann tops the list, and his most striking work is The Testament of Jesus. This brief book is significant not because the bulk of Johannine scholars have fully agreed with it; indeed, most have taken exception to many of its points. The impact of Käsemann’s 1966 Shaffer Lectures, delivered at Yale Divinity School and rendered in book form in German and English over the next couple of years, lay in his capacity to communicate worthy insights in sharp and provocative ways, blocking some paths of discussion while opening others…. The Testament of Jesus cannot simply be read. It can only be engaged—refuted and embraced—and dialectically so.”