Focusing on Jesus through the lenses of each of the four gospels, and not just for a younger audience. . . .

Andreas Köstenberger. Introducing Jesus: The Fourfold Gospel. 232p., $19.99, Kregel Ministry.

Can anyone in our high-tech world truly understand someone who lived two thousand years ago? Can we get through twenty centuries of tradition to the real person who started it all? Andreas Köstenberger shows that the Gospels, the four earliest records about Jesus, do just that. These writings, named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, alongside key facts about the ancient world, bring Jesus’s life, his words, and his legacy into focus.

Introducing Jesus gets to the heart of what was—and is—important about Jesus. Köstenberger uses succinct prose, photographs, maps, charts, and more to address these questions:

• What did each gospel writer intend to convey about Jesus?
• What historical backgrounds help us understand Jesus better?
• What aspects of Jesus’s life and teaching do the Gospels emphasize?
• What does Jesus mean to people living today?

Adapted from Köstenberger’s The Jesus of the Gospels (2020) for a younger readership, Introducing Jesus lends itself well to the typical organization of a high school year or college semester. A corresponding website includes resources for instructors.