Hearing the Silence

"'But the dog did not bark!' Sherlock noted. Now Bruce Longenecker, with a similar steely detective-like resolve, explores one of the most perplexing silences in the Gospel of Luke. Specifically, what actually happened to Jesus on the edge of a hill in Nazareth, that he was able to walk away scot free from an angry mob? With literary sensitivity, Longenecker demonstrates how the silence of details actually speaks volumes . . . God is at work to reveal the liberating power of the kingdom of God by preserving the messianic deliverer in the midst of evil. An engaging read!"

--Michael Bird

Professor of Theology and Bible, Crossway College, Brisbane, Australia

Author of Colossians and Philemon: A New Covenant Commentary (Cascade, 2009)



"This is an entertaining book with a serious point. Longenecker takes his readers on a captivating journey from the absurd to the sublime. Focusing on a single 'gap' in the text of Luke's Gospel, he starts with novelistic attempts at filling it (the absurd) and ends with deft reflections on how Luke crafts a narrative Christology (the sublime). With this highly innovative approach, Longenecker deepens our appreciation of Luke's Gospel, while also bearing testimony to the mystery of Christ."

--George Hunsinger

Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

Editor of Thy Word Is Truth: Barth on Scripture (2012)



"Longenecker proposes a 'christological arc' for hearing Luke's narrative as a whole: the one who undergoes the eucatastrophic 'escape' from the enraged townsfolk of Nazareth and is 'taken up' by divine custody from his death by his nation to fill out the greater, overarching blessing to Israel and the nations. The author's wit and imagination for filling in the 'gap' of Luke 4:30 through the . . . 'arc' of Psalm 91 outsmarts even the most creative Jesus novelists . . . in making sense of Jesus' mysterious 'passing through their midst'--stimulating, provocative, a delight to read!"

--David P. Moessner

A. A. Bradford Chair of Religion for Biblical Studies, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth