The Beginning of the Gospel. Volume 2

The book “The Beginning of the Gospel” is a new work by Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk (Alfeev) and the first in a series of six books under the general title “Jesus Christ. Life and Teaching.”

The whole series is biographical in character, because its central theme is the human story of Jesus Christ. One of the book’s main tasks is to reconstruct a living image of Jesus on the basis of available sources and to present His teaching as reflected in the Gospels. Special attention in the first book is devoted to traits of His character and His way of perceiving the world, as well as to the specifics of how He communicates with people.

“The Beginning of the Gospel” opens with an introductory section devoted to the main directions of contemporary research in the field of the New Testament. It offers a critical assessment of searches for the “historical Jesus” beyond church tradition and proposes another method for studying the Gospels, which is then applied consistently in the sections of the book devoted to the opening chapters of the four Gospels. Difficult questions of biblical studies, including the so-called “contradictions” in the Gospels, are not hushed up—but rather, they are discussed systematically and carefully.

The “Jesus Christ. Life and Teaching” series will be continued by the following books: “The Sermon on the Mount,” “The Miracles of Jesus,” “The Parables of Jesus,” “The Lamb of God. Jesus in the Gospel of John,” and “Death and Resurrection.” A monumental six-volume work is intended to answer the key questions about Jesus Christ: “What did Jesus bring to people and why is He needed by the modern person? Two thousand years have passed since He lived and taught—why are His image and preaching still relevant? What can Jesus give us, people living in the 21st century, with all its complexities, challenges, problems, and tragedies?”