In the wake of suggestions that the doctrine of the atoning death of Christ did not come into being in the earliest stages of Christianity, Martin Hengel forcefully argues with impeccable scholarship that the doctrine can be traced back to the earliest church, indeed to the sayings of Jesus himself. In the first part of this examination, Hengel explores a wide area of classical antiquity. Would it have made sense to Greeks and Romans of the first century to say that Jesus had died for them? Were there points of contact in their traditions? Surveying Greek and Latin literature, Hengel shows just how widespread the theme "dying for" actually was, from Homer, through the Greek tragedians and orators, to Plutarch, Livy, and Caesar. The second part of the book is devoted to tracing the doctrine of atonement, moving back from the letters of Paul, through the pre-Pauline tradition, to Jesus.

In this volume, originally presented as the 1987 Stone Lectures aat Princeton Theological Seminary, Professor Hengel brings his own distinctive approach to the Johannine Literature. Hengel examines complex questions of origin and authorship. In the process he shows that many ancient traditions regarding the Gospel's place of origin and its authorship have been far too quickly and carelessly dismissed. Professor Hengel opens his discussion with references to the Fourth Gospel in the second century. Through internal evidence fro the Johannine letters, he moves back into the first century to examine the community to which these letters relate and he provides an outline of the person and character of the elder who is the focal point of the Johannine school, and through him traces a history of the Gospel tradition back to a figure who witnessed the death of Jesus in Jerulasalem. The final chapter offers startling conclusions that will doubtless fuel the debate that began with the advent of modern critical scholarship.