So, this exploration of the the Lives of Jesus has finally got through the deconstructionist forests of The Jesus Seminar (via Funk and Borg ) and we are ready for something closer to a traditional understanding of who Jesus was and is. Not too close, though. In Albert Nolan's Jesus before Christianity we have a classic work of liberation theology. I first read this book quite a few years ago, and its a delight and an inspiration to come back to it after all this time and find its message still fresh and challenging. Those unfamiliar with liberation theology should look elsewhere for a full explanation, but it emerged in the second half of the 20th century in Catholic communities in the poorer parts of the world - especially in South and Central America, but in Nolan's case South Africa. Their major contribution to Christian theology was to assert the central importance of the social and political dimensions of Jesus' teaching. Albert Nolan is a Dominican
'Contemplating the teeming life of the shore, we have an uneasy sense of the communication of some universal truth that lies just beyond our grasp.' - Rachel Carson