Raised as a Roman Catholic, I recently rediscovered my faith and was thirsting for a clear cut explanation of Christ's life and teachings in an attempt to get a real understanding of the basis of my religion. This book is incredible. It starts from the very beginning and slowly takes you through each important stage in the life of the Lord so that you really understand Him, what He taught, what He believed, and what He did for all of us. It will take the foundation of a belief in Jesus to absolute certainty that this man was the one and only true Messiah.

I do agree with the other reviewers that the constant quotations of the other theologians do get in the way of the free-flowing narrative and likeable writing style of the author. I would have liked to have heard more from him as he was very precise and clear with what he had to say.

But this is definitely a textbook. Even if you're not a student of theology (as I am far from) and are just reading this for personal gain, take a pen and a highlighter with you when you read. It is chock-full of everything you ever wanted to know and it is worth a very close, detailed reading. Don't skim. The volume and complexity might tempt you to skip through a bit, but you will miss the overall explanation of all that Christ did and how it ties into the historical and political past along with the message of Christ's journey through life on Earth and His expectations of us today.

This book is an excellent reference source to be used alongside the Scriptures to receive a full picture of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The book gives an in depth glimpse into Jesus' life and teachings by giving historical references and explaining the culture and customs in that time period. I highly recommend this book.

a good size book packed with material, but could have been written better

This book is very poorly written:
- Extensive quoting of two 19th century sources almost qualifies the book as a mere compilation
- What original material exists has a tendency to be uninformative, seemingly only existing to connect quotes
- The referencing is sparse
- There are several non-trivial contradictions and even some outright falsehoods
- The author, Dwight Pentecost, is rabidly anti-Roman Catholic throughout the book, which lends it a severly biased air

Overall, this book is not worth the paper on which it is printed.

Pentecost is a true scholar and a good, Bible-believing teacher of the Word. This volume is theologically dependable. He is Premillennial, dispensational, and a good interpreter by my standards.

On the negative side, it is horribly written with constant and relentless quoting of 19th century scholars. Because of this, it contains the horrid and ambiguous Victorian era verbiage (how those people loved to make the simple complicated!) and plagued by the small font of lenghty quotations. He is constantly quoting Edersheim or Geikie. I already have Edersheim and Geikie. I was hoping Pentecost would deliver me from the Victorian era and present a freshly written work in a latter 20th Century straight-forward American style.

As a result, I use this volume only as a last resort.

This book was required reading as the central text for a "Life of Christ" seminary course. It is a formidable tackle, with a comprehensive look at the subject matter of the title in detail. Its sheer volume makes it a difficult "read straight through", but it holds a prized spot on the bookshelf as an invaluable reference work for any study or teaching of the Gospels.

Pentecost is one of the great Christian minds of the twentieth century, and of course hailing from Dallas Theological Seminary, one can expect and find his work to be highly dispensational in nature. The entire life of Christ is examined in light of His offer of the Kingdom "first to Israel". His emphasis goes a bit far in this arena, in my opinion. Looking past his strong dispensational bias however, Pentecost's work is a classic treatment. He quotes classic Life of Christ theologians from past generations (Edersheim, Farrar, et.al)extensively, and this work is very much a modern extension and addition to that library of very special and classic seminal works on the earthy life of our Saviour.

Even a stronly non-dispensational student could benefit greatly. from this work. Pentecost's Judaic roots add depth and certain nuances which can greatly amplify events in the Life of Christ.

I heartily recommend this work for the serious student of the Bible. It is not casual reading, but will enhance the minister's library and enrich any serious preaching or teaching ministry.