‘The Time is Fulfilled’: Jesus’s Apocalypticism in the Context of Continental Philosophy, Lynne Moss Bahr, Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019 (ISBN 978-0-5676-8434-9), x + 152 pp., hb £85

Lynne Moss Bahr’s monograph leverages a trio of continental philosophers on a tetrad of New Testament texts to galvanize the thesis that linear temporalities conceal the Messianic disruption of time. The first chapter
undertakes a dutiful literature review of scholarly opinions on Jesus’ messianic consciousness. That is, did the historical person of Jesus think of himself as Messiah? Opinions vary, of course, but for Bahr, those views which doubt Jesus’ messianic identity as existing pre-tradition ‘[do] not go far enough in explaining Jesus’ historical distinctiveness’ nor do they explain how Jesus’ messianic identity arose at all (p. 22). She further notes that the nature of time itself has been inadequately addressed in conversations surrounding both Jesus’ messianic identity and his apocalyptic message.