葛德．泰森博士（Gerd Theißen），1943年齣生於德國杜塞多夫附近小鎮。海德堡大學神學院的新約神學與釋義學教授，同時也是德國福音教會的牧師。他在國際上更是研究新約歷史與釋義的權威，獲得世界許多知名大學的學術獎項以及高達七個榮譽博士。他結閤瞭史料研究與社會、宗教心理學研究命題，發展齣獨樹一格的初代基督徒研究，堪稱德國耶穌研究與新約神學的先鋒。此外，同樣是以社會學方法來研究新約歷史和初代基督教，泰森一個人的學術深度，特別是他一係列關於保羅書信的研究，幾乎可以和北美洲的耶魯學派隔海抗衡。

First published in 1987 by Fortress Press, this 20th anniversary edition of this classic bestseller includes a new Afterword from the author. Here, in narrative form, is an account of the activity of Jesus of Nazareth, scrupulously constructed so that it does not undercut the insights of New Testament scholarship. What makes it different from other such attempts is that Jesus never actually appears. What we find everywhere is his shadow, his effect.

Such an approach avoids the usual pitfalls of the genre and lends this story - attributed to a fictitious narrator - an attraction, freshness, and power all its own. Tension and interest are maintained to the end, even for those sated with books about Jesus. Careful documentation in the footnotes shows how much of the narrative is based on ancient sources.