Full Description
Christianity Today 2008 Book Award (Biblical Studies)
Even mature Christians have trouble defending the person and divinity of Christ. The Jesus Legend builds a convincing interdisciplinary case for the unique and plausible position of Jesus in human history. He was real and his presence on the planet has been well-documented.
The authors of the New Testament didn't plant evidence, though each writer did tell the truth from a unique perspective. This book carefully investigates the Gospel portraits of Jesus--particularly the Synoptic Gospels--assessing what is reliable history and fictional legend. The authors contend that a cumulative case for the general reliability of the Synoptic Gospels can be made and boldly challenge those who question the veracity of the Jesus found there.
Contents
Introduction: The Case for the Legendary Jesus
Part 1: Historical Method and the Jesus Tradition: Miracles, Parallels, and First-Century Palestine
1. Miracles and Method: The Historical-Critical Method and the Supernatural
2. A Jewish Legend of "Yahweh Embodied"? How "Pagan" Was First-Century Judaism?
3. One Among Many Legends? Do "Parallels" Relativize the Jesus of History?
Part 2: Other Witnesses: Ancient Historians and the Apostle Paul
4. A Conspiracy of Silence? What Ancient Non-Christian Sources Say, and Do Not Say, About Jesus
5. The "Silence" of Paul? What, if Anything, Did Paul Know about the Jesus of History?
Part 3: Between Jesus and the Gospels: The Early Oral Jesus Tradition
6. Ancient Literacy and Oral Tradition: Assessing the Early Oral Jesus Tradition
7. Historical Remembrance or Prophetic Imagination? Memory, History, and Eyewitness Testimony in the Early Oral Jesus Tradition
Part 4: The Synoptic Gospels as Historical Sources for Jesus: Assessing the Evidence
8. The Genre and Nature of the Canonical Gospels: Did the Gospel Authors Intend to Write Historically Reliable Accounts?
9. Evaluating the Synoptic Gospels as Historical Sources: Methodological Issues and Preliminary Considerations
10. The Synoptic Tradition and the Jesus of History: A Cumulative Case for the Reliability of the Synoptic Portrait(s) of Jesus
Author Index
Subject Index
