Challenging prevailing views, Bauckham asserts that the accounts of Jesus' life were transmitted in the name of original eyewitnesses, not as "anonymous community traditions." Effectively rebutting form critics, he taps into internal literary evidence, recent developments in the understanding of oral tradition, and cognitive psychology to highlight the "Jesus of testimony" as presented by the Gospels.

The Gospels provide the most thorough account of Jesus Christ. But what if the stories about his life and work are legends? Scholars have occasionally cast doubt on the reliability of the Gospels. New approaches to biblical studies have only increased the challenges. Can we continue to trust the New Testament? In this revised edition, Craig Blomberg reveals the faulty analysis and presuppositions that have led to mistaken conclusions about the Gospels, providing scholarly criteria for judging these books and biblical answers to our hard questions. This new edition has been thoroughly updated in light of new developments with numerous additions to the footnotes and two added appendixes. Readers will find that over the past twenty years, the case for the historical trustworthiness of the Gospels has grown vastly stronger.

Interest in the historical Jesus continues to occupy much of today's discussion of the Bible. The vexing question is how the Jesus presented in the Gospels relates to the Jesus that actually walked this earth. This book is an introductory guide to how one might go about answering that question by doing historical inquiry into the material found in the Gospels. Darrell Bock introduces the sources of our knowledge about Jesus, both biblical and extra-biblical. He then surveys the history and culture of the world of Jesus. The final chapters introduce some of the methods used to study the Gospels, including historical, redaction, and narrative criticisms. Bock, a well respected author, provides an informed evangelical alternative to radical projects like the Jesus Seminar. His audience, however, is not limited only to evangelicals. This book, written for college and seminary courses, offers an informed scholarly approach that takes the Gospels seriously as a source of historical information.

Knowing the historical and cultural background of the Bible is crucial to properly understanding and interpreting it. But the passing of 2,000 years often prevents today's reader from fully understanding the significance of various actions and teachings of Jesus in the Gospels. For example, the radical nature of Jesus' healings on the Sabbath may go unnoticed without an awareness of first-century Jewish teaching on what was and was not permissible. Pastors and other serious Bible students may not have access to important early writings that would provide this background, nor the time to wade through volumes of source material to find relevant tidbits. This unique reference work gathers into one handy volume the key extrabiblical texts that provide the necessary background for passages in the Gospels, along with introductory comments by the editors.

Focusing on Jesus, this first volume has several distinct features. It garners the lessons to be learned from the "quest for the historical Jesus" and meets the hermeneutical challenges to a historical and theological assessment of the Jesus tradition. It provides a fresh perspective both on the impact made by Jesus and on the traditions about Jesus as oral tradition - hence the title "Jesus Remembered." And it offers a fresh analysis of the details of that tradition, emphasizing its characteristic (rather than dissimilar) features. Noteworthy too are Dunn's treatments of the source question (particularly Q and the noncanonical Gospels) and of Jesus the Jew in his Galilean context.

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.

If you have questions about the similarities between Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Studying the Synoptic Gospels is must reading. Previously published as The Synoptic Problem and now updated to reflect current scholarship, Robert Stein's introductory text explores the literary interrelationships between the three gospels, as well as their preliterary history and inscripturation. His comprehensive analysis---especially of the Two Source Hypothesis---will enlighten both scholars and laypeople.

To Christian believers, the Gospels record the "greatest story ever told," the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah. They narrate the climax and turning point in human history, when God acted decisively to achieve salvation for people everywhere. To study the Gospels is to study the foundation of Christianity. Even to those who do not follow Jesus as their Lord, the Gospels serve as the primary source documents for the most influential life ever lived. Jesus of Nazareth has been the topic of more books, movies, discussions and debates than any person in history. But who was this man Jesus, and how did his movement begin? In this textbook we will examine the nature and content of the four Gospels, the primary source documents for the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Where did these books come from? What was their purpose? What can they tell us about Jesus? These are the questions we will seek to answer.

N. T. Wright focuses directly on the historical Jesus: Who was he? What did he say? And what did he mean by it? Wright begins by showing how the questions posed by Albert Schweitzer a century ago remain central today. Then he sketches a profile of Jesus in terms of his prophetic praxis, his subversive stories, the symbols by which he reordered his world, and the answers he gave to the key questions that any world view must address. The examination of Jesus' aims and beliefs, argued on the basis of Jesus' actions and their accompanying riddles, is sure to stimulate heated response. Wright offers a provocative portrait of Jesus as Israel's Messiah who would share and bear the fate of the nation and would embody the long-promised return of Israel's God to Zion.

This work covers ancient beliefs about life after death from Homer's Hades to ancient Jewish beliefs, from the Bible to the Dead Sea Scrolls and beyond. It examines early Christian beliefs about resurrection in general and that of Jesus in particular, beginning with Paul and working through to the start of the third century. It explores the Easter stories of the Gospels and seeks the best historical conclusions about the empty tomb and the belief that Jesus did rise bodily from the dead.