The Historical Jesus

November 15, 2009
Skeptical rationalists such as Reimarus and Strauss would never have guessed that their project of uncovering the historical Jesus would attract professing Christians. But here, in this provocative volume, readers find twenty-first-century Christians actually justifying that project as an obligation of their faith in the Incarnation. Readers thus hearas one of the five researchers presented here in dialoguefrom a Catholic scholar arguing that just as the study of history can help us learn about, say, Napol'on or Socrates, so can it help us understand Jesus of Nazareth. A leading Evangelical researcher substantiates this point by explaining how historical inquiry illuminates Jesus place within a first-century Greco-Roman culture. Yet when an Episcopalian participant questions the very existence of a historical Jesus, arguing that the Gospels merely deliver mythic archetypes, not reliable narratives, readers may see why theologians such as Khler and Barth warnedas the editors acknowledgeagainst seeking Jesus through historical scholarship rather than through the divine miracle of faith. Certain to spark sharp debate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)