40 Questions About the Historical Jesus

40 Questions About the Historical Jesus
Author: C. Marvin Pate
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2015-04-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0825442842

Answers to critical questions regarding the study of the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith The conclusions of the quest for the historical Jesus, which casts the majority of Christ's life as a myth, are a stark contrast to the orthodox view of Christ as presented in the Bible. Pate demonstrates that a critical analysis of the gospel text along with historical and cultural methods of investigation actually point toward an orthodox view of Christ. This work argues that the canonical Gospels are the most trustworthy information we have about the gospel writers as well as the life and ministry of Jesus, including his death, visit to hades, resurrection, and ascension. Readers will be encouraged by the reliability of the Gospel writers, the reality of Jesus' humanity and deity, and the inferiority of the apocryphal gospels.

Can We Trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus?

Can We Trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus?
Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2020-09-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1646980018

This book features a learned and fascinating debate between two great Bible scholars about the New Testament as a reliable source on the historical Jesus. Bart Ehrman, an agnostic New Testament scholar, debates Craig Evans, an evangelical New Testament scholar, about the historical Jesus and what constitutes "history." Their interaction includes such compelling questions as: What are sound methods of historical investigation? What are reliable criteria for determining the authenticity of an ancient text? What roles do reason and inference play? And, of course, interpretation? Readers of this debate—regardless of their interpretive inclinations and biases—are sure to find some confirmation of their existing beliefs, but they will surely also find an honest and well-informed challenge to the way they think about the historical Jesus. The result? A more open, better informed, and questioning mind, which is better prepared for discovering both truth and contrivance. The debate between Ehrman and Evans along with Stewart's introductory framework make this book an excellent primer to the study of the historical Jesus, and readers will come away with a deeper appreciation for the ongoing quest for the historical Jesus.

40 Questions about the End Times

40 Questions about the End Times
Author: Eckhard J. Schnabel
Publisher: Kregel Academic
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2012-01-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0825438969

Benjamin L. Merkle is professor of New Testament at Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of numerous articles, which have appeared in journals such as JETS and Trinity Journal. He earned his Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he wrote his dissertation on deacons and elders.

Did Jesus Exist?

Did Jesus Exist?
Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2012-03-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0062089943

In Did Jesus Exist? historian and Bible expert Bart Ehrman confronts the question, "Did Jesus exist at all?" Ehrman vigorously defends the historical Jesus, identifies the most historically reliable sources for best understanding Jesus’ mission and message, and offers a compelling portrait of the person at the heart of the Christian tradition. Known as a master explainer with deep knowledge of the field, Bart Ehrman methodically demolishes both the scholarly and popular “mythicist” arguments against the existence of Jesus. Marshaling evidence from within the Bible and the wider historical record of the ancient world, Ehrman tackles the key issues that surround the mythologies associated with Jesus and the early Christian movement. In Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth, Ehrman establishes the criterion for any genuine historical investigation and provides a robust defense of the methods required to discover the Jesus of history.

40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible

40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible
Author: Robert L. Plummer
Publisher: Kregel Academic
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 082543498X

The second in the series organized around common FAQs, 40Questions about Interpreting the Bible tackles the major questions thatstudents, pastors and professors ask about the hermeneutics of reading thebible (i.e. understanding the bible).

Did Jesus Exist?

Did Jesus Exist?
Author: G. A. Wells
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1987-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780879753955

Professor Wells argues that there was no historical Jesus, and in thus arguing he deals with the many recent writers who have interpreted the historical Jesus as some kind of political figure in the struggle against Rome, and calls in evidence the many contemporary theologians who agree with some of his arguments about early Christianity. The question at issue is what all the evidence adds up to. Does it establish that Jesus did or did not exist? Professor Wells concludes that the latter is the more likely hypothesis. This challenge to received thinking by both Christians and non-Christians is supported by much documentary evidence, and Professor Wells carefully examines all the relevant problems and answers all the relevant questions. He deliberately avoids polemic and speculation, and sticks so far as possible to the known facts and to rational inferences from the facts.

The Historical Jesus of the Gospels

The Historical Jesus of the Gospels
Author: Craig S. Keener
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 870
Release: 2012-04-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802868886

The earliest substantive sources available for historical Jesus research are in the Gospels themselves; when interpreted in their early Jewish setting, their picture of Jesus is more coherent and plausible than are the competing theories offered by many modern scholars. So argues Craig Keener in The Historical Jesus of the Gospels. In exploring the depth and riches of the material found in the Synoptic Gospels, Keener shows how many works on the historical Jesus emphasize just one aspect of the Jesus tradition against others, but a much wider range of material in the Jesus tradition makes sense in an ancient Jewish setting. Keener masterfully uses a broad range of evidence from the early Jesus traditions and early Judaism to reconstruct a fuller portrait of the Jesus who lived in history.

The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus

The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus
Author: Dale C. Allison Jr.
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2009-03-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802862624

In this book, Dale Allison addresses ongoing historical-theological questions concerning Jesus Christ. What should one think of the modern quest for the historical Jesus when there is such enduring discord among the experts, and when personal agendas play such a large role in the reconstructions? How much history is in the Gospels, and how much history does Christian theology require that there be? How does the quest impinge on conventional Christian beliefs, and what might it contribute to contemporary theological reflection? --From publisher's description.

Varieties of Jesus Mythicism

Varieties of Jesus Mythicism
Author: John W. Loftus
Publisher: Ockham Publishing Group
Total Pages: 1072
Release: 2022-06-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1839191597

To most people on the planet, the existence of Jesus is a given: “Of course he did!” They take it for granted that he existed simply because it reaffirms their faith. But to the rest of us who don't believe in a supernatural Jesus, the question of the historicity of Jesus is not simple. There are thousands of different ideas about to what extent the Jesus tales were based on a real man, or men, or woman... Did Jesus even exist, and if not, what best explains the rise of such a character in the New Testament? That is where John W. Loftus and Robert M. Price come in. Each with decades of experience in the fields of theology and Christian history, Loftus and Price have compiled essays from some of the top authorities on Jesus mythicism to establish the world's first academic catalogue of mythicist beliefs. Experts who provided chapters include David Fitzgerald, Joseph Atwill, Michael Lockwood, and more! The question is no longer simply, "Did Jesus even exist?" In this compilation, you'll find yourself questioning everything about the Christ story and how it truly began.