Theology: New Testament and Related Literature: Jesus Christ - Person and Offices

Was there a person by the name of Jesus who lived in Palestine in the first century A.D.? Do the gospels and the letters of the New Testament really attest to the actual existence of a Messiah, or were these documents written by clever propagandists for the faith rather than by objective historians? These and other intriguing questions are explored in Jesus in History and Myth, which emerged from a powerful symposium held in 1985 under the auspices of the Biblical Criticism Research Project of the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER). The Project team, incorporating the work of biblical scholars, historians, archaeologists, and experts in the cognate fields of religious studies, is designed to make available to a wider public the results of the very best biblical criticism and religious studies scholarship. At this critical time, when the study of religion as an academic discipline is threatened by the twin dangers of parochialism and trendiness, the need for a serious and dispassionate review of religious truth-claims, scriptural traditions, and supernatural value systems is greater than ever before. Jesus in History and Myth combines the works of a distinguished list of researchers: John M. Allegro, Robert S. Alley, John Dart, Antony Flew, David Noel Freedman, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Robert M. Grant, Rowan A. Greer, Van A. Harvey, Randel Helms, John Hick, R. Joseph Hoffmann, Gerald A. Larue, George E. Mendenhall, Ellis Rivkin, Morton Smith, and G.A. Wells. Their views are daring, thought-provoking, and always on the cutting edge of critical investigation of the Bible and religion.

Richard A. Burridge and Graham Gould trace the changing images of Jesus in scholarship and popular culture from the time of the early church to the present day.

In this engaging collection of essays conservative and liberal theologians and scholars engage each other in a dialogue about the place of faith, the nature of history, the character of literary texts, and the purpose of theology. While some essays focus on the historical context of Jesus' life and work, others focus on the ways in which the later Christian church established belief in the life and work of Jesus as a proof of faith. Included here are voices that question the value and meaning of Christology in a post-Holocaust world, voices that converse about Jewish and Islamic understandings of Jesus, and others that "save Jesus from those who are right." These moving essays offer a survey of the best in historical Jesus scholarship and contemporary Christology. Contributors to the volume include: James M. Robinson (Claremont Graduate University); Colin Brown (Fuller Theological Seminary); N. T. Wright (Westminster Abbey); John Dominic Crossan (Emeritus, DePaul University); Robert Funk (Jesus Seminar, Westar Institute); Jonathan Reed (University of LaVerne); John Hick (University of Birmingham); Charles Hughes (Chapman University); Richard Swinburne (Oxford University); Karen Torjesen (Claremont Graduate University); Ronald Farmer (Chapman University); Carter Heyward (Episcopal Divinity School); Didier Pollefeyt Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium); David Sperling (New York University); F. E. Peters (New York University); and Lloyd Geering (Victoria University, New Zealand). Marvin Meyer is Professor of Religious Studies at Chapman College and is the author of The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, The Unknown Sayings of Jesus and other books. Charles Hughes is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Chapman College and is the author of studies on philosophy of religion and theology. For: General audiences; undergraduates; graduate students; professors