ISBN The Jesus Legend (A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition) book English Paperback 480 pages

Christianity Today 2008 Book Award Winner'The argumentation is compelling, and the authors marshal an impressive array of evidence, demonstrating a breadth of learning. . . . Eddy and Boyd build a cumulative case that makes a persuasive argument for the historical reliability of the Synoptic Gospels.'--Kelly R. Iverson, Catholic Biblical QuarterlyMuch New Testament scholarship of the last 200 years has seen fit, to one degree or another, to relegate the Jesus tradition as recorded in the Gospels to the realm of legend, i.e., to the realm of fiction. But is this really what the evidence points to? By drawing together recent scholarship from a variety of fields, including history, anthropology, ethnography, folklore, and New Testament studies, Paul Eddy and Gregory Boyd show that the evidence actually supports--rather than refutes--the historical reliability of the Gospels and the existence of Jesus.After first presenting the cumulative case argument for the 'legendary Jesus' thesis, the authors proceed to dismantle it and seriously bring into question its viability. In the process, they range through issues such as the historical-critical method, form criticism, oral tradition, the use of non-Christian sources, the writings of Paul, and the Hellenization of Judaism. They come to the conclusion that the view of Jesus embraced by the early church was 'substantially rooted in history.' Here is an important book in the field of Jesus studies, with potential textbook use in courses in New Testament studies and apologetics.