Criteria of authenticity, whose roots go back to before the pioneering work of Albert Schweitzer, have become a unifying feature of the so-called Third Quest for the Historical Jesus, finding a prominent and common place in the research of otherwise differing scholars. More recently, however, scholars from different methodological frameworks have expressed discontent with this approach to the historical Jesus. In the past five years, these expressions of discontent have reached a fever pitch.

The internationally renowned authors of this book examine the nature of this new debate and present the findings in a cohesive way aimed directly at making the coalface of Historical Jesus research accessible to undergraduates and seminary students. The book's larger ramifications as a thorough end to the Third Quest will provide a pressure valve for thousands of scholars who view historical Jesus studies as outmoded and misguided. This book has the potential to guide Jesus studies beyond the Third Quest and demand to be consulted by any scholar who discards, adopts, or adapts historical criteria.

Autorentext

Chris Keith is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity and Director of the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham, UK. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus, a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee. He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels, and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.

Inhalt

Foreword
Morna Hooker\Introduction - The Rise
of the Quest for an Authentic Jesus: An Introduction to the Crumbling
Foundations of Jesus Studies Anthony Le
Donne\Part One: Historical
Methodology and the Quest for an Authentic Jesus\The Indebtedness of the Criteria
Approach to Form Criticism and Recent Attempts to Rehabilitate the Search for
an Authentic Jesus Chris Keith\The
Criteria of Authenticity in Jesus Research and Historiographical Method Jens Schröter\Part Two: Specific Criteria in the Quest for an Authentic Jesus\Why
the Criterion of Semitisms Cannot Deliver Authenticity Loren Stuckenbruck\The Criterion of Coherence: Its Development,
Inevitability, and Historiographical Limitations Anthony Le Donne\Saving the Quest for Authenticity from the
Criterion of Dissimilarity: History and Plausibility Dagmar Winter\The Embarrassing Truth about Jesus: The Demise of the
Criterion of Embarrassment Rafael
Rodriguez\Criticizing the Criterion of Multiple Attestation: The Historical
Jesus and the Question of Sources Mark
Goodacre\Part Three: Reflections on
Moving Past Traditional Jesus Research\Why the Authentic Jesus is Useless
for the Church Scot McKnight\It Don't
Come Easy: A History of Disillusionment Dale
Allison\Conclusion - The Fall of the Quest for an Authentic Jesus: Concluding Remarks Chris Keith