In part one of a two part series, we take a look at the Quest for the historical Jesus, the attempt by New Testament scholars to analyze the ‘Jesus of History’ that lies behind the ‘Christ of Faith’. We will look at the three different ‘quests’ for the historical Jesus, analyze their successes and failures, and examine where gospels scholarship is today. We are doing this in an attempt to understand the proposal made by New Testament scholar James Crossley that Biblical scholars need to embark on the ‘Next Quest’ for the historical Jesus, which we look at in more detail next week!


Episode Outline:

I. The Quest for the Historical Jesus

II. The First Three Phases of the Quest

Media Referenced:

How Did Christianity Begin, James Crossley and Michael Bird

Jesus and the Victory of God, N.T. Wright

Who Is Jesus, N.T. Wright

The Quest of the Historical Jesus, Albert Schweitzer

The Aims of Jesus, Ben Meyer 

Unbelievable Podcast with Bird and Crossley: Part 1 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/classic-replay-how-did-christianity-begin-part-1-michael/id267142101?i=1000502489959); Part 2 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/classic-replay-pt-2-how-did-christianity-begin-michael/id267142101?i=1000503193309)

Mark Goodacre’s NT Pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nt-pod/id319974061

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