This volume discusses the new approaches regarding the criteria of authenticity and their relevance in the quest for the historical Jesus studies.

Historical-Jesus research continues to captivate the interests of scholars. Recently there has been renewed discussion of the criteria for authenticity. This study traces the history of this type of research, especially in terms of authenticity criteria.

This volume discusses the new approaches regarding the criteria of authenticity and their relevance in the quest for the historical Jesus studies.

A New Kind of Apologist, edited by Sean McDowell and with contributions from more than 20 leading apologists, is the go-to resource for effectively defending the Christian faith in our changing culture. In it you'll discover: important topics often ignored by apologists, such as transgender issues, religious freedom, and the intersection of economics and apologetics a new kind of apologetics that is relational, gracious, and holistic interviews with both seasoned apologists and skeptics, providing insights into how to do apologetics effectively in today's culture A New Kind of Apologist addresses the latest issues, including "Connecting Apologetics to the Heart" "Teaching Apologetics to the Next Generation" "Apologetics in our Sexually Broken Culture" "Apologetics and Islam" "Apologetics and Religious Freedom" and adopts fresh strategies for reaching those who are outside the church with the truth of the gospel.

Are the criteria of authenticity of Jesus research idiosyncratic to New Testament studies, vehicles of subjectivity, and fundamentally flawed vestiges of form criticism as some claim today? If so, why do opponents of the criteria-approach still use them? Or, are the criteria the tools of general historiography as others assert? If true, none have adequately demonstrated where and how principles such as multiple attestation, general and historical coherence, dissimilarity and embarrassment feature in general historiographic method—until now. This study analyzes the methods of general historians and Jesus researchers (who favor or oppose the criteria) and demonstrates that, regardless of sub-discipline, authenticating criteria are inherent to the practice of historiography.

In recent years, a number of New Testament scholars engaged in academic historical Jesus studies have concluded that such scholarship cannot yield secure and illuminating conclusions about its subject, arguing that the search for a historically "authentic" Jesus has run aground. Jesus, Skepticism, and the Problem of History brings together a stellar lineup of New Testament scholars who contend that historical Jesus scholarship is far from dead. These scholars all find value in using the tools of contemporary historical methods in the study of Jesus and Christian origins. While the skeptical use of criteria to fashion a Jesus contrary to the one portrayed in the Gospels is methodologically unsound and theologically unacceptable, these criteria, properly formulated and applied, yield positive results that support the Gospel accounts and the historical narrative in Acts. This book presents a nuanced and vitally needed alternative to the skeptical extremes of revisionist Jesus scholarship that, on the one hand, uses historical methods to call into question the Jesus of the Gospels and, on the other, denies the possibility of using historical methods to learn about Jesus.

For two centuries scholars have sought to discover the historical Jesus. Presently such scholarship is dominated not by the question 'Who was Jesus?' but rather 'How do we even go about answering the question, "Who was Jesus?"?' With this current situation in mind, Jonathan Bernier undertakes a two-fold task: one, to engage on the level of the philosophy of history with existing approaches to the study of the historical Jesus, most notably the criteria approach and the social memory approach; two, to work with the critical realism developed by Bernard Lonergan, introduced into New Testament studies by Ben F. Meyer, and advocated by N.T. Wright in order to develop a philosophy of history that can elucidate current debates within historical Jesus studies.