Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels As Eyewitness Testimony

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 552 pages
• Published by: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company October 15, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0802863906
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0802863904
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.6 inches
• Weighs: 1.6 pounds

Product Description
This new book argues that the four Gospels are closely based on eyewitness testimony of those who knew Jesus. Noted New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption that the accounts of Jesus circulated as "anonymous community traditions," asserting instead that they were transmitted in the name of the original eyewitnesses. To drive home this controversial point, Bauckham draws on internal literary evidence, study of personal names in the first century, and recent developments in the understanding of oral traditions.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses also taps into the rich resources of modern study of memory and cognitive psychology, refuting the conclusions of the form critics and calling New Testament scholarship to make a clean break with this long-dominant tradition. Finally, Bauckham challenges readers to end the classic division between the "historical Jesus" and the "Christ of faith," proposing instead the "Jesus of testimony." Sure to ignite heated debate on the precise character of the testimony about Jesus, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses will be valued by scholars, students, and all who seek to understand the origins of the Gospels. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About The Author
Richard Bauckham is professor of New Testament studies and Bishop Wardlaw Professor at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. A fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he has also written Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Hardcover) How refreshing to read a treatment of the Gospels by a major scholar that does not have the stench of the Jesus Seminar ideas or the odor of the Ehrman/Pagels agenda emitting from it! Bauckham actually believes that the Gospel accounts are based on eyewitnesses and are not the result of a long oral tradition finalizing in various forms, each tainted by the theological views of the ones who finally who recorded them. And he offers a very convincing argument for his position! The subtitle of this work could be: "Why we should have listened to Luke and Papias in the first place." Building on the work of Samuel Byrskog in his "Story as History - History as Story," (he is cited over thirty times), Bauckham conducts a "tour de force" of Gospel history with an amazing amount of detail, always presented in a lively prose. Gospel heavyweights like Wright, Stanton, Dunn, and Hengel sing its praises on the covers, so what can I add? Only to say that readers need to recognize that the misdirected Jesus Quest of the last generation has been fueled by a self-appointed coterie of AMERICAN scholars who have made a lot of money on their "Jesus fantasies" while destroying the faith of many laymen who don't know that their scholarship is bogus. Furthermore, they have made Americans again the laughingstock of the European scholarly world by their agenda-driven writings. (Note the names above are all British/German!). True, many laymen probably won't read this 536 page book, but hopefully those who want to be informed and to inform others will join Bauckham in his scholarly detective work. I wish I could require this for reading in my Life of Christ class this Spring, but it is late for course adoption and I can only require so much. On the other hand, no informed pastor, serious layman, or seminary prof and student should neglect what I sincerely believe will become a classic. One complaint: No bibliography is included and although the author usually mentions the details of a book in the footnotes, sometimes he doesn't (Chapman, "John the Presbyter" for example, page 17). Also, some of my evangelical colleagues will not like his Markan priority, but sometimes you have to be thankful for what you can get and not short-sightedly toss out something that has great value otherwise. These matters are minor in light of the major strengths of this work. If you are wondering what REAL historical research looks like, get this book.