Ancient Jewish Accounts of Jesus

Alternate viewpoints to the gospels. Alan Humm posts & analyzes references to Jesus in Josephus, the Mishnah, Babylonian Talmud & Toledoth Yeshu.

Christian Scriptures

Websites focused on biblical texts & their interpretation are listed under Biblical Studies.

Christology

Anthony Maas' 1912 defense of classical orthodox christology against modernist criticism (Catholic Encyclopedia).

Christological Titles in the New Testament

Felix Just surveys the titles used to characterize Jesus in the Bible (Catholic Resources).

The Founder of Christianity

Full text of C. H. Dodd's'1970 assessment of the impact of Jesus' distinct mindset upon his behavior, fate & followers (posted by Religion-Online).

Historical Jesus Theories

Peter Kirby's cyber-catalogue of the range of modern scholarship on the quest of the historical Jesus. (Early Christian Writings).

The Historicity of Jesus

Complete text of Shirley Jackson Case's 1912 critique of the claims of radical criticism that the historical Jesus never existed (Internet Archive). 

The Jefferson Bible

E. R. Coates provides a hypertext edition of Thomas Jefferson's harmonized & expurgated version of the gospels, portraying Jesus as an ethical teacher.

Jesus

Full text of Martin Dibelius' 1937 Shaffer Lectures at Yale reconstructing Jesus' life and message as a call for active commitment to God's kingdom in opposition to the forces of this world (posted by Religion-Online).

Jesus: A Historical Quest

Collected essays by Mahlon H. Smith on Jesus and Christology (Jesus Seminar Forum).

Jesus & the Word

Full text of Rudolf Bultmann's reconstruction & interpretation of the message of Jesus. A seminal work for the renewed Quest of the historical Jesus (posted by Religion-Online).

Jesus at 2000

Archive of the e-mail debate generated by the cyber-symposium celebrating the 2nd millennium of Jesus' birth (Feb/March 1996). Questions & answers regarding the historical Jesus posed to/by Marcus Borg, Dominic Crossan & Luke Timothy Johnson.

The Jesus of History & the Future of Faith

R. W. Kropf reviews the philosophical issues involved in the renewed quest of the historical figure of Jesus & its potential for renewing the faith of (rather than in) Jesus, with responses (DiaLogos 6).

Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History?

Full text of Maurice Goguel's 1926 rebuttal to claims that Jesus is a purely mythic figure who never actually existed within human history (Internet Archive).

Jesus Lord & Christ

Full text of John Knox's 1958 trilogy on the origin, development & modern relevance of christology (posted by Religion-Online).

Jesus' Many Faces

PBS Frontline surveys leading scholars' views of Jesus.

The Jesus Puzzle

Earl Doherty argues that the Jesus of Christian faith began with a mythic figure of Christ which gradually evolved into the 'historical' person Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus' Self-Understanding

N. T. Wright argues that a very Jewish Jesus could view his vocation was to embody God's mission (NTWrightPage).

The Jesus Seminar Forum

Official website of the cooperative scholarly project to identify the historical core of all ancient reports of Jesus' sayings & deeds and reassess profiles of Jesus.

Kerygma & Myth

Rudolf Bultmann's seminal essays calling for a demythologized existentialist interpretation of the NT message & picture of Jesus, with critiques by Julius Schniewind, Ernst Lohmeyer, Helmut Thielicke, Friedrich Schumann & Austin Farrer (posted by Religion Online).

Kevin's Articles on Religion

Well-informed succinct essays on topics in biblical scholarship and Christian tradition include Did Jesus Really Exist?, The Historical Jesus vs. the Christ of Faith, A Historical Approach to Jesus, Authentic Sayings of Jesus & The Jesus Seminar (Kevin Davidson).

The Life of Jesus by Ernest Renan

Full text of the 1863 book that shook the Catholic world & cost the author his chair at the U of Paris. The first complete naturalistic biography of Jesus as a Jewish carpenter who was "not a founder of dogmas or a maker of creeds" but who "infused into the world a new spirit." English translation with A.D. Howell Smith's biographical preface to the 1935 edition & an appendix on Renan & his critics, published on the Secular Web.

Messiah

Jona Lendering analyzes the historical sources of the messianic concept & traces its development from its origins in ancient Israel through Jesus to the 20th c. hasidic rabbi Menachem Schneerson (posted by Livius).

A New Quest of the Biblical Jesus

Full text of James M. Robinson's 1959 analysis of illegitimate and legitimate expectations of historical study of Jesus (posted by Religion Online).

The Present State of the 'Third Quest' for the Historical Jesus: Loss and Gain.

John P. Meier's assessment of problems & progress in recent historical Jesus research [Biblica 80 (1999) 459-487].

The Quest of the Historical Jesus

Full text of Montgomery's English translation of Albert Schweitzer's 1906 landmark critical study of Jesus scholarship from Reimarus to Wrede (posted in Peter Kirby's Early Christian Writings).

Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus

Full text of Norman Perrin's seminal 1967 study that revived the quest for the historical Jesus (posted by Religion-Online).

Testamonium Flavianum

Peter Kirby presents a detailed review of references to Jesus in the works of the 1st c. Jewish historian Josephus & the critical debate regarding their authenticity (Early Christian Writings).

The Shroud of Turin

Links to the renewed debate regarding the relic presented as Jesus' burial cloth are found on the Art & Archaeology page.

This Hebrew Lord

Full text of Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong's 1974 meditation on the religious significance of a non-religious Jesus.

Was there a Messiah-Joshua Tradition at the Turn of the Era?

Robert Kraft's 1992 JUDAIOS article highlights evidence that before Jesus of Nazareth some Jews in northern Palestine anticipated appearance of a second Joshua.