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.

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

How do we know the New Testament is reliable? In this clear introduction, Dr. Ben Shaw systematically surveys key scholarly topics related to the New Testament's historical credibility. Concise chapters provide guidance for exploring a wide variety of evidence including archaeology, authorship, text criticism, and non-Christian sources.

This book is the first major study to investigate Jesus’ resurrection using a memory approach. It develops the logic for and the methodology of a memory approach, including that there were about two decades between the events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection and the recording of those events in First Corinthians. The memory of those events was frequently rehearsed, perhaps weekly. The transmission of the oral tradition occurred in various ways, including the overlooked fourth model—“formal uncontrolled.” Consideration is given to an examination of the philosophy and psychology of memory (including past and new research on (1) the constructive nature of memory, (2) social memory, (3) transience, (4) memory distortion, (5) false memories, (6) the social contagion of memory, and (7) flashbulb memory). In addition, this is the first New Testament study to consider the insights for a memory approach from the philosophical considerations of (1) forgetting and (2) the theories of remembering and from the psychological studies on (1) memory conformity, (2) memory and age, and (3) the effects of health on memory. It is argued that Paul remembers Jesus as having been resurrected with a transformed physical body. Furthermore, the centrality of Jesus’ resurrection in Paul’s theology suggests it was a deeply embedded memory of primary importance to the social identity of the early Christian communities. New Testament scholars and students will want to take note of how this work advances the discussion in historical Jesus studies. The broader Christian audience will also find the apologetic implications of interest.

V. 1. How to study the historical Jesus -- v. 2. The study of Jesus -- v. 3. The historical Jesus -- v. 4. Individual studies.

This in-depth discussion of New Testament scholarship and the challenges of history as a whole proposes Bayes’s Theorem, which deals with probabilities under conditions of uncertainty, as a solution to the problem of establishing reliable historical criteria. The author demonstrates that valid historical methods—not only in the study of Christian origins but in any historical study—can be described by, and reduced to, the logic of Bayes’s Theorem. Conversely, he argues that any method that cannot be reduced to this theorem is invalid and should be abandoned. Writing with thoroughness and clarity, the author explains Bayes’s Theorem in terms that are easily understandable to professional historians and laypeople alike, employing nothing more than well-known primary school math. He then explores precisely how the theorem can be applied to history and addresses numerous challenges to and criticisms of its use in testing or justifying the conclusions that historians make about the important persons and events of the past. The traditional and established methods of historians are analyzed using the theorem, as well as all the major "historicity criteria" employed in the latest quest to establish the historicity of Jesus. The author demonstrates not only the deficiencies of these approaches but also ways to rehabilitate them using Bayes’s Theorem. Anyone with an interest in historical methods, how historical knowledge can be justified, new applications of Bayes’s Theorem, or the study of the historical Jesus will find this book to be essential reading.

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