"In this book Rowlands interrogates the theological and philosophical foundations of the Quest for the historical Jesus, from Reimarus to the present day, culminating in a call for greater metaphysical transparency and diversity in the discipline. This multidisciplinary approach to historical Jesus research, drawing on historiography, sociology, philosophy, and theology, makes a significant and original contribution to the field. Part I outlines the implicit role of metaphysical presuppositions in historical methodology by examining the concept of an historiographical worldview. Part II provides an overview of the Quest for the historical Jesus, demonstrating that the disparate historiographical worldviews operative in the Quest evidence a particular shared characteristic, in that they might accurately be described as 'secular'. Rowlands' study concludes with a call for a greater plurality and openness regarding the philosophical and theological presuppositions at work in historical Jesus research. The Metaphysics of Historical Jesus Research is of interest to students and scholars working on New Testament studies and historical Jesus research"--

In this book Rowlands interrogates the theological and philosophical foundations of the 'Quest' for the historical Jesus, from Reimarus to the present day, culminating in a call for greater metaphysical transparency and diversity in the discipline. This multidisciplinary approach to historical Jesus research, drawing on historiography, sociology, philosophy, and theology, makes a significant and original contribution to the field. Part I outlines the implicit role of metaphysical presuppositions in historical methodology by examining the concept of an historiographical worldview. Part II provides an overview of the 'Quest' for the historical Jesus, demonstrating that the disparate historiographical worldviews operative in the 'Quest' evidence a particular shared characteristic, in that they might accurately be described as ‘secular.’ Rowlands’ study concludes with a call for a greater plurality and openness regarding the philosophical and theological presuppositions at work in historical Jesus research. The Metaphysics of Historical Jesus Research is of interest to students and scholars working on New Testament studies and historical Jesus research.

In this book, Austin Stevenson argues that it is not the 'divinity' of Jesus that causes problems for historians, but his humanity. To insist that Jesus was fully human, as both theologians and historians do, still leaves us with the question of what it means to be human. It turns out that theologians and historians often have different answers to this question on both a philosophical and a theological register. Furthermore, historians frequently misunderstand the historiographical implications of classical Christology, and thus the compatibility between traditional beliefs about Jesus and critical historical inquiry. Through close engagement with the thought of Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–74), this book offers a new path toward the reconciliation of these disciplines by focusing on human knowledge and subjectivity, which are central issues in both historical method and Christology. By interrogating and challenging the normative metaphysical assumptions operative in Jesus scholarship, a range of possibility is opened up for approaches to Jesus that are genuinely historical, but not naturalistic.

This book provides an original and comprehensive assessment of the hypotheses concerning the origin of resurrection Christology. It fills a gap in the literature by addressing these issues using a transdisciplinary approach involving historical-critical study of the New Testament, theology, analytic philosophy, psychology and comparative religion. Using a novel analytic framework, this book demonstrates that a logically exhaustive list of hypotheses concerning the claims of Jesus’ post-mortem appearances and the outcome of Jesus’ body can be formulated. It addresses these hypotheses in detail, including sophisticated combinations of hallucination hypothesis with cognitive dissonance; memory distortion; and confirmation bias. Addressing writings from both within and outside of Christianity, it also demonstrates how a comparative religion approach might further illuminate the origins of Christianity. This is a thorough study of arguably the key event in the formation of the Christian faith. As such, it will be of keen interest to theologians, New Testament scholars, philosophers, and scholars of religious studies.

An informed, scholarly approach to the study of the historical Jesus that takes the Gospels seriously as a source of historical information.

Vine Deloria Jr., named one of the most influential religious thinkers in the world by Time, shares a framework for a new vision of reality. Bridging science and religion to form an integrated idea of the world, while recognizing the importance of tribal wisdom, The Metaphysics of Modern Existence delivers a revolutionary view of our future and our world.

Theologian Douglas Harink invites readers to rediscover Romans as a treatise on justice, tracing Paul's thinking on this theme through a sequential reading of the book and finding in each passage facets of the gospel's primary claim—that God accomplishes justice in the death and resurrection of Jesus Messiah.