With the fine-toothed comb he deals with the development of the Jesus of history studies, the dating of the manuscripts, the names in the gospel traditions vs. Bauckham carefully and thoughtfully engages his critics, taking dissenters seriously as he works through their arguments. What is perhaps most impressive is the way Bauckham wields both a fine-toothed comb and a road sweeper in his argument. Both audiences shouldn't dismiss Bauckham quickly, though. To the conservative such a thesis might seem rudimentary while to a liberal such a thesis might seem untenable. Bauckham's book is jaw-dropping in its scope and the force of the argument Bauckham puts forward.īauckham's thesis is fairly simple: the four gospels represent a compilation of eyewitness testimony of the life of Jesus of Nazareth and as such need to be taken seriously as we consider the Jesus of history. It's about time I finally dove in and worked through this masterpiece. I have thumbed through this book many times before, skimmed chapters, and recommended it to many people. 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.
Finally, Bauckham challenges readers to end the classic division between the “historical Jesus” and the “Christ of faith” proposing the “Jesus of testimony” that is actually presented by Gospels.
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. 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. Noted New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption that the accounts of Jesus circulated as “anonymous community traditions” instead asserting that they were transmitted in the name of the original eyewitness. This fresh book argues that the four Gospels are closely based on eyewitness testimony of those who knew Jesus.
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