Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity

Criteria of authenticity, whose roots go back to before the pioneering work of Albert Schweitzer, have become a unifying feature of the so-called Third Quest for the Historical Jesus, finding a prominent and common place in the research of otherwise differing scholars. More recently, however, scholars from different methodological frameworks have expressed discontent with this approach to the historical Jesus. In the past five years, these expressions of discontent have reached a fever pitch. The internationally renowned authors of this book examine the nature of this new debate and present the findings in a cohesive way aimed directly at making the coalface of Historical Jesus research accessible to undergraduates and seminary students. The book's larger ramifications as a thorough end to the Third Quest will provide a pressure valve for thousands of scholars who view historical Jesus studies as outmoded and misguided. This book has the potential to guide Jesus studies beyond the Third Quest and demand to be consulted by any scholar who discards, adopts, or adapts historical criteria.

ForewordMorna Hooker\Introduction - The Riseof the Quest for an Authentic Jesus: An Introduction to the CrumblingFoundations of Jesus Studies Anthony LeDonne\Part One: HistoricalMethodology and the Quest for an Authentic Jesus\The Indebtedness of the CriteriaApproach to Form Criticism and Recent Attempts to Rehabilitate the Search foran Authentic Jesus Chris Keith\TheCriteria of Authenticity in Jesus Research and Historiographical Method Jens Schröter\Part Two: Specific Criteria in the Quest for an Authentic Jesus\Whythe Criterion of Semitisms Cannot Deliver Authenticity Loren Stuckenbruck\The Criterion of Coherence: Its Development,Inevitability, and Historiographical Limitations Anthony Le Donne\Saving the Quest for Authenticity from theCriterion of Dissimilarity: History and Plausibility Dagmar Winter\The Embarrassing Truth about Jesus: The Demise of theCriterion of Embarrassment RafaelRodriguez\Criticizing the Criterion of Multiple Attestation: The HistoricalJesus and the Question of Sources MarkGoodacre\Part Three: Reflections onMoving Past Traditional Jesus Research\Why the Authentic Jesus is Uselessfor the Church Scot McKnight\It Don'tCome Easy: A History of Disillusionment DaleAllison\Conclusion - The Fall of the Quest for an Authentic Jesus: Concluding Remarks Chris Keith