Language English Pages 504 pages ISBN 0802863906 | Publication date 2006 Originally published 2006 Genre Religion | |
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Publisher William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Similar Richard Bauckham books, Religion books, Gospel books | ||
Richard bauckham jesus and the eyewitnesses the gospels as eyewitness testimony
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony is a book written by biblical scholar and theologian Richard Bauckham and published in 2006 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans).
Contents
- Richard bauckham jesus and the eyewitnesses the gospels as eyewitness testimony
- Jesus and the eyewitnesses the gospels as eyewitness testimony with professor richard bauckham
- References
The book challenges the consensus view that, "while the eyewitnesses originated (at least some of) the traditions about Jesus, these were then transmitted as anonymous traditions in the early Christian communities, developing in all sorts of ways in the process, and reached the Gospel writers as the product of such community transmission and development." It does so by presenting the historical argument that the synoptic Gospels are based "quite closely" on the testimony of eyewitnesses, while one (the Gospel of John) is written by an eyewitness. The final chapter offers a theological argument against the dichotomy between the Christ of faith and the historical Jesus.
Ben Witherington III described Jesus and the Eyewitnesses as a paradigm shift in Gospels study. In a special issue of the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus devoted to the book, Samuel Byrksog described it as "a remarkable achievement which rightly places the role of eyewitnesses in early Christianity on the international scholarly agenda and points to its historical and theological significance." According to Judith CS Redman, this book also contributes among others to "offer a new paradigm which does not ignore the Fourth Gospel in the search for historical information about Jesus".
It was awarded the "2007 Christianity Today book in biblical studies" and in 2009 the Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing ("placed something of a bomb under a good deal of New Testament scholarship").
Bauckham reflected in a 2016 radio debate that when the book was first published there was a "huge range of reactions, from people who are wildly enthusiastic to people who absolutely hate it", and noted that his debate partner Bart D. Ehrman disagreed with his conclusions.