Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research (The Library of New Testament Studies)

Historical-Jesus research continues to captivate the interests of scholars, and recently, there has been renewed discussion of the criteria for authenticity. The first half of this volume reviews the state of play in historical-Jesus research and examines the criteria in particular. One chapter is devoted to the so-called 'Quests', and a second critically charts the development of the criteria in the light of form criticism. One of the conclusions of this part of the volume is that several criteria, especially those based on linguistics, need re-evaluation. The second half of the volume proposes three new criteria, based upon use of the Greek language. These criteria are: Greek language and its context; textual variance; and discourse features. The criteria are proposed as a way forward in historical-Jesus research.

Stanley E. Porter is President, Dean and Professor of New Testament, McMaster Divinity College, Canada.

Chris Keith is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus, a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee. He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels, and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.