The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels - Hardcover

"Luke Timothy Johnson calls the bluff of the Jesus Seminar and other purveyors of trendy 'historical Jesus' marketing hype. This timely book offers an engaging account of what serious historical scholarship can--and cannot--say about the Jesus of history. Johnson refocuses the debate by posing fundamental questions about the relation between history, tradition, and faith." (Richard B. Hays, Duke Divinity School, author of The Moral Vision of the New Testament)

"The Jesus of cheap scholarship, the Jesus-as-I-personally-like-to-imagine-him, has been zealously promoted through the past decade like a fizzy new drink. Thank goodness, then, for a cool, clear glass of sober scholarship from Luke Johnson, who clearly exposes the dubious techniques of the Jesus Seminar and reminds us of the limitations of what historians can demonstrate and claim." (James D. G. Dunn, University of Durham)

"Hurrah! At a time when confusion abounds about who the 'real Jesus' is, Johnson sounds a clarion note: the 'real Jesus' is not the reconstructed Jesus of scholarship become unself-critical, but the Jesus who confronts persons in the texts of the New Testament as the resurrected Lord. A welcome guide to the contemporary discussion of the quest for the historical Jesus!" (Jack Dean Kingsbury, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia)