"In this book Rowlands interrogates the theological and philosophical foundations of the Quest for the historical Jesus, from Reimarus to the present day, culminating in a call for greater metaphysical transparency and diversity in the discipline. This multidisciplinary approach to historical Jesus research, drawing on historiography, sociology, philosophy, and theology, makes a significant and original contribution to the field. Part I outlines the implicit role of metaphysical presuppositions in historical methodology by examining the concept of an historiographical worldview. Part II provides an overview of the Quest for the historical Jesus, demonstrating that the disparate historiographical worldviews operative in the Quest evidence a particular shared characteristic, in that they might accurately be described as 'secular'. Rowlands' study concludes with a call for a greater plurality and openness regarding the philosophical and theological presuppositions at work in historical Jesus research. The Metaphysics of Historical Jesus Research is of interest to students and scholars working on New Testament studies and historical Jesus research"--

In this book Rowlands interrogates the theological and philosophical foundations of the 'Quest' for the historical Jesus, from Reimarus to the present day, culminating in a call for greater metaphysical transparency and diversity in the discipline. This multidisciplinary approach to historical Jesus research, drawing on historiography, sociology, philosophy, and theology, makes a significant and original contribution to the field. Part I outlines the implicit role of metaphysical presuppositions in historical methodology by examining the concept of an historiographical worldview. Part II provides an overview of the 'Quest' for the historical Jesus, demonstrating that the disparate historiographical worldviews operative in the 'Quest' evidence a particular shared characteristic, in that they might accurately be described as ‘secular.’ Rowlands’ study concludes with a call for a greater plurality and openness regarding the philosophical and theological presuppositions at work in historical Jesus research. The Metaphysics of Historical Jesus Research is of interest to students and scholars working on New Testament studies and historical Jesus research.

For two centuries scholars have sought to discover the historical Jesus. Presently such scholarship is dominated not by the question 'Who was Jesus?' but rather 'How do we even go about answering the question, "Who was Jesus?"?' With this current situation in mind, Jonathan Bernier undertakes a two-fold task: one, to engage on the level of the philosophy of history with existing approaches to the study of the historical Jesus, most notably the criteria approach and the social memory approach; two, to work with the critical realism developed by Bernard Lonergan, introduced into New Testament studies by Ben F. Meyer, and advocated by N.T. Wright in order to develop a philosophy of history that can elucidate current debates within historical Jesus studies.

The search for the historical Jesus is a hot topic in both popular and academic circles today and has drawn a lot of attention from national magazines, such as Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. Further, the media has given an undue amount of attention to the Jesus Seminar's outlandish statements, a self-selected liberal group representing a tiny percentage of New Testament scholarship. Dr. Gary Habermas will address the questions surrounding the debate over the historical Jesus and show a significant number of historical facts about Jesus in secular and non-New Testament sources that prove that the Jesus of history is the same Jesus of the Christian faith. The author of EVIDENCE FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUS is Dr. Gary Habermas, author of the book, The Historical Jesus and about twenty other volumes. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Dr. Habermas is chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Liberty University. He has written more than 100 articles, mostly on the life of Jesus, which have appeared in scholarly journals and elsewhere. Herein you will learn why Jesus is one of the most historically verified lives of ancient times.

In this book, Austin Stevenson argues that it is not the 'divinity' of Jesus that causes problems for historians, but his humanity. To insist that Jesus was fully human, as both theologians and historians do, still leaves us with the question of what it means to be human. It turns out that theologians and historians often have different answers to this question on both a philosophical and a theological register. Furthermore, historians frequently misunderstand the historiographical implications of classical Christology, and thus the compatibility between traditional beliefs about Jesus and critical historical inquiry. Through close engagement with the thought of Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–74), this book offers a new path toward the reconciliation of these disciplines by focusing on human knowledge and subjectivity, which are central issues in both historical method and Christology. By interrogating and challenging the normative metaphysical assumptions operative in Jesus scholarship, a range of possibility is opened up for approaches to Jesus that are genuinely historical, but not naturalistic.

Who was Jesus of Nazareth? This question has launched a perpetual stream of theories and books. "The Hidden Realm of God: the Historical Jesus and His Healing Philosophy" provides a fresh perspective on the question by building upon a century of scholarly work and systematically exploring sayings chosen by a group of modern scholars as most probably originating with the historical Jesus. "The Hidden Realm of God" is the first book to systematically link the sayings of the historical Jesus to 1st century Western philosophy, Eastern philosophy, and 21st century health science. The author synthesizes scientific, historical, and biblical research to make a case that the historical Jesus was a philosopher-healer. "The Hidden Realm of God" is more than an academic quest for the historical Jesus; it shows how his philosophy is still relevant for human life and health. "The Hidden Realm of God" shows how sayings of Jesus are related to findings in health research, modern hypnosis techniques, and ancient meditation methods of both Western and Eastern traditions. The author describes his own original experimental research into the effects of contemplating Jesus' words, indicating that listening to Jesus' sayings can induce meditative states and reduce anxiety. The book also provides the readers with helpful suggestions for applying Jesus' philosophy for health and well-being. Topics discussed in the book include: the academic quest for the historical Jesus - the life of Jesus - God, Faith & Healing - Optimism & Health - Love & Healing - Forgiveness - Jesus on the Laws of Moses - Meditation, Prayer & Healing - Self-knowledge & Transformation - Human potential - Jesus as a philosopher - Jesus as a humorist

The assumption that Jesus existed as a historical person has occasionally been questioned in the course of the last hundred years or so, but any doubts that have been raised have usually been put to rest in favor of imagining a blend of the historical, the mythical and the theological in the surviving records of Jesus. Carrier re-examines the whole question and finds compelling reasons to suspect the more daring assumption is correct. He lays out extensive research on the evidence for Jesus and the origins of Christianity and poses the key questions that must now be answered if the historicity of Jesus is to survive as a dominant paradigm. Carrier contrasts the most credible reconstruction of a historical Jesus with the most credible theory of Christian origins if a historical Jesus did not exist. Such a theory would posit that the Jesus figure was originally conceived of as a celestial being known only through private revelations and hidden messages in scripture; then stories placing this being in earth history were crafted to communicate the claims of the gospel allegorically; such stories eventually came to be believed or promoted in the struggle for control of the Christian churches that survived the tribulations of the first century. Carrier finds the latter theory more credible than has been previously imagined. He explains why it offers a better explanation for all the disparate evidence surviving from the first two centuries of the Christian era. He argues that we need a more careful and robust theory of cultural syncretism between Jewish theology and politics of the second-temple period and the most popular features of pagan religion and philosophy of the time. For anyone intent on defending a historical Jesus, this is the book to challenge.