The Gospel Jesus: Fact or Fiction?

For about thirty years the faith of Christians has been periodically assailed, and the forbearance of biblical scholars tested to the utmost by a seemingly unending series of publications about Jesus and the origins of Christianity. They offer a radical reinterpretation of Jesus' significance and have painted, variously, a picture of a wild revolutionary, an unworldy dupe, a royal pretender, a common magician.The Gospels are alleged to be distortions and important facts about Jesus are said to have been suppressed by the Church. Peter Bartley provides a survey of works of this type, endeavoring to obtain a clearer perspective and dispel the confusion by careful inquiry into current New Testament scholarship. Peter Bartley, a graduate of Platter College, Oxford, has worked as a teacher, mental nurse, care assistant and coal-miner. He is the author of The Prophet, the Book and the Cult and has had a lifelong interest in Church history.