Product Description

From the worldwide phenomenon The Da Vinci Code to the national best-seller Misquoting Jesus, popular culture is being bombarded with radical skepticism about the uniqueness of Christ and the reliability of the New Testament. Reinventing Jesus cuts through the rhetoric of extreme doubt to reveal the profound credibility of historic Christianity. Meticulously researched yet eminently readable, this book invites a wide audience to take a firsthand look at the primary evidence for Christianity's origins. Reinventing Jesus shows believers that it's okay to think hard about Christianity, and shows hard thinkers that it's okay to believe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57148 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 350 pages

Review
"An excellent book. A readable book. A perennial book with unfortunately, a seasonal title. It deserves to be bought and read and stored and studied o with or without its current connection to DaVinci Code and The Jesus Seminar. The book is an easy reading account of why and how we have the New Testament." (Doug Pagitt tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com 20061204)

"As I get ready to start writing on my next Jesus book, I want to recommend a volume I am currently reading. It is Reinventing Jesus, which is also noted elsewhere on this web site. It is a solid walk through the trustworthiness of Scripture dealing with such issues as oral tradition, the criteria of authenticity, issues tied to textual criticism, the canon, and the issues tied to myth, as well as a walk through the early texts on Jesus' deity. It is accessible and very well done. For those who want orientation to issues tied to these questions, this is a good source." (Darrell Bock dev.bible.org 20060619)

"For years now I've been lamenting the sad state of published apologetics, as it seemed that there was far more interest in getting out insipid eschatological novels than in offering defenses of the faith rooted in sound scholarship. I was glad when Lee Strobel's works finally jimmied that door some, and when Licona and Habermas cracked it further open with The Resurrection of Jesus; and now, this trio has blown the door off its hinges and sent it flying into the atmosphere. I'll put it bluntly: Buy this book. If you're tired of the Christian publishing industry putting out the intellectual equivalent of Hostess Ding Dongs in defense of the faith, you NEED to make this book a success, because otherwise, they won't get the message and we'll get more Ding Dongs instead of more roast beef." (J. P. Holding Tektonics Book Reviews )

"I have bought all the Da Vinci Code books and I feel this book is by far the best one out there. Reinventing Jesus transcends The Da Vinci Code stuff and is more a book on the origin of the New Testament for the most part. It is definitely a book for the average person to learn about how oral tradition and a memorizing culture was behind how things were written back then, all about textual criticism and why we can have confidence in the New Testament today. How books were selected etc. I can say there that it is one of the best books I have ever read that goes into the apologetics of the Bible and I hope that the Da Vinci Code tie in, doesn't give a short shelf life to this book, as it really is a book that is like taking a class on the origin and trustworthiness of the Bible, not The Da Vinci Code." (Dan Kimball Vintage_Faith.com 20060620)

"Of particular benefit in this book are the frequent references to the controversial and influential work of the Jesus Seminar. There is actually far more Jesus Seminar material in this book than DVC [Da Vinci Code] material. Because the methodology of the Jesus Seminar is accepted by many of the media pundits and promoters of the DVC phenomenon, it is important to respond to the assertions of those scholars who are making new and largely revolutionary claims about Jesus and the New Testament. The book is particularly impressive in taking the methodology of radical scholars and going, slowly and carefully through their use of logic, interpretative tools and assumptions. The result is a superb exposure of the bankruptcy of most of the assertions of radical revisions, using the same tools that they claim leads to a 'new' Jesus. . . .I recommend this book without reservation. It is 260 pages of text, with more than 50 pages of readable endnotes and extensive referencing within available New Testament literature. The book is perfectly aimed at students and informed laypersons. It could be given to a skeptic as well, as each author discusses the questions at hand calmly and without ridicule or cheerleader. This is serious scholarship translated down to a level that will help those in local churches and missional callings." (Michael Spencer InternetMonk.com 20070102)

"Reinventing Jesus cuts through the rhetoric of extreme doubt to reveal the profound credibility of historic Christianity. Meticulously researched yet eminently readable, this book invites a wide audience to take a first-hand look at the primary evidence for Christianity's origins. Reinventing Jesus shows believers that it's okay to think hard about Christianity, and shows hard thinkers that it's okay to believe. . . .While there are other books being written to defend the historical Jesus of the New Testament, and the authenticity and trustworthiness of the New Testament writings, Reinventing Jesus is one of the better ones read by this reviewer. The authors cover such a breath of material that it is hard to find one of similar value in terms of thoroughness and argumentation. I highly recommend this work." (Ray Hammond ChristianBookPreviews.com 20070102)

"Reinventing Jesus cuts through the rhetoric of extreme doubt to reveal the profound credibility of historic Christianity. Meticulously researched yet eminently readable, this book invites a wide audience to take a firsthand look at the primary evidence for Christianity's origins. Reinventing Jesus shows believers that it's okay to think hard about Christianity, and shows hard thinkers that it's okay to believe. While there are other books being written to defend the historical Jesus of the New Testament, and the authenticity and trustworthiness of the New Testament writings, Reinventing Jesus is one of the better ones read by this reviewer. The authors cover such a breath of material that it is hard to find one of similar value in terms of thoroughness and argumentation. I highly recommend this work." (Ray Hammond ChristianBookPreviews.com 20070102)

"The book Reinventing Jesus is by three authors, Dr. Sawyer who spoke at our church is one of them. I have bought all the Da Vinci Code books and feel this book is by far the best one out there. Reinventing Jesus transcends the Da Vinci Code stuff and is more a book on the origin of the New Testament for the most part. It is definitely a book for the average person to learn about how oral tradition and a memorizing culture was behind how things were written back then, all about textual criticism and why we can have confidence in the New Testament today. How books were selected etc. I can say there it is one of the best books I have ever read that goes into the apologetics of the Bible and I hope that The Da Vinci Code tie in, doesn't give a short shelf life to this book, as it really is a book that is like taking a class on the origin and trustworthiness of the Bible, not the Da Vinci Code." (Dan Kimball Vintage Faith 20070201)

"The book is a very good introduction to the topic from an evangelical perspective, it is well written, extensively footnoted, and it should serve well as a primer for textual criticism and related topics. I highly recommend it for anyone who is looking for just such a resource." (Michael Kruse krusekronicle.typepad.com )

"This is not just another response to the issues raised in the novel and the film. It is a serious, detailed, yet eminently accessible refutation of the exaggerated skepticism of bona fide scholars like Bart Ehrman or Robert Price and of the outright misinformation in frequently-believed pseudo-scholarship circulating on the web or via little-known publishing houses." (Craig L. Blomberg Apologia Report 20070102)

I agree with your review. I reviewed this a few months ago and I was particularly impressed with how accessible the language is in describing some complex idea. (Michael W. Kruse Euangelion 20060501)

I agree with your review. I reviewed this a few months ago and I was particularly impressed with how accessible the language is in describing some complex idea. (Michael W. Kruse Euangelion 20070201)

Many British evangelicals tend to be cautious about something coming from Dallas Theological Seminary because of its dispensationalist tendencies. This book, however, written by three graduates from the Seminary and including one (Wallace) actually lecturing there, deserves a whole-hearted welcome by everyone in the UK. The book is accessible, thorough and informative. . . . All in all, the authors have greatly placed us in their debt, and this book should be widely read by everyone. (Dr. Anthony McRoy Evangelicals Now 20060801)

Many British evangelicals tend to be cautious about something coming from Dallas Theological Seminary because of its dispensationalist tendencies. This book, however, written by three graduates from the Seminary and including one (Wallace) actually lecturing there, deserves a whole-hearted welcome by everyone in the UK. The book is accessible, thorough and informative. . . . All in all, the authors have greatly placed us in their debt, and this book should be widely read by everyone. (Dr. Anthony McRoy Evangelicals Now 20061204)

My opinion of the books is that the authors have spent a great deal of time (decades) in their research. It is truly time for other scholars to step up and answer the claims of the skeptics. This book may well be the start of a new gyration of inspiration of upcoming apologetic authors. You can find a helpful set of endnotes (64 pages to be exact) and handy resources for further reading. I highly recommend adding this book to your shelf as a valuable reference tool whether you are an apologist or lay Christian. (Dennis myspace.com )

My opinion of the books is that the authors have spent a great deal of time (decades) in their research. It is truly time for other scholars to step up and answer the claims of the skeptics. This book may well be the start of a new gyration of inspiration of upcoming apologetic authors. You can find a helpful set of endnotes (64 pages to be exact) and handy resources for further reading. I highly recommend adding this book to your shelf as a valuable reference tool whether you are an apologist or lay Christian. (Dennis myspace.com 20060701)

Well, I had not heard of this book, but your review, coupled with endorsements by Craig Blomberg (my college advisor back in the day) and Craig Keener and Scott McKnight (both friends whom I consider to be some of the best of current evangelical scholarship), has placed it on my wish list. I am very upset with the way popular culture is misled this wayoalthough rightwing distortions are just as bad. (Michael Westmoreland-White Euangelion 20060401)

Well, I had not heard of this book, but your review, coupled with endorsements by Craig Blomberg (my college advisor back in the day) and Craig Keener and Scott McKnight (both friends whom I consider to be some of the best of current evangelical scholarship), has placed it on my wish list. I am very upset with the way popular culture is misled this wayoalthough rightwing distortions are just as bad. (Michael Westmoreland-White Euangelion 20060701)

From the Publisher
From the worldwide sensation The Da Vinci Code to the national best-seller Misquoting Jesus, popular culture is being bombarded with radical skepticism about the uniqueness of Jesus and the reliability of the New Testament. Reinventing Jesus cuts through the rhetoric of extreme doubt to reveal the profound credibility of historic Christianity. Meticulously researched yet eminently readable, this book invites a wide audience to take a firsthand look at the primary evidence for Christianity's origins. Reinventing Jesus shows believers that it's okay to think hard about Christianity, and shows hard thinkers that it's okay to believe.

From the Back Cover
"Reinventing Jesus puts top-flight scholarship on the bottom shelf. . . It will handsomely repay the effort of any serious reader looking for the real evidence behind historic belief in the deity of Christ." —Josh McDowell International speaker and author

"The authors of Reinventing Jesus convincingly demonstrate that the Jesus of faith and the Jesus of history are one and the same. Amidst the swirl of misinformation and myth assaulting the popular culture today, here is a clear, digestible explanation for anyone wanting to know the facts about how the New Testament and the church’s earliest teachings were developed and transmitted." —David Gregory Author, Dinner with a Perfect Stranger

"In a media horizon currently littered with caricatures of Christ and the church that he founded, Reinventing Jesus is a refreshing breeze of honesty regarding Christian origins. People ought to know that the Gospels and early records of the church are extremely reliable, but they are being misled by the current spate of books, movies, and television specials that offer torque instead of truth, sensation in place of sense, and the radical in place of the real. . . ." —Paul L. Maier Professor of Ancient History Western Michigan University Author, In the Fullness of Time

"Reinventing Jesus effectively presents the other side of the public debate about Jesus where seemingly glitzy speculation is shown to be more like virtual reality than the history it often claims to be." —Darrell Bock Author, Breaking the Da Vinci Code and The Missing Gospels Research Professor of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary

"[The authors’] careful, painstaking analyses invite us to study the data for ourselves. . . . The endnotes alone are worth the cost of the book!" —Gary R. Habermas Distinguished Research Professor, Liberty University Author, The Historical Jesus

Customer Reviews

Sorry, not Quite
I was unimpressed. I'm a believer, but this book does not answer the many questions that have been asked surrounding the veracity of the gospels and the historical Jesus, except in a superficial way.

Excellent textual critique
Reinventing Jesus is a an excellent exegesis of the Orthodox New Testament texts vis-a-vie the Gnostic texts using internal and extra-Biblical evidence. I had been exposed to some of the concepts of this type of study when I took a course on ancient Israel in graduate school, and found its extension to this topic of great interest.

I have to admit that after reading the very well balanced account of the two sets of texts, that they are very different from one another, and that the survivor simply met the needs of the people of the time more fully. I'm not certain that this has to do with their being "closer" to the teachings of Jesus, however, as almost everyone who witnessed the events of this time probably had his or her own take on the situation. I suspect the entire 1st Century was spent deciding just what the message actually was, and ultimately it came down to two almost opposite concepts. The Gnostic notions of Christianity are much more esoteric, exclusive, and intellectual and focus on perfecting "the self," while those of orthodoxy are more directive, inclusive, require belief more than introspection and focus on others.

I'm not certain however, that I agree with the authors when they insist that the Gnostic texts were later. While I agree that an argument from absence is not a strong one, I also believe that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The secrecy of the Gnostic teachings would almost guarantee that they would not be committed to writing as early as the more open and inclusive teachings of what became orthodoxy. I'm more surprised that they were put on paper at all. This tendency to secrecy and elitism is probably why they did not survive as doctrines into modern times.

I also agree that, far from dictating the content of the new imperial religion or suppressing alternatives, Constantine's primary motive was consensus, order and peace in the kingdom--this one, not the next one. He was nothing if not a pragmatist. That he remained a pagan himself until converting on his deathbed suggests that he had very little religious stock in the outcome of the council of Nicea at that time.

A superb discussion of the topic.

Excellent introduction to issues within NT scholarship.
Reinventing Jesus contains a well thought out and scholarly introduction to a number of issues currently being discussed within New Testament scholarly circles, and I'd wholeheartedly recommend it to the layman in high school, college or the workforce, and also to the scholar. This book also served as a great primer for me into the work of Wallace and Sawyer, and Komoszewski's book on the deity of Christ co-authored with Robert Bowman is on its way to me now!

The book covers a large range of topics including oral tradition, textual criticism, early church history, Christology, and the newly internet-revived pagan copycat thesis. Komoszewski et al address (but also in some cases, build upon) the arguments of both popular and academic writers, providing a fair yet critical evaluation of the claims of authors such as Bart Ehrman, Acharya S, Robert M. Price, and Freke and Gandy. They also provide a list of books for further reading in each topic they write about, giving the reader an opportunity to move on once passing the popular introduction to these issues to more academic sources.

All in all, great book, and I would be pleased to see this cohort assemble again for another quality work.