Cutting Jesus Down To Size: What Higher Criticism Has Achieved And Where It Leaves Christianity
by George Albert Wells /
2009 / English / EPUB
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In this provocative book, noted scholar G. A. Wells tells the
story of Higher Criticism: the close study of the scriptures that
reveals difficulties and discrepancies. Wells traces the
discipline’s German beginnings, exploring the problems in the New
Testament that prompted scholars to revise traditional theories
of the scriptures’ origins. Wells then traces the development and
reception of these views from the 18th century to today. Drawing
on current biblical scholarship, Wells explains how the Jesus of
Paul’s epistles differs radically from later versions and
addresses conservative Christians’ attempts to reconcile them. He
carefully analyzes what the New Testament says about miracles,
the Virgin Birth, the Nativity, Jesus’ conflicting genealogies,
the Resurrection, the post-Resurrection appearances, and the
failed prophecies of imminent apocalypse. Wells persuasively
profiles the New Testament as a fascinating but flawed collection
of incompatible viewpoints, revealing Jesus as a shifting,
ambiguous, legendary figure who reflected the evolving teachings
of a fragmented, emotion-based cultic movement.
In this provocative book, noted scholar G. A. Wells tells the
story of Higher Criticism: the close study of the scriptures that
reveals difficulties and discrepancies. Wells traces the
discipline’s German beginnings, exploring the problems in the New
Testament that prompted scholars to revise traditional theories
of the scriptures’ origins. Wells then traces the development and
reception of these views from the 18th century to today. Drawing
on current biblical scholarship, Wells explains how the Jesus of
Paul’s epistles differs radically from later versions and
addresses conservative Christians’ attempts to reconcile them. He
carefully analyzes what the New Testament says about miracles,
the Virgin Birth, the Nativity, Jesus’ conflicting genealogies,
the Resurrection, the post-Resurrection appearances, and the
failed prophecies of imminent apocalypse. Wells persuasively
profiles the New Testament as a fascinating but flawed collection
of incompatible viewpoints, revealing Jesus as a shifting,
ambiguous, legendary figure who reflected the evolving teachings
of a fragmented, emotion-based cultic movement.