G. A. Wells (1) (1926–2017)

Another look at the historical evidence for Jesus, this time answering critics of earlier books. Wells details the legendary nature of much of what is included in the gospels, and dissects the works of Paul to determine if Paul reported on the life of a man who had recently lived and died in Palestine. This book is not as interesting as his other works, primarily because it treads some of the same ground, but also because it is focused very much on those critics who have been publishing about his earlier works. It is still readable and thoroughly researched. The author remains consistently agnostic about the existence or non-existence of Jesus, but his conclusions will be disconcerting to many who are sure that someone existed, even if that someone was not divine.… (mehr)

The author's answer to the implied question: there's next to NO evidence for an historical Jesus. The author's work is hotly disputed, and he appears to have backed off on at least some of what he wrote in this book in later editions.

My take is that he tried to be as objective as he possibly could, and that Christians don't want to hear it. The only part of the work that struck me as odd was his claim that St. Paul may have thought Jesus lived 200 or so years before Paul's time. The rest of it looks like he's on solid ground.… (mehr)