Attempts to reinvent Jesus are nothing new. The vines of radical skepticism toward the biblical Christ have been creeping up the walls of the ivory tower for two centuries. But only in recent years has such intense cynicism sprouted at the grassroots. And it has spread quickly.

     This comes as no surprise. After all, our culture is ripe for conspiracies about Jesus.

     The seeds of radical skepticism have been widely sown by mass media for over a decade. From the Jesus Seminar—a fringe group of scholars whose color-coded version of the Gospels repeatedly made headlines in the 1990s—to the recent blockbuster novel and now movie The Da Vinci Code, skeptics of all stripes have used the popular media to promote their demoted versions of Jesus.

     Distrust spawned in the media has taken firm root in our postmodern society, where the quest for truth has been replaced by a convenient tolerance for every idea. "That's just your interpretation!" has become the tired mantra of hurried people who can't be bothered by a thoughtful evaluation of evidence. It's simply easier to pretend all interpretations are created equal.

     The radical skepticism sown in the media and rooted in postmodernism has been cultivated in an environment of biblical ignorance. As New Testament scholar Luke Timothy Johnson notes:

Americans generally have an abysmal level of knowledge of the Bible. In this world of mass ignorance, to have headlines proclaim that this or that fact about [Jesus] has been declared untrue by supposedly scientific inquiry has the effect of gospel. There is no basis on which most people can counter these authoritative-sounding statements.

     The media's assault on the biblical Jesus, postmodernism's laissez-faire attitude toward truth, and America's collective ignorance of Scripture have joined to create a culture of cynicism. In short, society has been conditioned to doubt.

     To be sure, an open mind is a good thing. But a mind is open only as long as it is closing in on truth. Our hope is that you will approach the evidence in this book with an open mind, whether it's opened completely or cautiously.

     If you are skeptical of the Jesus of the Bible, we hope you'll discover that a step toward him doesn't require leaving your brain behind. If you embrace the biblical Christ but think faith isn't concerned with matters of the mind, we want you to see that belief in the Incarnation—God entering the time-space world as a man two millennia ago—compels you to take history seriously. And if you are a Christian already committed to loving God with your heart and mind, we trust your faith will be strengthened and you'll be equipped to share it more compellingly.

     This book is not written for scholars but for laypersons—motivated laypersons. While we have tried to capture the essence of arguments and avoid technical jargon, we realize that the material will stretch many of our readers. For one thing, much of it will be new. What's more, it will be far-reaching. Since the most probable interpretation of Jesus is grounded in the totality of evidence, it's essential to see the broad landscape. This may seem a bit much, but as one automotive manufacturer says, "It's not more than you need. It's just more than you're used to."

     We have not endeavored to critique or review the various attempts at reinventing Jesus. Counterfeits are legion, and the list is growing. Rather, our primary objective is to build a positive argument for the historical validity of Christianity. We contend that a progressive case, built on the following sequence of questions, undermines novel reconstructions of Jesus and underscores the enduring essence of the Christian faith:

    •     If the first Gospels were written decades after the life of Jesus, how do we know the writers got the story right? We'll tackle this question in our first section, "I Believe in Yesterday."

    •     If the writers got the story right, how do we know the Gospels and other New Testament documents were copied faithfully? Is what we have now what they wrote then? This will be addressed in "Politically Corrupt? The Tainting of Ancient New Testament Texts."

    •     If the writers got the story right and the documents were copied faithfully, how do we know the right documents were included in the Bible? How did the church decide which ones to include? Was there a conspiracy to hide competing books? Our third section explores the question "Did the Early Church Muzzle the Canon?"

    •     If the writers got the story right, the documents were copied faithfully, and the right documents were included in the Bible, what does this say about earliest belief in Jesus? Did Jesus' followers view him as more than a man from the onset of Christianity? Or was Jesus' divinity the invention of a fourth-century church council? We'll get to the bottom line in "The Divinity of Jesus: Early Tradition or Late Superstition?"

    •     If the writers got the story right, the documents were copied faithfully, the right documents were included in the Bible, and the Bible reveals belief in the divinity of Jesus, how do we know the whole thing wasn't plagiarized from other religions? Our case concludes with "Stealing Thunder: Did Christianity Rip Off Mythical Gods?"

     Our focus is mainly on the integrity of the New Testament text as it bears witness to historic belief in the divinity of Jesus. As such, our approach is primarily historical rather than theological. Of course, history and theology are inextricably linked. But our starting point is not belief in the Bible as divinely inspired or infallible—or anything similar. We believe that when the tools of the historian are applied to the biblical text, it builds its own case for its unique character. Or as one British scholar said, "We treat the Bible like any other book to show that it is not like any other book."

     As you make your way through the pages of this book, we invite you to recall the story of Thomas in John 20:24–28. Despite the testimony of the other disciples, Thomas doubted that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. In fact, Thomas insisted, "Unless I see the wounds from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!" (v. 25b). The living Jesus appeared to Thomas eight days later, saying, "Put your finger here, and examine my hands. Extend your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe" (v. 27). Interestingly, Jesus didn't scold Thomas for his doubt. Rather, he called him to examine the evidence. He invites you to do the same.