jesus and the eyewitnesses the gospels as eyewitness testimony

and thus had occasional contact with eyewitnesses to events in the New Testament and with those who had heard the eyewitnesses. Papias was Bishop of Hierapolis, in Turkey, and was one of those bridging figures in Christian history who lived during the end of the first century and the beginning of the second century A.D.

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses is to a great extent based on a close reading of the Papias traditions found in Eusebius and elsewhere. I realized at once the book’s importance, and Richard himself told me, in his reserved and understated British way, “I think this may be my most important book thus far.” I agree it is indeed a seminal study, and we may be grateful for it coming now in the midst of so much nonsense being published about early Christianity and its documents. Andrews University, in Scotland, last July to spend a week with Richard just before a wonderful conference on the Book of Hebrews, and the proofs of this book were sitting on his coffee table. Richard Bauckham and I have been friends for many years and have encouraged each other’s work. It thus deserves a thorough review, but a little background is in order. Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses is in the latter category, to be sure. There are books that are interesting, there are books that are important and then there are seminal studies that serve as road markers for the field, pointing the way forward. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2006, 504 pages

Jesus and the eyewitnesses the gospels as eyewitness testimony