I have been following Darrell Bock’s posts on the book, The Jesus Puzzle, by Earl Doherty. Doherty argues in his book that Jesus never really existed as an historical person. Dr. Bock, who is Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, responds to Doherty’s points one at a time.

This set of posts provides a great resource for those interested in learning more about the historicity of Jesus. You will also find some lively interchange between Bock and his commenters in the comments section on each post.

• Point 1: Jesus of Nazareth and the Gospel Story
• Point 2: The Josephus Citation about Jesus
  The Debated Josephus Text – Antiquities 18.63-64
• Point 3: Paul and the Epistles
• Point 4: The Roots of Resurrection
• Point 5: The Ancient Greco-Roman Dualism of Platonism
• Point 6: Mystery Religions and Christianity
• Point 7: Paul, the Intermediary Son, Wisdom and Logos
• Point 8: Gospel Roots
• Point 9: The Nature of the Gospels — Midrash?
• Point 10: “Q”
• Point 11: The Early Christian Movement
• Point 12: The Human Jesus

Bock closes out his series with these words:

What we have seen in our look at all twelve of these points is how problematic they are. There is little of credible historical judgment here that says Jesus never existed. The origin Doherty posits cannot explain the documentary evidence we possess or the form of the earliest Christianity to which that evidence gives witness. There is no puzzle put together in this book; only pieces unrelated to the real Jesus or the emergence of what became Christianity.

I am grateful to Biblical scholars like Darrell Bock who take the time not only to make valuable information like this accessible on their blogs but also to interact with their commenters in such a gracious manner.