Christian Faith and the Study of the Historical Jesus: A Response to Bock, Keener, and Webb

This paper responds to three essays on historical-Jesus research which claim that an explicitly confessional Christian perspective need not compromise participation in historical research. Responding to Darrell Bock, it notes that evangelicals are new to embrace the methods associated with such study but questions whether this shift advances discussion. Responding to Craig Keener, it questions both the value of using biographies of Roman officials to determine the reliability of Gospel portraits and the use of data derived from late rabbinic sources to determine Second Temple practices. Responding to Robert Webb, it suggests that his 'methodological-naturalistic' view regarding causation of events will be most productive in conservative settings where there is no preliminary argument as to whether the events in question actually happened.