Theos-Talk Archives (January 2006 Message tt00192)

"... the four New Testament Gospels ... are our principal 
sources of knowledge about Jesus...." 

"....their authors do not claim to have been 
eyewitnesses to the events they narrate."

"Instead, they are writing several decades later, 
telling stories that they have heard — stories that 
have been in circulation for decades among the 
followers of Jesus." 

"The first step, then, is to determine what kinds 
of books the Gospels are and to ascertain how reliable their 
information about Jesus is." 

"The question will be: Apart from their value as 
religious documents of faith, what do the Gospels 
tell historians?"