Craig Evans (Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia) embarks on a large task in Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels. Evans’ mission is to debunk just about every false suspicion concerning the nature of Jesus which is floating around in the popular audience today. This highly acclaimed book gives quite a few conservative and informed answers to troubling questions surrounding Jesus and his work.
Evans is a highly trained and educated scholar, and his expertise in both the Old and New Testaments and their respective background materials shines through in his discussions. Fabricating Jesus addresses topics such as the charges laid by skeptical scholarship (e.g. the New Testament isn’t reliable), the use of questionable extra-biblical texts as primary sources on the life of Jesus, and new claims regarding what “actually” happened at Jesus’ crucifixion. Evans is highly critical of scholarship which has misused the tools available and fabricated a Jesus which is wholly inconsistent with the witness of the New Testament. Organizations like the Jesus Seminar and its kin receive scathing blame for their part in promoting false claims.
Evans’ ability to handle so much pertinent data is evident in many of his arguments, and his use of appropriate biblical and extra-biblical support is fairly compelling. Unfortunately, I felt his arguments to be a bit one sided at times. Also, the expansive scope of the book creates problems for the reader because of Evan’s inability to properly detail all relevant background information.
However, there is no doubt Fabricating Jesus is a helpful work written by an informed scholar who is eager to equip the church against the popular (and irresponsible) claims being made about Jesus today. Further research can be done with help of the endnotes, and coming in at just under 250 pages, the book is easily handled. Evans is able to demonstrate not all scholarship is bogus. With scholars like Evans, modern scholastic achievement will continue to promote the truth of biblical Christianity.
