Over at the Marginalia Review of Books, Helen Bond reviews Jesus Criteria and the Demise of Authenticity (ed. Chris Keith & Anthony Le Donne). After a thorough consideration of the book’s subject matter she concludes that the volume should be considered “essential reading for anyone even contemplating any kind of reconstruction of the historical Jesus.” Check out her review, and more importantly, check out the book. If you get a chance, you should also check out Bond’s very useful book, Historical Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed.
I refer to the “criteria of confusion” in my book Secret of the Savior: The Myth of the Messiah in Mark (University Press of America: 2013). I take a narrative approach to the earliest Gospel and try to show why it is unreliable as a source of literal history. Jesus serves as a symbol of salvation for Mark, and the story of Jesus recapitulates the history of salvation.