CHAPTER I
The Birth of the Gospels
Anyone today who wants to know more about the life and
times of prominent historical figures--let us say， men like
Napoleon Bonaparte， Mahatma Ghandi， or one of our dis-
tinguished American presidents like Abraham Lincoln--has
access to a vast amount of resource material: histories， biog-
raphies， memoirs， documentaries， newspaper clippings and
sometimes even photographs. There is no end to the quality
and amount of information available about such men. The
problem， if any， is one of abundance. A reader would have
to be selective and discriminate so as to choose wisely from
among the various resources， because not all of them would
suit his purposes.
But what sources are available for researching the life
of Jesus of Nazareth? Unfortunately， the ample documentary
material readily obtainable for a Napoleon， Ghandi or Lincoln
is not as abundant or available for Jesus. It is not that re-
sources are lacking; but that they are qualitatively different.
Our main sources are the New Testament Scriptures: docu-
ments of faith， written testimonies to the Lordship of Jesus，
accounts recorded \"to help you believe that Jesus is the Mes-
siah， the Son of God， so that through this faith you may have
life in his name\" (Jn 21:31). Both in form and content the
New Testament Scriptures are ，an inspiring body of religious
literature about a truly unique historical person， but they are
hardly adequate materials for a detailed biography of Jesus.
What about extra-biblical sources? Do they offer any
evidence for the life and times of Jesus ? Pagan histories of the
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